Delegation visits Asia
This morning, the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the first-ever high profile delegation of U.S. college and university presidents to Japan, South Korea, and China. The delegation, to be led by Secretary Spellings and Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell, will visit the three countries to meet with students and university leaders, government and business leaders, and the media during International Education Week to take place November 10-18.
The delegation will be carrying a message that the U.S. welcomes and values international students who want to study in the U.S. It includes 18 college and university presidents, RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson among them. The pairing of U.S. government and higher education leaders follows from a commitment made at the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education in January.
Crime alert updated
The Department of Public Safety released a Crime Alert Bulletin on October 30 regarding three separate incidents wherein RPI students were menaced, assaulted, and in one case, robbed. The suspects are two to seven black males between 12-13 years old.
The first incident took place around Freshman Hill on October 28 just after midnight. The other two incidents occurred near the ’86 Field and JEC walkway at about 8 pm on October 29. Several other incidents with similar descriptions have been reported in the Troy area on the same dates. Both DPS and the Troy Police Department are investigating and according to the most recent alert, four suspects have been identified. Tips or information relating to this or other incidents should be directed to the Troy Police Detective Bureau at 270-4426 or the Department of Public Safety at 276-6656.
Nominees confirmed
The focus of the Student Senate meeting last Tuesday was the confirmation of several new appointees for positions on the Judicial Review Boards. First, the position of the Judicial Board chair was up for debate. The candidate, Laura Newson ’09, was confirmed and will take over as J-Board chair next semester. The next order of business for the Senate was to appoint members to the Review Board. The appointees for regular members were Christopher Gearns ’08 and Abraham Woodcox ’09. Both were confirmed for the positions. Next on the agenda were alternate members for the Review Board; appointees were Steven Coonradt ’08 and Jim Konish ’08, and again, both were approved by the Senate. The Senate also had a discussion on finalizing the sign policy to be sent to the Faculty Senate for final confirmation, where it was approved the following day.
New grant received
Mathematics and computational sciences will see a new fusion at Rensselaer, thanks to a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant. The money comes as part of a new NSF program, Computational Science Training for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences. The initiative is designed to improve the education of mathematics and statistics students in other fields—such as the biological sciences—that they might not otherwise get experience in.
The grant will be used to support 50 undergraduates over the course of five years, according to Professor Mark Holmes, the principal investigator for the project. This will include eight students selected from a course to be offered next spring. The new offering will feature seminars presented by prominent speakers from academia and industries.
The participants in the program will receive one year of financial support apiece, and will get the opportunity to visit laboratories and companies around the country to get better exposure to the careers open to them after they graduate. They will also partake in a number of carefully selected research projects that exemplify the usage of mathematics in other fields.
