The new Rensselaer faculty members are diverse in their ethnicity, intellectual interests, gender, and geographical locations.

The majority of them were hired to be assistant professors, and several of them have taught previously at other educational institutions. Seven are women, four are Hispanics, and one is black.

The Institute is looking to hire 40 more employees to fill various positions, including 16 newly-created positions.

"This is an extremely impressive and diverse group of faculty, and we are very pleased to have them join us. They truly represent the future of Rensselaer," said Bud Peterson, provost.

Susan Sharfstein, assistant professor of chemical engineering, joined RPI after spending four years as a faculty member at the University of Toledo and last year at the Wadsworth Laboratories of the New York State Department of Health in Albany.

"So far my experience at RPI has been pretty good ... I’m very excited about both the quality of both undergraduate and graduate students here and the strength of my senior colleagues," said Sharfstein. "I am impressed with President Jackson’s strong commitment to provide an excellent undergraduate education while increasing the research prominence of the Institute."

Carlos Varela, assistant professor of computer science, was a research staff member at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Labs before coming to RPI. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Varela noted that RPI’s computer science department is "growing with an interesting mix of experienced and young faculty, which together with eager and knowledgeable students, make it particularly attractive for creating a successful research program."