Hello RPI! This week has been very exciting for Rensselaer students, and there’s only more to come! We started off the week with an amazing concert with Passion Pit and Matt & Kim presented by UPAC Concerts at the Houston Field House. Personally, I was busy doing three different lab assignments for a single class… so, if like me, you didn’t go, I bet you regret it after seeing all the videos on Facebook. The videos of the Harlem Shake really make me mad at my lab instructor, because that has got to be one of the coolest things we’ve done here. Read more...

Ex Cops, a Brooklyn, New York band featuring Brian Harding of Hymns and Amalie Bruun of Minks, released their debut album, True Hallucinations, on January 22 this year. Having had the fortune to listen to the CD, I can recommend it to fans of lighter rock and pop music. Read more...

Hello, all! I hope that everyone weathered winter storm Nemo well, even though we really didn’t see that much snow, at least compared to my home back in Massachusetts.
It was another great weekend for many of our varsity athletic teams. Both men’s ice hockey and men’s basketball completed the weekend sweep at Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and women’s basketball also beat the Golden Knights on Saturday. Read more...

Continuing on with last week’s series of blurbs on campus dining options, here’s the rest of the retail cafes and the Union options. Read more...

RMA to stay 
affiliated

To the editor:

I am writing this message in an effort to clarify information contained in the article entitled “School of HASS acquires Music Association” that was printed on the front page of The Polytechnic last week. I would like to first say that the article is well written and contains great detail regarding the process that has been ongoing for almost a year between the Rensselaer
Union, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the Rensselaer Music Association. I am pleased and appreciative that, throughout this process, Dean Mary Simoni and the rest of the HASS staff have openly collaborated and worked with the Union and RMA. The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences will be expanding its curriculum in the fall to include an arts program, and in this transition Symphonic Orchestra and Concert Choir will once again becoming fully credit-bearing classes. In preparation for this transition, the Institute has given the Rensselaer
Union use of the first floor of the J-Building, which has since been renovated and remodeled exclusively for use by the RMA. Read more...

Last October, Phi Gamma Delta and Alpha Omega Epsilon—two members of the Green Greeks—brought a campaign started by Greenpeace to Rensselaer’s campus. Greenpeace is a global environmental organization that influences environmental policy in many nations. The campaign was aimed at getting a company called Asia Pulp and Paper to change their policies and cancel their programs of illegal deforestation. More than two thousand e-mails were sent to customers of the company to inform them of the company’s illegal practices. These e-mails were sent by students and staff at Rensselaer. Read more...

For roughly the last decade, according to President of the Union Jonathan Stack ’13 and Director of the Rensselaer Union Joe Cassidy, the Union has entirely funded and maintained almost all of the music groups and ensembles of RPI. About a decade ago, when the Institute withdrew funding for nearly all of its musical programs, the Union stepped forward and took over financial responsibility for the programs, according to Stack. Over the last decade, the Union has been replacing, repairing, and supplying the musical ensembles, using space in West Hall gifted to the Rensselaer Music Association by the Institute. Read more...

If you attended Pack the Union in the Rensselaer Union this past weekend, you were probably already a part of—and quite involved in—a Union club. Read more...

This week, I’m doing things a little differently. Essentially, I was too disinterested in pretty much every film release this past weekend; Warm Bodies gets an honorable mention, although I still couldn’t bring myself to go to the theater to see it. Read more...

Did you know that I can write whatever I want in this space? SQUIRRELPAJAMAS! Whether it be about my winter break (which was boring), my favorite Alien/Predator movie (Predator totally wins, hands down) or a deep and thoughtful discussion on the current state of RPI or higher education in general (Rensselaer is pretty great, but we do have some problems), I can write something here and someone will read it (even if it’s just my mother). This editorial space has been granted to each and every one of the editors of this lovely newspaper you are reading. It serves as a way for editors to voice their many opinions that can’t be vocalized in other sections of the paper. Read more...

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to experience the myriad dining options on campus, I have taken it upon myself to provide a small blurb about each. Read more...

On Monday, January 14, Startup Labs announced the five finalists for its first business competition in the United States. Among the top five teams was SnagMobile LLC, a startup run by four RPI alumni and a current senior. Read more...

Personal projects can be an important and fun learning experience as an engineer. Over Winter Break, I decided to start a personal project in my fields of study electrical engineering and computer and systems engineering. I started making a RGB LED matrix. An RGB LED matrix utilizes many different concepts used in my field, such as multiplexing, shift registers/serial-to-parallel conversion, transistors, diodes, microcontrollers, and programming. I dedicated about half of my break learning about those concepts which I did not already know about and started the design and construction of the matrix in such a way that it could be expanded into a larger version; I would not be able to transport a large matrix on the plane from Texas or Florida. Since I have come back to RPI, my plan was to expand the programming into more complex functions so that text and patterns could be displayed, but just like every other project in the world, there was a problem with the design. The shift registers used my design introduced noise into the signal lines when shifting in the serial data, causing anything that did not have every single LED turned on to display random colors instead of being off. To solve the problem, I went to the ultimate place to buy things for electronics, sketchy eBay stores that ship out of Hong Kong! Unfortunately, there are a few problems with ordering from foreign countries; it takes about a month to get a package from them, and they frequently send the wrong items in the post, meaning that you must wait another month to get the right item. Anyone interested in seeing it can see my project flashing in the window in the front of Davison Hall. Read more...

Professor Jonathan Dordick’s research builds upon biological molecules found in nature. With his involvement in improving the effectiveness of biopsies and developing paints that kill bacteria on contact, Dordick busily oversees the research for a myriad of different projects. Read more...

Hello RPI! I hope everyone enjoyed the exciting weekend during the school’s most spirited festivities. This Friday was the 2nd Annual Rensselaer Spirit Day—waves of red were found on
Twitter and Facebook. The following night was the 37th
Annual Big Red Freakout! The atmosphere was great in the sold-out Houston Field House and the 3-0 shutout against Dartmouth made the night even more exciting. Men’s ice hockey is looking very promising after this weekend, with many more games to go. Read more...

Hello all! First off, I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped in the planning and execution of the “Pack the Union” Spring Activities Fair, which was held last Saturday. Over 90 clubs and student organizations sent representatives to showcase their programs and recruit new members. Also on Saturday,
over 4,800 people (many of whom were students) attended the 36th Annual Big Red Freakout!
at the Houston Field House. It was great to see such great support, and even better that the team kicked the crap out of Dartmouth! If you didn’t get one of the Freakout! gifts and would like one, just let me know; I’ve got a few hats left. Read more...

The Spring Career Fair is being held Wednesday, February 13 from 11 am to 4 pm in the Armory. The Center for Career and Professional Development has put together a helpful guide that covers how to design a résumé, letter-writing guidelines in the job search, things to think about in the interview process and how to navigate a career fair. The booklet is full of examples and helpful tips. A PDF version can be found at http://www.rpi.edu/dept/cdc/CCPD_Career_Guide_2012_13.pdf Read more...

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