Lockheed Martin will host the Archer Center for Student Leadership’s annual leadership conference on Saturday, January 26 in the Union. This year’s theme is “Leading Change in a Wide Open World” and the students will be able to choose from a range of topics such as “Virtual Team Leadership,” “ So you want to be the boss,” and “Diversity: the Junk in your Trunk.” The sessions will be given by Lockheed Martin employees and is open to students who preregister at the Union, Room 3702.

NSF Career Award

Shekhar Garde, assistant professor of chemical engineering, received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This award is given to distinguished faculty members at the beginning of their careers. The award will enable Garde to further his research in developing computer simulation tools for understanding and modeling how biological molecules self-assemble in water-based solutions.

The five year, $374,965 grant will help Garde generate an extensive computerized library of water induced interactions between various parts of proteins.

Stars to Watch

The leading business magazine Industry Week has named two RPI professors as “Stars to Watch.” The two professors, Jonathan Dorick and Martin Glicksman, were honored for the “contribution of individuals who drive innovation and provide the initial spark to economic growth,” according to the magazine.

Dorick was noted for his work with enzymes and his ongoing research to develop an active system of enzymes on a microchip to determine the metabolic functions of genetic materials.

Glicksman’s experiment with microgravity crystal-growth flown on space shuttle missions were also announced. These experiments were the first ever to be conducted and controlled directly from a college campus.

HUD Grant

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has given a $400,000 grant to RPI to organize a Community Outreach Partnership Center in Troy. The center will focus on revitalizing Troy’s neighborhoods and buildings, promote the use of technology in math and science education, and to bridge the digital divide through job and technology training.

The grant is based on four independent RPI initiatives: the Public Service Internship Program, the Troy Community Networking Project, the Neighborhood Renewal Initiative, and research efforts by faculty and students to create web based, culturally oriented design tools to involve under-represented minorities to study math and science.

T-Ray

Xi-Cheng Zhang, the J. Erik Jonsson ’22 Distinguished Professor of Science, and a team of researchers are the first to image tissue using single pulses of terahertz radiation.

This new technique promises to improve diagnostic time radically. Using a single THz irradiation that is only a few picoseconds long allows for better imaging results in biological tissue in minutes or seconds that would normally take hours or days .