On Monday, March 18, President Shirley Ann Jackson sent an e-mail to every member of the Rensselaer community about the Institute’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014. Among others, the updates included a 4.0 percent increase to undergraduate and graduate tuition, raising next year’s charges to $45,100 per student per year. Room and board costs also increased by 4.0 percent. Read more...

RPI offers many ways to learn outside of the classroom. Whether it is through additional interactions with professors outside of class, or the rare and elusive field trip, learning does exist beyond scheduled lecture times. One such method is via the seminar series hosted by various departments and groups on campus. These series often feature visiting professors or graduate students from RPI. Talking to these people after the presentations can be a great way to network and possibly even become involved in the research yourself, if it is RPI-based. Additionally, these talks and lectures are a great way to keep up on cutting-edge research that is being conducted at institutions outside of RPI. Other times, graduate students or professors will put on the presentation and talks. Some departments, such as the Cognitive Science and Biology departments, offer these seminars weekly while others, such as the Computer Science department, offer them on a more irregular schedule. Read more...

Bioshock: Infinite is the latest installation in the Bioshock franchise and marks the return of the original developers to the game after Bioshock 2 was developed by a different studio. Though delayed several times, Infinite was finally released on March 26 and is quite worth the wait. The game is a spiritual sequel to Bioshock and Bioshock 2, featuring similar gameplay but a different setting and plot. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys story-driven gameplay, as Bioshock: Infinite keeps up the incredibly high standard of production present in the original. Read more...

With Grand Marshal Week just two weeks away, the Union Constitution Committee—which consists of members of the Student Senate, Rensselaer Union Executive Board, and the Senate’s Rules and Elections Committee—has pushed to update the Rensselaer Union Constitution. Read more...

The Polytechnic is unlike every other organization here at RPI for many different reasons. For starters, we are a zero-subsidy group, meaning that not a penny of the Student Activity Fee that you pay goes to fund us. Instead, every dollar we spend we have to make in ads and subscriptions. However, other things make The Poly an appetizing group to be a part of. Read more...

How do you reinvent a classic? This is a question Hollywood has been posing a lot lately. The past few years have seen a veritable flood of remakes and prequels and decades-later sequels. Unfortunately, the overall quality of these movies has been somewhat lower than the ones they’re trying so hard to associate with. So when it was announced that a prequel to one of the greats, The Wizard of Oz, was in the works, a number of eyebrows were raised, (rather understandably, if you ask me). Read more...

I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky and outgoing person. People who know me can hear my laugh a mile away, and friends tell me that I make their days. It gives me great joy knowing that I gave someone a smile to call their own. But occasionally, times get the best of me. We try so hard to stay cheerful, though mud gets thrown in our faces. It just hits us at the most inopportune moments; however, that’s what life’s all about. We need this rollercoaster to hit the bottom of the loop if we want to get back up again. Otherwise, there is no difference between good and bad times. Read more...

The Student Senate of the Rensselaer Student Union, upon a proposal submitted by the Union Constitution Committee, has approved changes to Rensselaer Union Constitution as outlined below: Read more...

Hello RPI! I think this is either my third-or second-to-last Top Hat that I will be writing! This year has surely gone by very quickly. Since this is one of my last articles, I need to write about something important! This week, I will be talking about the staff and administration at Rensselaer. Over the course of my academic career here, I have had the distinct pleasure and privilege to work with and meet many of these great staff members and administrators, so I think it’s about time to talk about my experiences. Read more...

Hello again, RPI! Thanks to everyone who came out for the Union After Dark event on Friday, as well as those who came out for the first annual RPI Wellness Day on Saturday. Both events were huge successes, and we hope to continue these programs later in the semester. The Union Executive Board and Student Senate continued their fierce tradition of Broomball this past Sunday at the Houston Field House. I am pleased to report that the E-Board crushed the Senate 4-1 in convincing fashion, although a great time was had by all. Full coverage of this event should be available
on RPI TV soon! Read more...

On Monday, March 18, Dean of Students Mark Smith visited the Student Senate during their weekly general body meeting to discuss the issue of the Institute’s jurisdiction regarding off-campus misconduct. Upon approval, changes will be made to Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities 2012-2014. Read more...

Before Spring Break, the Student Senate passed a motion requiring all Grand Marshal and President of the Union candidates to have a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Soon after this vote, the Institute instated a rule requiring a much higher 3.0 GPA instead. While this is completely within the Institute’s ability, as prescribed by the Rensselaer Union Constitution, this action marks yet another chip away from the Senate’s already meager power. The Senate has now been reduced to a simple placeholder group, as it has even been stripped of the ability to govern itself. Read more...

With the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm this past week, a new chapter in the Starcraft world has begun. Heart of the Swarm features a new campaign, new units, and a fresh, streamlined look to the Battle.net Starcraft user interface. For those that do not know, Starcraft II is a real time strategy game that involves managing an economy to build an army. There are three playable races: Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. The Terrans, the balanced (not imbalanced) race, are futuristic humans that possess units created for efficacy and efficiency. The high-tech Protoss are intelligent aliens that are endowed with psionic potential and costly, but powerful, technology. Contrarily, the Zerg swarm uses large numbers of inexpensive biological alien units to overwhelm its opponents. In the Heart of the Swarm expansion, players are able to unleash the Zerg swarm in the campaign game mode. Read more...

Despite finishing second overall in the ECAC after a rough start to the season, RPI men’s hockey couldn’t keep the momentum going into the playoffs. Earning its first bye since 1997, Rensselaer, who is currently ranked 19th in the nation, fell to Brown University in a three-game set, ending its playoff run. The Engineers—who may hit the ice once more in the NCAA tournament should things fall into place—currently sit with an 18-14-3 overall record, with a 12-7-3 conference mark. Read more...

The Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Department Student Advisory Council provides advisement at the student level for decisions made in the mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering departments. Composed of RPI students, the council is involved in a myriad of activities to improve student lives within departmental activities. Read more...

Procrastination happens.

Even the most hardworking people wait longer than they should before studying for exams or starting projects. Different coping techniques work for different people, but rarely can a silver bullet fix this kind of problem. Make a calendar? Keep a “to-do” list? Almost everyone wants better time management skills; almost no one finds the time to practice or improve. Read more...

From February 20 to March 6, Green Greeks held their first annual can drive to promote recycling in the greek community at RPI. This program was incredibly successful, engaging eleven fraternities and two sororities in a friendly competition aimed at increasing awareness about the importance of recycling cans and bottles. As an incentive to participate, the club promised rewards for two categories of winners: the chapter with the most money raised, and the chapter with the most money raised per member. The total money raised was split 50/50 between these two categories, preventing larger chapters from having a clear advantage over other participants, and donated to the charity of each winner’s choice. At the conclusion of the event on March 6, the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha led the competition with a total of $77.10 raised from recyclables, followed by Delta Tau Delta in second place with $68.50, and Theta Chi in third with $57.50. The results from the second category are not expected to be tallied until updated rosters can be submitted from each participating chapter. Overall, these hard-working greeks raised a total of $417.80 that will be donated in full to two charities. Read more...

After a dramatic finish at the USCSA Mideast Regional which sent the RPI men’s ski team to its first ever trip to the National Championships, the squad did not disappoint as it finished sixth overall among the field of 19 teams. Rensselaer was led by sophomore Paul Koetke, who finished 12th in the Giant Slalom and 16th in the Slalom, good to place 10th overall at Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. Read more...