The women’s basketball game against the William Smith College Herons was an exciting one, with the Engineers defeating their opponents 66–52 in the East Campus Athletic Arena. The crowd burst into cheers continually throughout the game, as sophomore guards Sam Krumbhaar and Elizabeth Eckhardt each scored 22 points. Read more...

Grand Marshal Paul Ilori ’17 opened the Student Senate with committee reports. Those began with Facilities & Services Committee Chairperson Austin Miller ’17 who followed up with information on suggestions to replace plastic bags in Sodexo locations with reusable bags. Miller is currently working with Hospitality Services in order to make this a reality as well as work out the logistics of distributing reusable bags to all students on campus at a cost equal to or lower than the current cost of purchasing plastic bags. Read more...

As Valentine’s Day approaches each year, I always witness two prevailing attitudes: one of fullness, and one of emptiness. For those who feel as though emptiness has taken their heart hostage this year, know that there is one source of love that has existed since you entered this world that will exist indefinitely. This love is the love that comes from family, and it promises to fill what may at times feel like an incurably deep void inside. Whether or not you have a loved one to shower with gifts and affection this year, there are people in your life who wish to do those things for you, and those people come from your family. Read more...

Does your dorm have a convenient recycling system? Many people know about RPI’s single stream recycling, but sometimes it’s faster to just throw things in the trash. In an effort to make recycling simple for students, members of the Student Sustainability Task Force and Ecologic handed out free recycle bins to students living on campus. These bins, provided by Environment and Site Services, were given out in anticipation of a large, nationwide recycling competition called Recyclemania. This competition spans the United States and Canada, and pits college campuses against each other to see which campus has the most recycling per person. RPI will face some tough competition from the other schools, which include our rival Union College! Recyclemania officially starts Monday, February 6 and goes until Friday, April 1. During each week of the competition, County Waste, RPI’s waste hauler, will measure how much we have recycled as a campus. If you care about the environment, want to see RPI win, or just want to beat Union, then recycle as much as you can during the next few months! We hope that you will join in on the competition and recycle as many recyclable materials as possible! Read more...

Over the past several years, Rensselaer County, in conjunction with RPI’s campus, has seen an unprecedented decline in crime according to new data obtained by The Poly. Read more...

Hello again RPI! It’s good to be writing to all of you this week, especially since this past Monday the Student Senate approved the Activity Fee recommendation for next fiscal year (that would be Fiscal Year 18). This is a great load off of my shoulders. Now that the Executive Board has finished budgeting and the Student Senate has approved a recommendation, next year’s Activity Fee goes to the Institute for final approval. Since working with club officers, staff members, and students to make the budget every year is one of the main functions of the Executive Board, the only thing we have left to do is wrap up the school year. We are going to spend our last two months finishing projects we began this year and leaving our plan for what’s next to our successors. Read more...

When two people with extensive interest in somewhat obscure subjects come together to talk, you’ve got yourself an excellent podcast. Hello Internet is, in my opinion, the epitome of the “two dudes talking” podcast genre, if you can call it a genre. What started out as an audio experiment between two YouTube friends, CGPGrey and Brady Haran, has blossomed into unique masterpiece of the podcasting world. Read more...

Last weekend, the rpi Curling Club attended the Utica Curling Club bonspiel. RPI 1 swept the A event, taking down Colgate University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University to win the event. RPI 2 also saw success, going 2–2 over the weekend and defeating Yale 2 in the F event. Read more...

The question I’ve been asked the most over the past few months has been some version of “what is it like to be Grand Marshal?” and “what do you dislike or like most about the role?” I normally throw out some pithy response: the main difference for me is that I have more meetings and get asked the same questions a lot. I don’t like wearing a top hat because it’s not exactly casual apparel. But if I sit down and think about it more, I can find more substantial answers. Read more...

On most Fridays, you can hear us chanting “Happy Friday!” and “Have an awesome day!” outside of Russell Sage Dining Hall. Maybe you’ve even seen us dancing to some music. As one of the campus “Free Hug Friday” huggers, I’d like to tell you from my perspective what our little group is all about. Read more...

First of all, the title of my column isn’t meant to suggest that we need a new version of “The Poly” – in fact, I feel honored to share some of my thoughts with you here. The title actually reflects on how the School of Science is committed to realizing President Jackson’s vision of “The New Polytechnic” as articulated in the Rensselaer Plan 2024—as an intellectual construct that embodies new ways of thinking and new ways of tackling some of the most important global challenges of our time. More on that later… first, here’s a little background about me. When I arrived at Rensselaer during the summer of 1989 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry—the Department didn’t have “Chemical Biology” as part of its name then—I felt a deep sense of responsibility and excitement about becoming a part of this great institution, and I wanted to make sure that I did my best in both teaching and research in order to live up to its reputation. I had heard a great many things about how highly regarded the student body was, and that the faculty were known for inventing new ways of teaching, such as “studio” courses. They were also national and international leaders in their respective fields of research. Wow! Well, it’s 2017, and I’m even more excited about the success of Rensselaer, and amazed at how much progress we have already made together. When President Jackson appointed me Dean of the School of Science in January of 2015, I was honored and excited to have the responsibility of making sure that the School of Science continued to grow and thrive, provide the best instruction and a great student experience, and grow our international research reputation to new levels. Read more...

News: 

• Students discuss potential Veteran's lounge
• GM Week Handbook approve
  
• Supporting international students, RPI community marches

Features: Read more...

The Engineers had their second to last home stand of the regular season this past weekend, picking up one win and one loss. RPI grabbed win number six of the season with a strong team performance against Colgate University on Friday, February 3. The next night, it looked like the Engineers might pull out an upset win over 16th ranked Cornell University. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, as the Engineers imploded late in the game and ended up losing 4-3 in regulation. Read more...

Ever since coming back to RPI following Winter Break, I’ve felt a sense of dread about going to class. My motivation has been slipping, and I haven’t felt any drive to do work until it is absolutely necessary. I’ve talked to a few other freshmen about this, and it seems to be a common thought. As I finished my first semester, I felt like I cleared some sort of monumental hurdle; a hurdle which made it ok to stop trying in school. However, as we progress further and further into this spring semester, I realize that this is not the case. Read more...

Since its release in 2012 as an online dating app, Tinder’s popularity has skyrocketed, with a reported 1.4 billion swipes per day and 2.4 million matches per day (https://poly.rpi.edu/s/qc11z), The app is popular for good reason, it gives users the safe feeling of not having to face rejection, combined with a simple concept; if you like someone, swipe right, if they swipe right too, you can talk, eliminating the often all-too-real struggle of trying to interact with people face-to-face. Picture trying to figure out how to introduce yourself to that someone who catches your eye—you design the perfect introduction in your head, carefully plan conversation topics, jokes, and witty lines. You decide to approach them, your heart rate speeds up as you walk up to them, you panic, make quick eye contact, give that tasteful head nod and carry on your way. Social intricacies aside, the premise seems simple, you see everyone who meets your preferences in the area, and are able to swipe away. However, underneath that simple clean interface, there appears to be other factors at play. Read more...

The February 2 assembly of the Rensselaer Union Executive Board considered three primary topics: the Forge sought Union Affiliated status, the Conversation Corner/Mandarin Club sought a starter budget of $200, and the Executive Board considered a “pledge to have a space for a Student Veteran’s Lounge within the Rensselaer Student Union.” Read more...

Maria’s Review:

This past Saturday, I attended my third Winter Carnival: Jurassic Parka. The weather was much more fitting for the event, with the temperature in the 30s, compared to last year with the sun out and the temperature in the 60s! Read more...

On February 7, Grand Marshal Paul Ilori ‘17 opened the Student Senate with committee reports. Those included new meeting times for Senate committees, examining the feasibility of making career fair day an excused absence for students, creating new surveys on communications related issues and cheating, and inviting more companies to the career fair for graduates of the School of Science. Read more...