They say “good things come in small packages.” I’d have to agree. And this has nothing to do with the fact that there are a significant number of collapsible objects in today’s market nor with the fact that I’m not exactly a large person. It has everything to do with the fact that it’s the little things that make all the difference. Read more...

During the week leading up to Earth Day 2013, Rensselaer presents the Sensing Environments Festival, an array of performances, lectures, films, exhibits, and workshops that showcase the theme of environmental sustainability. Read more...

On Monday afternoon, during the annual Boston Marathon, three explosions occurred near the finish line. According to Time, the bombing has led to two deaths and more than 130 injuries. While they were not injured, RPI men’s hockey coach Seth Appert and assistant coach Nolan Graham held a press release Tuesday afternoon to describe their experience. Read more...

Even with the weather this past week ranging from drizzles, to sunshine, to hail, to flat out downpours, nothing could rain on the parade that was Grand Marshal Week 2013. While I was unable to attend all of the events, I was thankful for the time I did have to enjoy the free food and activities. Read more...

This past weekend, I ventured to the movie theater with my boyfriend as a last minute “hey, let’s do something cause it’s Friday night” outing. Thankfully, the current movie listings are so underwhelming that seeing a random Danny Boyle film we knew nothing about sounded more fun than paying through the nose to watch Halle Berry stop a serial killer, or Gerard Butler stop terrorists, or Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson stop Cobra. Read more...

Having overcome delays with the installation of a new digital projector, UPAC Cinema will return to full operation with an Oscar Weekend extravaganza beginning Friday, April 19. Read more...

Hello, RPI! As you may know, I was just recently elected as the 148th Grand Marshal. I am very honored to hold this position, and I will do my best to serve the RPI community. I would like to thank everyone who voted in the election this year as we had one of the highest voter turnouts ever with 3,096 students. This is incredible and continues the trend of increased student participation in elections. Hopefully, this trend carries on next year, as voting is very important, since it’s a channel for every student to express their opinion on student government and the direction of RPI in general. Read more...

The Tau Beta Pi honor society held an egg drop competition in the Jonsson Engineering Center on Wednesday of GM Week. It started at 10 am and lasted until 2 pm; a total of 47 devices were entered with 42 competitors. The premise of the competition was to obtain the lowest score; however, an element that made this competition different from the typical egg drop was the accuracy factor. The honor society set up a bull’s-eye at the bottom of the drop; contestants that landed the egg closer to the center scored more points. Score was based on the weight of the design, the number of components used, whether the egg was intact, and distance to the center of the bull’s-eye. Some competitors specialized on certain parts of the scoring system, and others performed well in all three. Different components were employed to achieve these goals. Read more...

Hi, my name is Gretchen Sileo, your recently-elected President of the Union. I would like to thank everyone who came out and voted this year; we had an excellent turnout! I have been involved in the Executive Board since my sophomore year, and I really enjoy getting to work with all of the diverse clubs and organizations we have here. I can’t wait to strengthen these relationships during my time as PU. Read more...

Rainbows, sexuality, and laughter. Those three words best describe the Spring 2013 Drag Show, hosted by the Rensselaer Pride Alliance. RPI students and drag queens of the local community took part in making this show a couple hours of fun, with the proceeds going to the Pride Center of the Capital Region. In addition to dancing on stage in drag, performers interacted with the audience and even threw things into the crowd (beware the flying high heels!). A plethora of balloons of different colors made a rainbow across the stage in West Hall. Read more...

Due to the lack of any real GM opposition, the annual Grand Marshal, President of the Union debates were, in a sense, cancelled. Instead, all discussion was transferred to http://reddit.com/r/rpi/ in the form of an “Ask Me Anything” for each candidate. Read more...

On Wednesday of Grand Marshal Week, the Information and Personnel Assistance Center held its annual Stump IPAC event. For those that don’t know, IPAC answers non-homework questions through phone and text for RPI students. Informally, it is known as the “chacha” of RPI and is mainly run by students. From noon–4 pm on Wednesday, they held a table in the Voorhees Computing Center North Quad area, where the main festivities were. IPAC members beckoned passersby to fill out a form including their question, name and e-mail. If IPAC could not provide an answer, then the person that submitted the question would win a T-shirt. There were a variety of challenging questions that IPAC answered. For example, someone asked where the old electronics club was located, to which IPAC truthfully responded, the basement of the Darrin Communications Center, a few doors down from room 308 (and was closed for failing a fire safety inspection). IPAC knew that Chad Schweitzer was the youngest DeLorean owner in 2003. Ever wonder when the Department of Public Safety came to campus? Well, IPAC found out that the DPS was created in the 1980s. In addition, it knew that The Poly was a Columbian medalist award winner in 1988. Members of IPAC even went so far as to count the total number of steps on campus. On that note, the Approach contains 153 steps. However, there was a question that stumped IPAC. Read more...

Last Wednesday, President Shirley Ann Jackson held her annual Spring Town Hall Meeting in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. During the meeting, Jackson explained the state of the Insitute to members of the Rensselaer community and the surrounding areas. Among the topics she discussed was the idea of the “New Polytechnic,” which she described in the ERA Foundation International Lecture at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London on January 22. Read more...

Now, I know that The Poly’s usual audience doesn’t generally include game designers (well, unless you’re in the GSAS program), but this notebook space is for whatever the author wants it to be. So today, dear reader, you get to receive a rant on an unfortunate problem in games today: achievements that restrict gameplay. Read more...

With student government elections approaching, a myriad of campaign infractions have occurred. The Rules and Elections Committee of the Student Senate administers and regulates the elections process. Many of the infractions resulted in additional hours of community service. Each candidate is required to carry out two hours of service through helping the GM Week Committee. Read more...

On Friday, April 12, from 12–4 pm, EcoLogic will be hosting EarthFest. EarthFest is an annual event that involves many different environmental clubs and organizations. In the past, it has included organizations from around the capital region. This year, though, EarthFest will feature tables from Engineering for a Sustainable World, Engineers Without Borders, Student Sustainability Task Force, Vasudha, Rensselaer Electric Vehicle, Terra Café, and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Honor Society. Each club will provide information as well as have a display that may include free food or pet rocks. Read more...

If you’re reading this as an accepted student, you probably already know that RPI is an excellent engineering school. According to Business Insider, we rank fourth in the country for engineering. Additionally, we rank among the top 50 universities in the country. However, this means that there are not many opportunities for a liberal arts education, and, consequently, you will rarely find large, abstract displays of art or barefoot, guitar-wielding musicians playing in the Quadrangle. Also, RPI is a research university. On one hand, this means that professors are only at the Institute for research, focusing less on teaching. On the other hand, this provides opportunities for students to get involved in research with their professors. Read more...