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...

I often find myself daydreaming about impossible scenarios. These scenarios always include me going back in my life and changing a decision I’ve made. This decision could have been yesterday, ten years ago, or last month. And I always believe that if I had simply made a different decision, or gone down a different pathway, my life would be so much better now. I mean, it’s true, my life would most likely be better, but the irrationality of actually playing out the scenarios in my head must be early signs of dementia. Read more...

As Richard Yates’ first novel, Revolutionary Road gained public notice after it achieved a place as a finalist in the 1962 National Book Awards. Yates is largely championed for his role amongst the disillusioned and fearful writers that came to prominence after World War II; during the so-called “Age of Anxiety,” authors in Europe and the United States expressed a conscious awareness of the grim aspects of humanity, and ultimately shaped the themes of mid-century art and literature. The author imposes this careful introspection throughout Revolutionary Road, and the novel’s keen introspection about the realities of suburban life ultimately make the piece tangible, relatable, and deeply thought-provoking. Read more...

Vassar College was too much for Rensselaer during Senior Night this Saturday, as the Engineers, 9–3 this season, fell 1–2 in overtime. Read more...

This was an interesting weekend. I’ve never been that involved in the events of Homecoming & Reunion weekend, so being thrown in the deep end to appear at events and meet so many alumni was both a great experience and very tiring. I have a lot more respect for Red & White after seeing everything they do all weekend, setting up and staffing events from early in the morning until late at night. All the work they put in helps us stay connected those who came before us and our history, which is a large part of what makes RPI special. Read more...

After covering a Women’s Ice Hockey home game, I came to have a deep appreciation for our RPI’s Pep Band. At what was appeared to be a rather desolate game with an even more desolate crowd, it was the Pep Band that maintained morale and kept spirits high. They executed a series of songs on the fly under the careful direction of conductor Jacqueline Scanlon ’19. The Pep Band not only kept me cheery and alert, but their energy and talent had me impressed. So impressed that I requested an interview with Scanlon to learn more. Read more...

Hello RPI!

I hope you all had a chance to meet up with old friends and greet our alumni as they made their way back to campus for Reunion & Homecoming this past weekend. I had an extraordinary time speaking with alumni from a broad group of class years, and I heard from so many about what nostalgia came to them upon returning to campus. As always, it’s an incredibly humbling experience to see what accomplishments the alumni of Rensselaer have made. This is especially true this year with the presence of three very distinguished alumni: Dr. B. Jayant Baliga ’74, power electronics innovator; Dr. Marcian “Ted” Hoff ’58, inventor of the microprocessor; and Steven J. Sasson ’72, inventor of the digital camera. Their accomplishments are a testament to what we all can achieve with a world-class education at Rensselaer. Read more...

Seeing a concert is always an adventure. Whether one waits for months to experience their favorite band live or buys tickets to a band they have never heard of with no expectations, hearing live music always leaves concert-goers with a story. I happened to see Marian Hill live on October 10th, and I was part of the latter group: I bought tickets with several hours left until doors opened and went in completely blind. I am very glad I did; the concert featured three different, but equally stunning bands that blew me away with every new song. Although Marian Hill was the headlining artist, their two openers did just as good of a job of setting the mood and amping up the crowd. Read more...