MSE News and Events

TROY, N.Y. —Students and faculty from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) were recently awarded an Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbon at the New York Maker Faire. Their research exhibit, a collaborative project between the university’s schools of Engineering and Architecture, focused on turning empty water bottles into shelters for disaster relief.

A paper published in Nature Communications by Sufei Shi, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, increases our understanding of how light interacts with atomically thin semiconductors and creates unique excitonic complex particles, multiple electrons, and holes strongly bound together. These particles possess a new quantum degree of freedom, called “valley spin.” The “valley spin” is similar to the spin of electrons, which has been extensively used in information storage such as hard drives and is also a promising candidate for quantum computing.

The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (EMPAC) will celebrate a decade of adventurous programming at the intersection of art, science, and technology, October 11-13, 2018. The celebration, 10 YEARS, will commemorate the opening of the landmark performing-arts/research center in 2008. Over the past decade EMPAC has commissioned, produced, and presented an internationally renowned lineup of cross-genre performances. The events will include newly commissioned productions by artists Maria Hassabi, Isabelle Pauwels, Yara Travieso, Wu Tsang and boychild, as well as performances by Formosa Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Trajal Harrell, and more.

On Tuesday, October 2, the seventh annual National Manufacturing Day (NMD) will be held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The day will once again feature a dramatic morning landing by the New York Army National Guard Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk landing (weather permitting) at 7:30 a.m. Participants will be able to get up close to the Black Hawk during the lab tour segment of the day’s schedule.  

A new research center focused on vertical flight has been launched at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Under the leadership of Farhan Gandhi, the Rosalind and John J. Redfern Jr. ’33 Professor of Engineering, MOVE—The Center for Mobility with Vertical Lift—will pursue cutting-edge research in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft technologies.