Women’s Soccer had two away games this past weekend as they traveled to face Clarkson University on Friday and St. Lawrence University on Saturday. The Engineers, who had just come off a 1-2 loss to Vassar College in overtime last weekend, were out for redemption this time around. Read more...

This past Wednesday marked the retirement reception for Linda Teitelman McCloskey, founding director of the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development and 30 year veteran at Rensselaer. Prior to her role in the Archer Center, she served as Associate Director of Student Activities. Read more...

Food is an interest of mine. Big surprise for a college age male, right? But it’s not just the consumption of food that I’m interested in, it’s the production: how it’s grown, harvested, and shipped. In high school I discovered a passion for hydroponics—the growth of plants without the use of soil. The roots often are left to dangle in reservoirs of nutrient-rich water, with inflated clay pellets used to support some of the roots and hold in moisture. I was fascinated by the ability to grow plants in such a controlled environment; in that, I saw a future. Read more...

Released in 1942, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters serves as the author’s second standalone novel, and is widely respected for its original concept and smart reimagining of Christian themes. Lewis is primarily known for his children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia, wherein he adapts biblical stories into an easily digestible fantasy world for young readers. In The Screwtape Letters, however, Lewis abandons his goal of making Christianity an easy concept for the reader; the novel takes an infinitely more grim approach to the idea of sinning and salvation. In an interview with Dr. Shirwood Wirt of Decision magazine, Lewis stated that of all his books, The Screwtape Letters was “was only one [he] did not take pleasure in writing.” Read more...

Senior Ben Fazio finished the men’s 8000 meter championship race ahead of 371 runnings with his fourth-place time of 23:35.1 on Saturday in Glassboro, New Jersey, at the 45-school Inter-Regional Border Battle hosted by Rowan University. The men’s and women’s teams, both ranked No. 11 in Division III heading into the meet, represented one of ten nationally-ranked schools at the meet. Colleges from as far away as Georgia attended. Read more...

The Senate meeting opened with a presentation of proposed changes to the Institute core curriculum by Associate Professor of Biology and Faculty Senate Core Curriculum Implementation Committee Chairperson Lee Lignon and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Linda Schadler. The committee has been working on a proposal to make changes since “no one can remember the last time core curriculum was updated,” according to Ligon. Ligon said that the proposals are guided by the intersection of three main areas: the Science and the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences core, major requirements, and co and extracurricular activities. In fact, one of the guiding principles behind these changes would be to more deliberately intersect the varying segments of the student experience here at Rensselaer. Any changes would not be implemented until the fall of 2018 at the earliest (and then only for incoming students), so the Senate was asked to provide feedback on behalf of future students. Read more...

I’ll be honest that I was one of those freshman nearly three months ago who came to RPI and was instantly overwhelmed by opportunities, whether they were academics, meeting new people, or that endless stream of emails once you sign up for RPI Jinder (JobLink) alerting you that companies are interviewing in your area. Read more...

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I’m a fan of Netflix’s original programming. In general, I think it’s one of the most consistently entertaining and high value programming of any service, from TV channels, HBO, to other platforms like Hulu. However, I have seen Netflix stumble. Jessica Jones wasn’t to my liking, and I was mixed on Daredevil Season 2. So, what do I think of Luke Cage? To be honest, I am a bit conflicted. Read more...

The Engineers traveled west over the weekend to face off against the University of North Dakota in their third weekend of play. The puck dropped at 7:05 pm at UND on Saturday evening. Tyson Jost won the first faceoff against the Engineers’ sophomore Evan Tironese. Following were the first two shots of the game, one blocked by junior defenseman Mike Prapavessis and the other a save by freshman goalie Chase Perry. Despite the immediate offensive push by UND, Tironese, assisted by senior forward Riley Bourbonnais and junior forward Lou Nanne, scored the first goal of the game four minutes in for RPI. Read more...

The Rensselaer Union Executive Board began their meeting Thursday, October 13 by approving the constitution of the RPI Interplanetary Society. They are now an official Union-recognized club. Read more...

Hi, RPI!

As many of you may know, Linda Teitelman McCloskey, the founding director of the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development, retired last week. In her roles on campus, she was a mentor and teacher to student leaders and worked hard to advocate on behalf of all students and on behalf of the Rensselaer Union. Linda was truly a transformative force at RPI. She began working in the Union as director of student activities in 1984 and not long after, she and student leaders in the Union formed what would later become the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development. The Archer Center went on to become a national model for leadership instruction at colleges and universities. Read more...

As the tennis season comes to an end, the Engineers competed in one last tournament. After freshmen duo of Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez and Zack Ebenfeld won the doubles title at the ITA Northeast Regional earlier this month, they qualified to compete at the ITA Oracle Cup. The prestigious Oracle Cup took place in Surprise, Arizona this past week. Read more...

Horror games are usually very typical in terms of content: random jumps, scares, and sounds to escalate the player’s sense of fear. Death by Daylight is no typical horror game; it is pure terror. Read more...

On Saturday, October 8, a new Reddit user, /u/rpiunionfund, posted a link to a new website https://poly.rpi.edu/s/sjdr describing a proposal by Rensselaer alumni to create a fund that would take donations in the name of Rensselaer Union clubs, and disburse them once a year to the Union. What makes this concept different from the existing mechanism to donating to the Union through WeRGold, or even through https://poly.rpi.edu/s/werct is that donated funds would only be disbursed to the Union if certain critera related to student governance are met. In the current proposed charter on the rpiunion.fund website, conditions for dispersal of funds include significant student input in professional staff hiring, club and organizational budget formation, activity fee disbursement, and student say in major policies affecting student life at RPI. Read more...

Donald Trump has many fatal flaws that make him unfit to be the president of the United States. I could talk about any number of them, including the biggest Trump news in the past week: his bragging of sexual assault. But, I also want to bring attention to a statement he made during Sunday’s presidential debate with Hillary Clinton that stood out to me as particularly dangerous for the country. Read more...

Borgore, Snails, Boombox Cartel, Terravita—if you have ever listened to music from any of these artists and love dancing, you would probably love the Safe in Sound Festival! I had the opportunity to travel back home this past weekend and experience a concert like no other. Read more...

Saturday, October 8th, Hobart College more than doubled Rensselaer’s offensive yardage output. The Engineers’ defensive grit inside their own 20 kept them in the game. RPI’s offense looked outmatched by Hobart’s fast and physical defense for the majority of the game. Engineer rushers struggled against a stout Hobart line, gaining just 83 yards on 42 carries. In the fourth quarter, RPI found their rhythm, scoring touchdowns on two of their final three possessions and came out on top over previously undefeated Hobart, 21–17. Read more...

On Thursday, October 6, the Rensselaer Union Executive Board approved Union affiliation for The RPI Interplanetary Society, represented by President Edrick Drachenberg ’17, Secretary Michael Crisci ’20, Treasurer German Padilla ’18, and member Geoffrey Thomas ’19. Read more...