I catch myself looking out the window more and more these days trying to predict what is going to happen to us when we graduate from here. This is something that I spend a lot of time doing because that’s why I’m here—I looked up at that banner that asked us, “Why not change the world?” not as a pithy joke, but as a serious challenge. The world is changing rapidly, and I worry that we are not taking that challenge seriously enough. The world isn’t just moving from analog to digital; from physical storage mediums in the home to storage across the cloud. The world is moving from a place where the old expectations about growth and work and prestige are up for grabs. Our world is quickly becoming one where the spark that will change the nature of science and engineering itself doesn’t have to come from Boston or the West Coast, but in a plucky little school that doesn’t have anything to lose because the world that it used to build students for was completed and abandoned. I catch myself looking out of the window at the world and thinking that we are going to need a new plan if we’re going to change the world we are actually entering. Read more...
Monthly Archives: November 2013
On Monday, the Student Senate approved a new Executive Board representative and discussed an awards event to facilitate communication between students and staff. Read more...
Alby the squirrel was spotted recently. The albino squirrel—and the campus fascination with squirrels in general—is one of many RPI traditions. Read more...
The Engineers kicked off their weekend by playing Cornell on Friday. Cornell came into the Houston Field House ranked No. 15, providing the Engineers a big opportunity to play against a top ranked team in the nation. After giving up a goal in the first period, the Engineers came back with a strong second period, netting two goals. The first came just over a minute into the period when senior Guy Leboeuf netted a shorthanded goal with assists from junior Mark McGowan and sophomore Mike Zalewski. Junior Ryan Haggerty would find the back of the net for his 11 goal of the season 15:30 through the period to give RPI the lead. Haggerty was assisted by sophomore Chris Bradley and senior Bo Dolan. Junior Matt Neal opened the scoring in the third period for the Engineers by finding the back of the net 7:59 into the period with the assist again coming from Zalewski. Cornell would answer late in the game, scoring with less than two minutes to play to pull within one. During the play, RPI was called for boarding, giving Cornell a power play for the remainder of the game. After calling a timeout, Cornell’s power play was able to find a goal with only 30 seconds left to play. The following overtime would yield no goals for either team and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. When asked for comment, Engineers’ Seth Appert said “We probably made three mistakes in a row, and all of a sudden it just changed that quick.” Appert was clearly frustrated with the tie saying it was “not acceptable” and that the team has “got to come very determined tomorrow to change that.” Read more...
Here’s the thing about going to school with a host of really bright and talented students: you will never measure up all the time. You were all told right before the start of your freshman year that 50% of your class will be in the bottom 50% of your class, and that tautology contains a truth that we’ll run into again and again. Read more...
On Saturday, November 9, the Rusty Pipes hosted their 17th annual Pipe-A-Thon, called The Rusty Pipes Travel Through Time. It started at 7 pm and ran until 9, and was held in DCC 308. The groups that performed were Vocal Accent from Rochester Institute of Technology, The Girls Next Door from the College of Saint Rose, and of course, RPI’s own Rusty Pipes. Read more...
On an overcast Senior Day at East Campus Stadium, the Engineers’ football team took on the Springfield Pride in hopes of picking up their second straight win. But, despite mounting a late comeback which involved two key takeaways by its defense, RPI fell seven points short, 35-28. This loss brings RPI to an overall record of 4-5 and a conference record of 1-5, while the Pride move to 5-3. Read more...
Hello RPI. This past Thursday, the Student Senate had the public safety forum in the Shelnutt Gallery. The purpose of this event is to provide students an opportunity to have an open discussion and raise concerns related to their safety on and off campus. To help address any concerns at the forum we had several staff come in. Among those that attended were Chief of Public Safety Roger Johnson, Associate Dean of the Greek Life Commons Matt Hunt, Associate Dean of Off-Campus Commons Cary Dresher, Assistant Dean of Residence Life Randi Mogul and Director of Auxiliary Services Alex da Silva. Read more...
Hello RPI! As some of you may already know, the Executive Board’s Marketing, Advertising and Publicity Committee has been very busy planning and hosting the Club Officer Symposiums. The purpose of these events is to educate our clubs and organizations in order to help them better utilize the marketing strategies available to them. Holly Nelson, the new Communications Specialist for the Student Union, gives a presentation describing the ways that clubs can promote a consistent image and message. By having more focused marketing campaigns, we can more effectively communicate specific messages and information. This is an area for improvement for all of our clubs, and I hope that soon we will see this information implemented. Read more...
Brewery: Keegan Ales
Bio: Keegan Ales was set up in early 2003 by Tommy Keegan in Kingston, New York. The first batch Keegan brewed was finished August 1 2003. After finishing, he proceeded to sell his beer at local restaurants and bars. Later that month, Keegan Ales had entered into a competition at Hunter Mountain, where Mother’s Milk took home a gold medal. Up until 2004 Keegan Ales was not able to bottle any of their beer due to a defunct bottling machine; they only sold kegs during this period. Since then, they have won countless awards and recognitions including best beer in the Hudson Valley and best brewery in New York State. In 2010 New York Times declared Mother’s Milk to be one of the top 10 stouts made in North America. Read more...
Recently, City Station changed management. Graduate students living there have found themselves frustrated by some of the changes in policy and general management. Concerns voiced by graduate student residents of City Station to The Poly, some of whom wished to remain anonymous, include lease updates, lease length, fees to let locked-out students back into their rooms, package delivery, privacy, and parking. Read more...
The end of the year is approaching quickly. With only four weeks left in the semester, keep your work ethic strong in your studies. Midterms have mostly likely ended at this time and the third round of exams should be on the horizon. After that is the ever dreaded final exam that most of us must take. Please remember to be vigilante with your studies in these final weeks because they can really make or break your grades. Also, try to get your work done before Thanksgiving break so that you can enjoy the time off with family. I remember procrastinating sophomore year with my work and ended up having to type a 60 page report over the holiday, which I’ll tell you now was not enjoyable. Read more...
This past Saturday, the Calder Quartet performed to a sold-out crowd at EMPAC’s Studio 2. The Calder Quartet is a string quartet consisting of two violinists, a cellist, and a violist who play a large range of works, from shows with the rock band, The National, to classical performances at Carnegie Hall. Read more...
The football game against the United States Merchant Marine Academy finally took place this past Saturday—after the government shutdown required it to be postponed from October 5—and resulted in a ‘W’ for the Engineers, as they plowed past in a 28-13 win. This lifted RPI out of its four-game losing streak and brought them to a conference record of 1-4 and an overall record of 4-4, while the Mariners fell to 1-2 and 4-2. Read more...
At its weekly general body meeting on Monday, November 4, the Student Senate’s standard discourse went on. This meeting specifically focused on the new academic excuse policy the senate is trying to pass for the greater good of RPI students. Read more...
Not owning a car can be difficult. Too often, it means bugging friends for rides, trudging to class on frigid mornings, and making the exhausting hike up and down the Approach just to visit a friend at Blitman or grab a bite to eat downtown. Living close to campus can mitigate some of these problems, but ultimately, there’s so much to see and do in and around campus that some form of transportation will be necessary. Read more...
