Two shots, with 3.9 seconds left in regulation, broke Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College’s tie at 65, letting the Engineers beat the Dutchmen 67-65. It also increased Rensselaer’s winning streak to six games and overall record to 15-9, depsite shooting 34 percent. Read more...

Structure-function dynamics form the basis of Professor Chunyu Wang’s research. Wang explores Alzheimer’s disease and protein splicing mainly through the use of nuclear magnetic resonance. Read more...

When I first came to RPI as a wide-eyed freshman (ahhh, such simpler times), I was young and eager to try new things. This is a large part of the reason I’m currently at The Poly. I e-mailed them asking how to get involved; even though I was a bit hesitant to go outside and, you know, do things, I realized that I would probably be happier if I forced myself to be an active member of my college. While I was still a bit on the fence about what to do when I saw the response from The Poly’s former Editor in Chief, Kelly Lottman ’11, I proceeded to read her response and realize that there was free ice cream at stake. I immediately went to obtain my free ice-cream, and I got roped into The Poly and have been having a great time and receiving free food (well, pizza) ever since. However, two years have since passed, and at times I feel as if I’ve lost that sense of needing to expand my horizons and always do new things. However, this smarter, better part of me knows that such thinking is foolish and in order for me to be happy I have to be working on some sort of adventure/plan/shenanigan that I’ve never encountered before. Read more...

Over the last two weeks, The Polytechnic published a review of mine of all of the dining options on campus, from my personal point of view. In response to said review, I got several complaints in person and a couple of concerned e-mails. I hope that a response to the latter, including a review after I went down there to eat breakfast today, will not be taken with such intense vitriol. First, I will address a couple of non-Lally-related points that have come up since I wrote my article. To begin, Blitman Residence Commons. I wasn’t completely clear on the cleanliness problems I brought up; several times when myself and others have gone there, there have been a lot of pile-ups of used cups, dishes, and silverware on the tables due to the place being understaffed. I can certainly sympathize with that, having worked at Blitman a couple of times. Also, Evelyn’s. I heard after I had made my review that Evelyn’s was cheaper than I had remembered from previous experience. It is possible to get a perfectly fine meal for $10–12. Read more...

Over the next several months, a committee will be developed to focus on addressing issues related to hazing. Vice President of Student Life Timothy Sams wants the committee to focus on hazing prevention and education. Read more...

Normally, I’m a pretty positive person. I’ve been known to advocate happiness, smiling, sunshine, and rainbows. I often mention that the world should be a bright, colorful place full of good moods and silliness. But lately, I’ve come to realize that having a bad day (emotionally) might actually be a good thing. Read more...

To the Editor:

The review of the Lally Galley by Nick Zieve (February 13, page 13) was not only sloppy and lazy reporting, but also highly inaccurate and offensive. Rendering an unsupported opinion, printed in the Features section of the paper, is completely irresponsible. This is particularly the case in that he admittedly never bothered to walk once—in three years—to see it for himself, nor to so much as say hello to the staff. Read more...

It’s that time of year again: Oscar season! Yes, Hollywood’s biggest award show of the year is this coming weekend, and you can bet there will be some disappointing selections made. You know, because politics always seems to rear its ugly head at this ceremony; films that deserve to win don’t, and films that should have been laughed at wind up laughing right back as they drown in shiny, golden statuettes. Now, before any of you start complaining that the show is pointless because The Dark Knight Rises didn’t get any nominations, know that you are henceforth banned from reading these reviews. Batman doesn’t quit for a girl, Alfred doesn’t quit because his boss won’t quit, and no Robin worth his salt is named after a character from the comics who got his report card stolen by the Joker. So, now that we’ve all got that out of our systems, let’s talk about a movie that actually is worthy of winning one of the coveted, faceless trophies; let’s talk about Silver Linings Playbook. Read more...

Hello, RPI, after a great three-day weekend, I hope everyone is well-rested for the long three-weeks until Spring Break! This weekend, Winter Carnival was a nice way to win some free stuff by playing games. It was also great to pet some adorable Siberian huskies. In other news, the men’s hockey team advances to second in the East Coast Athletic Conference, extending its conference game winning streak to eight games! Congratulations to Seth Appert and the team for the great work they’ve done on the ice. Read more...

Hello again, RPI! I hope that everyone enjoyed a break from classes on Monday and that some rest and relaxation was indulged in over the long weekend. Many thanks and congratulations to Jillian Johnson ’13 and all of those involved in the planning and execution of the Absolute Zero Winter Carnival, which was held at the East Campus Athletic Village this past Saturday. There were over 20 different carnival games for students and RPI community members alike to participate in, as well as free food, live music from many student groups, and other events throughout the course of the afternoon. All of this led up to the Whiteout men’s hockey game that evening, with the Engineers crushing the Yale Bulldogs 4-1! It was a great event that took countless hours of hard work and dedication to organize. If you are interested in being involved in planning the Winter Carnival next year, please e-mail
winter-carnival@union.rpi.edu for more information! Read more...

Over Winter Break, members of RPI’s chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World traveled to Ek’Balam, Mexico, to assist the community with their sustainability efforts. To display the various technologies the community could employ, ESW members designed and constructed an “eco hogar”—essentially, an ecological display house. Read more...

Last week, The Polytechnic made a grave mistake: our front page headline was both incorrect and misleading. The headline “School of HASS acquires Music Association; The Rensselaer Music Association will no longer be funded by the Rensselaer Union” was an unfortunate misprint, as it is entirely false. The article, however, was factually correct. The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences did not acquire the Rensselaer Music Association, and the RMA will still be funded by the Rensselaer Union. We regret the error, and will work hard to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future. To Dean Mary Simoni and the HASS department, members of the RMA, and the rest of the RPI community, we apologize for the mistake. To see the full list of corrections, please turn to page 3. Read more...

Sarah’s Take

UPAC Concerts hosted their spring concert February 12 at the Houston Field House, cosponsoring with WEQX. It was the first Field House show since Fall Out Boy headlined in May 2009, and for many, the first opportunity to shuffle out onto dusty cardboard sheets laid on top of the ice. Read more...

The room selection process for the 2013-2014 academic year began on Tuesday, February 12. As of Wednesday, the only portions of the selection process that have started are the Current Room Retention process and the Group Commons/Gender Neutral Housing process. Read more...

Recently, I was the target of a scam e-mail. Now, I know that doesn’t sound too exciting, but bear with me for a few paragraphs—the story gets better. This e-mail was sent to my RPI account, but also through the Poly Features e-mail list. It never actually reached my inbox—or my Respite, strangely—but it did show up in the Respite of a friend who is also on the Features list. When my friend saw the e-mail, he contacted me worriedly straight away. Read more...

This weekend and next weekend, February 15, 16, 17, 22, and 23, the RPI Players will present their annual Evening of Performance, featuring three one-act plays and a short improv performance by Sheer Idiocy. I was privileged to attend one of their rehearsals this past Monday, and if it was any indication, the actual show will be spectacular. Read more...

I live in the Quadrangle—Buck, to be specific. Leffert L. Buck ’68 was some RPI alumnus and a bridge designer somewhere, and I only know that because every time I swipe into my stack, I see a plaque honoring him. Buck seems to be the stack that nobody knows about, kind of like Pardee, and I usually describe it saying that “it’s between Hunt III and Cooper.” People, then, know what I mean. Read more...

I’ve never understood America’s obsession with zombies. I’ve always been a vampire kind of guy when it comes to my monster of choice. People seem to just really love zombies, though; last summer, a friend of mine told me to watch The Walking Dead, as it was “the best show on television.” Knowing that this friend also watched shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, I took this pretty seriously and went about watching the first two seasons of the show. Now, The Walking Dead isn’t a bad show, but it has some notable flaws that hold it back from true greatness ... and I’d have to say that shows like Game of Thrones, Sherlock, and Breaking Bad are definitely superior. Still, this particular friend wasn’t the only person to regale me about the brilliance that is The Walking Dead, and I wound up chalking it up to the aforementioned cultural obsession with zombies. Cinema seems to have also caught on to this trend, and have thus produced the new movie Warm Bodies. Warm Bodies is a zombie movie that seems to have been aimed at the Twilight crowd, and I was initially unsure as to how I felt about that. Still, I gave it a shot. Read more...