We use fossil fuels as an energy resource every day. What heats your residence hall, provides you with electricity and light, and powers your classrooms’ projectors? Probably not renewable energy. Read more...

Are you participating in No-Shave November? It doesn’t matter if you are or aren’t, but do you know the real meaning behind this event? No-Shave November is held by the American Cancer Society to raise awareness of cancer. You would think that it is cruel to remind those in chemotherapy of what they don’t have—hair—but it isn’t like that. You actually spend the whole month forgoing shaving and waxing, and actually embracing your hair and letting it grow. And instead of spending money that usually goes to pay for hair care, you donate to help with the battle against cancer. Read more...

I had high hopes for Sharknado. And I definitely got everything I was looking for and more. This was the movie that hit America by storm over the summer. It was all anyone on the news networks was talking about for months. Sharknado saw the pairing of the two hot shots in the bad movie business—Syfy and The Asylum. It was definitely a match made in heaven. Read more...

Last Saturday marked the season opener for the Engineers, both of them as it happened. In their first contest of the season the RPI Engineers played a very familiar opponent, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers. In a game marked by quick-tempo play and plentiful scoring, RPI lost at East Campus Arena to its conference rival 100-84. Read more...

On November 9, I had the great privilege of speaking with the student leaders of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over brunch. Read more...

Brewery: Breckenridge Brewing Co.

Bio: In February 1990, after years of home brewing, Richard Squire decided to open up a craft brewery/restaurant in Breckenridge, Colorado. Read more...

The Student Senate met this Monday and several interesting topics were raised. An issue that the Senate has been researching for the past semester is the transportation needs of students on campus. The type of transportation service that is being looked at is a program that would allow students to rent vehicles for periods of time. The car sharing initiative would allow students to rent a car within the RPI campus, through some vendor, and use it for whatever needs that they have. This initiative has risen from student concerns for the lack of transportation options on campus for important things like job interviews, networking and professional events, and health appointments. This program focuses primarily on students who do not have a car on campus. Read more...

Hello RPI! It seems that time is flying by as we have a little over two weeks left in the semester. I hope that everyone is managing with their homework and tests in this final stretch before Thanksgiving break. Read more...

Note from Kyle Keraga ’15, president of the Undergraduate Council: Hello again, RPI, and welcome to the Undergraduate Council’s first class president feature! With this week’s column, you’ll be hearing from Michelle Lamberta ’14, president of the senior class, about 2014’s planned class gift and other upcoming senior events. If you have any questions or ideas for the senior class, you may reach her at lambem2@rpi.edu. Read more...

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...

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...