Ducatte retires

RPI Director of Athletics Robert F. Ducatte recently announced to the campus community that he would retire after having spent 34 years with the Institute. Ducatte will remain in his position until June 30.

"This is a position and a school that I feel passionately for," Ducatte said. "It’s hard to say goodbye. But, it’s time I moved on to the next

stage of my life."

During his 30-year tenure as athletics director, Ducatte helped facilitate the growth of the athletics department from 12 sports to the current 23 by adding 11 women’s intercollegiate varsity athletic teams.

He also helped to establish and coordinate the annual men’s hockey Big Red Freakout game, as well as the football team’s Transit Trophy game.

Ducatte was able to enjoy the success of the men’s hockey team in 1985, when they won the NCAA National Championship.

Ducatte, 64, joined the Rensselaer athletics faculty in 1967 as head coach of the basketball team and assistant coach of the football team.

He was named as RPI’s athletics director in 1971, succeeding Warren Lutes. Ducatte continued as the coach of the basketball team.

Additionally, he served as the golf coach from 1988 to 2001 and the head football coach from 1982 to 1983.

Student remembered

Staff, faculty, students, and other members of the Rensselaer community are invited to attend a memorial service for Robert Svensson at 7 pm on Friday, March 23, at the Chapel and Cultural Center.

Svensson, a graduate student majoring in computer science and an experienced spelunker, died when he became trapped in a crevice during an underwater expedition in Clarksville Cave. He was 23.

Town meeting planned

A town meeting, hosted by Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in DCC 324.

During that time, the new dean of science, Heinz Engl, will be introduced to the campus community, and a reception with hot and cold hors d’oeuvres will follow immediately afterward in the Great Hall.

Dean of science named

Heinz W. Engl, former dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Kapler University, Linz, Germany, was recently named as the new dean of the School of Science, effective September 1.

Engl will be introduced by Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson to the campus community during the town meeting on March 28 in DCC 324.

"Dr. Engl is an internationally recognized mathematician whose work has earned him numerous honors," Jackson said.

"His international perspective on IT and mathematical modeling, his broad knowledge of the physical sciences, and his range of experience as a teacher, researcher, and academic administrator makes him uniquely qualified to lead the School of Science."

As a renowned expert in the field of inverse problems, Engl published 120 papers, served as the editor of eight volumes, authored two books on the application of inverse techniques to applied science and engineering.

He is an elected fellow of the Institute of Physics in London, a member of the Austrian Academy of Science, and currently serves as a board member of the Austrian National Science Foundation.

Engl headed the Doppler Laboratory for Mathematical Modeling and Numerical Simulation from 1992 to 1999, and delivered the planetary lecture at the International Congress for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Together with Joyce McLaughlin, Ford Foundation Professor of Mathematics at Rensselaer, Engl edited the book Inverse Problems and Optimal Design in Industry, published in 1994.

Nominations needed

Nominations for the Trustees’ Outstanding Teacher Award are invited from the campus community.

Given annually, the award recognizes outstanding accomplishments achieved in classroom instruction and consists of a $5,000 honorarium.

Nominations for the award will be reviewed by a selection committee and recommended to President Jackson for approval.

The selection will be made based on evidence of sustained outstanding teaching as reflected by peer evaluations, student evaluations from the last two years, and letters of support from colleagues, students, and alumni.

Please submit nominations by March 24 to Provost G.P. "Bud" Peterson. For more information on the award please call 276-6487.

Forum scheduled

The members of the campus community are invited to attend an open forum on March 22 to meet the four finalist architects in the design competition for the proposed Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center.

During the forum, which will be held from 6-9 pm in Russell Sage 3303, the architects will discuss their previous work experience and their architecture companies.

The four architects are: Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Ltd., London; Bernard Tschumi Architects, New York City; Morphosis Architects, Santa Monica, Calif.; and Davis Brody Bond, LLP, New York City.

"The purpose of the presentation is to introduce the finalists to the Rensselaer community," said Cynthia McIntyre, Institute chief of staff.

During the first phase of the project, six of the 12 architects who responded to the competition’s invitation were chosen by the Presidential Advisory Committee on EMPAC and Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson; the architecture selection committee cut that number down to four.

The four architects have entered the second and final phase of the competition. A panel composed of Rensselaer representatives and distinguished professionals will choose a winner from amongst the four in early June.

An invited forum, with representatives from Rensselaer staff, faculty, and students, and the architects will be held Friday, March 23. This media will help provide a greater focus on the EMPAC’s design.