Monthly Archives: October 2016
On September 9, Vice President for Student Life Dr. Frank E. Ross III met with members of the Alumni Inter Greek Council to discuss upcoming changes to Greek life at Rensselaer. Among these changes was the plan to mandate that students affiliated with Greek houses spend the Summer Arch program in on-campus housing, rather than in their respective Greek houses. The decision appears to have been made without direct contact with the students, as the information was only provided to campus fraternities and sororities after it had been made. For Greek organizations, the changes could be detrimental to the normal working function of the houses, and could result in additional living costs. Read more...
It’s that time of the year again; as the temperatures start to drop and the leaves change colors, winter’s arrival seems imminent. Recently, new winter predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that much of the U.S. could expect a milder and drier winter. For regions such as the northern part of the Midwest, however, winter weather will most likely be colder and wetter. This warmer trend can be attributed to the La Niña climate pattern which shifts global weather patterns, making some areas warmer and others cooler. This prediction of warmer temperatures might seem like welcome news for us. After all, who wants to walk across campus in freezing temperatures? However, this news should cause some concern. Of the past twelve months, eleven of them have been the warmest on record. Many experts agree that 2016 will be the warmest year yet. What’s even more concerning is that fifteen of the sixteen warmest years have occurred since 2000. Future predictions aren’t looking very good either. An increase of up to seven degrees Fahrenheit is expected if current rates continue. This could spell disaster for many people as sea levels will rise and severe weather will become more prominent and frequent. In order to solve these climate issues, we may have to turn to geo-engineering. Read more...
You won’t find many artists as unabashedly honest as Banks. The 28-year-old singer-songwriter will take you on a disillusioned trip through her darkened world of brooding alternative R&B trip-hop aesthetics. Fresh off the release of her sophomore effort, The Altar, the dark-haired phenomenon Banks has had an epic year. Read more...
The men’s hockey team saw success in their home openers during family weekend this past week. The Engineers only managed to tie Niagara University 3-3 on Friday, but steamrolled Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday night with a 6-3 victory. Read more...
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football faced off against the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers last Saturday at East Campus Stadium in the annual Transit Trophy game. A cold, heavy rainstorm loomed over the Capital Region all day, dumping more than an inch of rain on Troy and making handling the football difficult. In view of the slippery conditions the storm presented, RPI relied heavily on its ground game. Rensselaer rushers pounded through the WPI front line all afternoon, combining for 244 yards rushing on 41 attempts. To counter Rensselaer’s rushing attack, Worcester ran the ball 50 times. However, the RPI defensive front held them to just 140 yards total. But in the end, three Rensselaer turnovers and 16 points in the second half were too much for the home team to overcome as WPI upended RPI by a final score of 19–7. Read more...
This week’s meeting opened with reports from the committees of the Senate. Steve Sperazza ’18 spoke on behalf of the Academic Affairs Committee, and started discussion at this week’s Senate meeting on collecting feedback about the Core Curriculum changes that were discussed last week. He encouraged people to send feedback to chairperson Varun Rao ’18. Facilities and Services Committee Chairperson Austin Miller ’17 said that the Department of Public Safety is looking to have officers go to dinner at Commons on either November 15, 16, or 17 in order to get feedback from students and share new initiatives. Read more...
In the two months I’ve been here at RPI, I’ve learned a lot more than just how to study for tests and complete work, as all that knowledge came over from high school. Sleepless nights and cramming for exams are almost second nature, whereas RPI posed a whole new set of challenges. Read more...
Released in June of this year, Within the Wires stands as the third podcast released in the Welcome to Night Vale lineup. Welcome to Night Vale is a cult hit podcast known primarily for its surrealist take on everyday events, and its sister podcasts have a similar take on fictional story-based broadcasting. Within the Wires is the brainchild of writer Jeffrey Cranor, featuring narration from Janina Matthewson and original music by Mary Epworth. Despite having just finished its first season, the podcast has already been renewed for a second; currently, Cranor is running a fundraising campaign to cover the production costs of ten additional episodes. Read more...
Coming off a midweek 0-2 loss against the Panthers of Middlebury College, the Engineers rebounded on Saturday in their Family Weekend home game against the Vassar College Brewers, taking the game 1-0. A goal made by junior Nicole Clancy’s with nine minutes left of play went uncontested, propelling Rensselaer to 8-7 overall and 2-4 in league games for the 2016 season, of which three days remain. Read more...
From October 19 to October 21, the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas hosted the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Hosted by the Anita Borg Institute, the Grace Hopper Celebration is named after renowned Navy Rear Admiral and computer scientist, Grace Hopper. This is the largest event for women in computing worldwide, with 15,000 attendees from all over the world. The event includes an expo, a multitude of talks relating to different topics within the field of computer science, and two keynote presentations. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute provided full scholarships for twelve students majoring in computer science to attend. The scholarship included travel arrangements, registration for the conference, and hotel cost. Read more...
The Poly wants to take this staff editorial in order to give a shout out to the Pep Band. Every weekend during hockey season, the band rouses up school spirit and gets the crowd excited. They perform at all men’s and women’s home hockey games throughout the season. A classic saying is that even if the team loses, the band always wins the game; they continue to try to keep everyone amped and full of spirit. A lot of the band’s antics seem like they are designed to try to throw off the opposing team, such as playing during their time out and also taunting players every time a penalty is on them. Read more...
I’m a pretty lucky guy—my sister came over for Family Weekend, and my parents forced her to take me shopping (viva la Target!) and treat me to lunch. I’d been craving genuine Asian food lately, so on Sunday afternoon, we chatted with my big and his mother over some ramen. The drive to Albany was only 15 minutes, so we quickly arrived at the restaurant. Tanpopo Ramen and Sake Cafe is located in a slightly renovated old-fashioned diner, which gives it its own distinct feel. Somewhere between quaint and desolate, the diner had its charm, but the location was remote enough to make it feel slightly strange. Upon entering, we were quickly seated at a booth, which felt small but cozy. After a while, any feeling of being removed from civilization was washed away, and it felt like there were just the four of us. Read more...
Both men’s and women’s soccer teams saw success this week. The women’s team defeated the Bard College Raptors on their own turf 2-1 last Saturday. The men’s team took on Skidmore College at home last Wednesday with a 1-0 victory, then crushed Bard 3-0 on a rain-soaked field Saturday afternoon. Read more...
First on the Executive Board’s agenda last Thursday was discussion of Design for America’s budget. Over the summer, officers from DFA traveled to DFA Nationals, a conference for which DFA-affiliated clubs are required to have a minimum of two members in attendance to keep their affiliated status. Read more...
Hello RPI! I hope everyone had the chance to enjoy Family Weekend, regardless of the weather on Friday and Saturday. Luckily, it turned around just in time for the annual Grand Marshal/President of the Union Breakfast (renamed from the GM/PU Brunch recently). The Executive Board and Student Senate had a great morning and afternoon hosting the families here to visit, and we would like to thank everyone who participated in the event, especially our President, Dr. Jackson, and Vice President for Student Life, Dr. Ross. We would also like to congratulate Nickolas Ziter ’17, who was presented with the Frederick M. Nussbaum ’30 Memorial Award for volunteerism and community engagement during the event. Read more...
Rensselaer’s fifth annual National Manufacturing Day program, hosted by the School of Engineering, took place last Friday in tandem with many manufacturing organizations. Companies from across the country traveled to Rensselaer to inform the students, faculty, and staff on what manufacturing actually is, and to take charge of the public perception of it. Events included programs and keynote speakers, exhibits from student organizations, and undergraduate-led lab tours of several Rensselaer facilities. However, the most visible event was the landing of a Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk on Rensselaer’s ’86 field. Read more...
In the coming weeks, The Polytechnic will be testing a new way of publishing. Instead of waiting for Wednesday to roll around, we will aim to publish content to our website as it comes in. We live in a world where social media is a dominant news source—everything happens faster today than it did 10 years ago. Waiting until Wednesdays for coverage of events happening today simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Read more...
The past week saw the music world shaken, records rewritten, and a new bar set for the industry. The group in question is an international sensation, boasting YouTube fame and topping iTunes album charts in 27 countries, ranging from Russia to Sweden. Yet, despite these artists dominating the news, odds are that this is the first time you’re ever hearing about them! Read more...