Fair scheduled
The eighth annual benefits fair for RPI faculty, staff, and retirees will be held on Friday from 9:30 am to 4 pm in the Heffner Alumni House.
Representatives of programs and plans offered to Rensselaer faculty and staff will be in attendance to answer any questions.
Refreshments will be available at the fair and door prizes will be awarded.
Donation made
Earlier this year David Goodman ’39 donated $5 million to Rensselaer’s endowment. To honor Goodman’s gift, the 1,200-seat theater at the new Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center will be named after him.
Goodman, who died in May, supported Rensselaer as an active patroon and the reunion gift chairman for the Class of 1939. He was a member of the Rensselaer Council and the Lally School of Management and Technology’s Board of Overseers.
Committee named
A search committee has been named to locate a new dean of the Lally School of Management and Technology.
The dean’s responsibilities include providing academic leadership by directing the advancement of the school’s academic programs; expanding the graduate program; launching new initiatives for the school; hiring quality faculty, students, and staff; and overseeing the school’s regular operations.
"Attracting the highest quality individual for this key Institute position will require the effort of the entire university community, and I enlist your assistance in this most important process," said Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson.
William Baeslack, dean of the School of Engineering, will chair the search committee.
Service recognized
Lisa Simpson, associate director of financial aid, was recently awarded the Sister Bernadine Hayes Rusty Hopkins Service Award at the New York State Financial Aid Administrators Association meeting.
The award recognizes significant contributions made by women to the association. Simpson is the first recipient of the Sister Bernadine Hayes Rusty Hopkins Service Award.
Professor honored
The International Association of Lighting Designers has awarded Howard Brandston, adjunct professor of architecture, a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award will be presented to Brandston at the IALD’s annual meeting in Philadelphia during the weekend of November 28 .
Research showcased
Several Rensselaer faculty members presented their research to the Geological Association of America during its 113th annual meeeting in Boston.
Watson, Institute Professor of Science, Rinat Gabitov, a graduate student in earth and environmental sciences, and Jonathan Price, director of teaching and facilities in Earth and Environmental Sciences, presented preliminary results of a study on "Flourite Solubility and Diffusivity in Haplogranitic Melt." Danielle Cherniak, research associate professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, gave a discussion on "Rare Earth Elements Diffusion in Feldspar."
Cherniak, Watson, and X.Y. Zhang, a graduate student, discussed "Preliminary Experimental Results for Oxygen Diffusion in Titanite Under Anhydrous Conditions."
David Wark, research associate professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Rob McCaffrey, professor of earth and environmental sciences, presented "Evolution of the Toba Caldera Complex in a Restraining Bend of the Great Sumatra Fault."
Watson also gave a presentation on "Aspects of Fluid/Rock Microstructure That Might Affect Rock Rheology: An Experimentalist’s Historical Perspective."
Program launched
Rensselaer students have launched a local branch of the America Reads and America Counts program that tutors K-9 students in mathematics and reading.
The program begins on Saturday at the second floor of the Lansingburgh Library.
Tutors will be available from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Lansingburgh Library is located at 114th Street and 4th Avenue.
For more information, call Cynthia Smith at (518) 276-6864 or e-mail teach_out@hotmail.com.
