VP presents Performance Plan draft

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ben Pringle, Senior Reporter
Ethan Spitz/The Polytechnic
VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT LIFE TIMOTHY SAMS PRESENTS an overview of the Performance Plan to students at the second meeting on Monday.

On Thursday, Vice President for Student Life Timothy Sams held the annual Student Senate Cross-Cutting Review of the draft of the Student Life Performance Plan. However, due to low attendance, the event was repeated a second time on Monday.

This year, Sams changed the format of the review, using guest speakers such as Dean of Students Mark Smith and Assistant Vice President for the Student Experience Lisa Trahan. Sams explained, “I just didn’t see myself getting up here for an hour and a half just trudging through the Performance Plan, especially when you have intelligent people who can read.”

The event opened with an overview of the Performance Plan. One of the main focuses of the plan is the Clustered Learning, Advocacy, and Support for Students initiative. Director of the Union Joe Cassidy described CLASS as “building community, making connections, and enhancing the delivery of services.” Furthermore, Sams promised that a full publication on CLASS is forthcoming.

Another goal Sams emphasized was so-called “platform and site development.” This involves placing Student Life professionals at student traffic hubs, such as the Darrin Communications Center and the Commons Dining Hall, in order to get feedback and provide CLASS-based programming.

Finally, Sams talked about the department’s new strategy intended to improve communication with students. “As some of you know, the plan is due next week,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s a little too late to ask folks to chime in to change the plan.” Next year, he elaborated, in addition to the performance plan review, there will be “advisory groups” that include students for each department. These groups, Sams said, will be an integral part of creating next year’s Performance Plan.

The program then moved on to the several guest speakers, each of which chose a specific strategy from within the performance plan to highlight.

“The area I’m most interested in is retention and graduation,” said Smith. He pointed to growing gaps in graduation rates across gender, socioeconomic status, first generation immigrants, and disabled students. According to Smith, the US News and World Report considers retention and graduation in its ratings. He pointed to Calculus I as a course with strong support for first-year students. “Calculus is probably the model we are going to use for other courses,” he said. By improving other “gateway courses” like physics and computer science, Smith hopes to improve retention.

Next was Trahan, who talked about CLASS as a method for “creating strong experiences into, through, and out of Rensselaer.” In the Q&A segment afterward, student Dan Hakimi ’12 expressed concern about the inherent clustering of students in CLASS, saying, “A lot of students don’t understand why there needs to be a ‘sophomore experience,’ or why class years need to be separated in this way.” Trahan replied, “I don’t want anybody to get the impression that students are supposed to be distinctly separated just because of the class dean model.”

In general, the student reaction to the event seemed positive. Reilly Hamilton ’12 commented, “In a week where we have questioned communication repeatedly, it’s just a reminder that there are avenues of communication open … I just hope, despite what people are reading in the media, that it can be reiterated to students that avenues of communication remain open, and that problems can be solved at a lower level, rather than blaming all the problems on the top.”

Both iterations of the review are available on RPI TV’s website at http://rpitv.org/productions/427-2011-student-life-performance-plan-review and http://rpitv.org/productions/430-2011-student-life-performance-plan-review-meeting-two.

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Staff Editorial: Improve Senate publicity

Posted on December 7, 2011 by The Poly

Last Friday, the Student Senate released its State of the Institute (http://docs.studentsenate.rpi.edu/documents/1701), a document the Senate used in passing its recent motion in regards to the direction that Rensselaer is heading and President Shirley Ann Jackson’s style of leadership. The Poly would like to recognize the effort that the Senate has put in to this report; it is evident that a great deal of time and effort has been put into it, as there is a significant amount of information and research. We encourage everyone in the Rensselaer community to read the document and voice their opinion.

However, proper and timely publicity currently seems to be lacking from the Senate, particularly with regards to this document. A lone post on RPI’s sub-reddit was made to acknowledge the existence of the State of the Institute. Outside of this, any information on how to find this report does not seem to exist, or be widely known. We are concerned that the Senate may not be reflecting the same transparency it requests.

Also, we question the Senate’s decision to pass a motion before releasing the full document it so heavily depends upon. If the State of the Institute (or even a draft of it) had been released to the public before the Senate made its decision, a lot of the sentiments that the Senate is “anti-Jackson” could have been avoided. Not only that, but more people from the RPI community could have voiced their input, perhaps making for a more complete and unified campus voice.

Another thing the Senate failed to promote was the Student Life Performance Plan Review, first held last Thursday. Due to low student turnout, Vice President for Student Life Timothy Sams and President of The Union Nikki Gallant ’13 set aside another date, this previous Monday, for another occurrence of the event, something for which we commend Sams, PU Nikki Gallant, and the rest of the Student Life Division for doing.

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Showcase features entertaining games

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Jeff Farrell, Staff Reporter
Ryan Baltazar/The Polytechnic
PARTICIPANTS IN THE GAME DEVELOPMENT CLUB’S SHOWCASE PLAY many indie games with each other.

The Rensselaer Game Development Club hosted the 2011 Game Development Showcase on Saturday in the McNeil Room. The intent of the showcase was to present games made by RPI students and local developers, and let people play them in brief tournaments. Laptops were set up around the room with playable game demos for the audience to check out. Food was also provided—there were aluminum tubs of chicken and salad with zesty Italian dressing.

The event kicked off with a Pong tournament with double elimination. An overhead projector displayed Pong tournament battles; the particular version of Pong played here was brewed up by the Game Development Club and featured trippy particle effects.

There were many games offered up for play, but I only played a few of them. A Tale of Two Castles is a button-masher with strategy: Mash buttons to create civilians and military units and obtain resources like gold. The game required caution to make sure you didn’t waste time creating one item when another could be more useful. For example, since the castles in the game could be repaired by engineers, it was usually a waste of time to use military units to attack the castle; the military would leave the screen right after attacking. Maneuvers required strategy and planning. I ended up developing a strategy to quickly create scientists and gain access to new technology, so I could send out dragons.

In my opinion, the game was a standout. It was technologically simple, but enjoyable and addictive nevertheless. It was continually being tweaked throughout the night for the sake of evening out the play experience, creating a rock-paper-scissors effect amongst different battle units. For example, dragons were at first overpowered, so their cost was increased to 1000. I ended up having to change my original strategy. Not surprisingly, many players (myself included) became riled up while playing.

Fimbulvetr: War of the Great Winter had an enjoyable real-time battle system. The characters in the demo were all sword-fighting rabbits, although other playable characters will be offered in the future. The game’s map used rabbit-head icons to represent miltarymen to move about; my rabbits were red, and the opposition was blue. The game is multiplayer, so I spent my gameplay battling the guy sitting next to me on another laptop.

Bullet Hell is a shoot-’em-up game, requiring you to dodge demons and get “to the finish.” The art was amazing. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting about the spikes on the wall and ran into them enough times that I died before getting to the boss battle, which also looked amazing.

Another multiplayer game, A Game of Cat and Mouse, makes you a mouse trying to get a piece of cheese and go back home. The cat, meanwhile, tries to catch you. The game’s complexity arose from safe zones and power-ups. I personally felt that the cat was overpowered, but I enjoyed evading the cat with devious mouse schemes.

The final two games I played were Robot Glacier Fortress, where you are a Cyborg Nalwalrus with a grappling hook to maneuver about and evade the cornicorns, which are unicorns made of corn (I got stuck when the cornicorns began to shower down all around me), and the puzzle game Individuel. This game was radically different than the others, and involved purchasing clothes different from your neighbors in a very limited amount of time. It tested quick-thinking and observational skills.

Other games showcased at the jam included Dolphin Apocalypse Now III: Dawn of the Dolphins—whose most notable achievement is that the developers created their own dial and photosensor-laden controller designed specifically for the game—Struggles of the Forgotten, Cybits, and Triangle Legacy Revolution.

The only main disappointment of the night was the orange ginger marinade sauce for the chicken, which was greatly overshadowed by the barbeque and buffalo sauces accompanying it. Overall, the Game Development Showcase was a lot of fun.

“It was a success for our first one,” said Reginald Franklin ’14, treasurer of the Game Development Club. “But in the future, now that we know what we’re doing, we’ll make it better.”

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Women’s basketball crowned champs

Engineers finish with best record in Salisbury University Optimist Tournament

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Matthew Dawson, Senior Reporter
Ryan Baltazar/The Polytechnic
SENIOR LAUREN HAYES LEAPS for a layup in a recent game held at the East Campus Arena. The Engineers earned two victories this weekend in the Salisbury University Optimist Tournament to be named the champions.

The women’s basketball team headed to Salisbury, Md., for some action in the Salisbury University Optimist Tournament. The Engineers first game would be against the hosts, but RPI would handle them in an overtime victory in which the Engineers had four players score double digits.

The Salisbury Sea Gulls held the lead for the majority of the first half and got their lead up to seven several times, and it even hit nine points with just 58 seconds left on the clock. However, RPI rallied right at the end and made two quick baskets, including a three-pointer by senior Lauren Hayes, to cut the deficit to four by the break.

After the intermission, RPI put the pedal to the metal and went on the attack. The Engineers dominated the first 15 minutes of play and, capped by a series of free throws by senior Nicole Monroe, opened a 13-point advantage over the Sea Gulls.

Salisbury responded and worked down the RPI lead. With only a minute left, Salisbury had managed to tie the game at 56 apiece. Neither would score again with senior Engineer Hillary McKinley blocking a effort right at the end of the second period.

Falling behind right away in the overtime session was not a problem for the Engineers as they reacted to a Salisbury trey with seven consecutive points to make it 63-59. RPI was able to hold on and the contest finished 67-66.

With the win against Salisbury, RPI got to face Southern Virginia University in the tournament championship game. The Engineers came out with the tournament win with an 88-74 scoreline. McKinley would finish with a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds), and freshman Jen Rock scored 14 points to accompany six steals.

It took the Engineers 12 and a half minutes to get the lead, but when they did RPI held it for good. Monroe, Rock and sophomore Kyleigh Oliveira all scored points to help extend the lead all the way to 19 points by the end of the half.

Southern Virginia started the second half strong and got the RPI lead down to 13 points. The Engineers would have none of that, and the lead was restored and extended to 23 points on multiple occasions.

Rensselaer continued to play well but could not extend the lead any further. Instead Southern Virginia cut the deficit to 14 points, but it was too late for a rally and RPI finished as tournament champions.

The season has started very well for the Engineers and they are now sitting with a record of 4-2. McKinley was also honored by the Liberty League as Performer of the Week on November 28 for her performance the week prior. Their next game is against Utica College at the East Campus Arena on Friday before taking a break until December 29 and 30 where it will play in the Salem State Holiday Tournament.

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Ad hoc committee explains Institute info

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Kirk Smith, Senior Reporter

On Friday, the Student Senate released its long-awaited report on the state of the Institute. The report represents the culmination of the research conducted by the Senate’s ad hoc committee. Separated into four main sections, the publication outlines the changes made at RPI since the Rensselaer Plan was initiated in Summer 2000. The four sections are made up of “Programs and Initiatives,” “Institutional Rankings,” “Work Environment and Academic Culture,” and “Institutional Finance.” However, the report itself is not the position of the Senate, but that of the ad hoc committee. This, the Advocacy, Community, and Advancement Committee chair Anasha Cummings ’12 said, “is one of the most common misconceptions about the report.”

The first section highlights the various programs and initiatives that have impacted the Rensselaer community over the past 11 years. Based on programs at other schools like Yale University and Dartmouth College, the Clustered Learning, Advocacy, and Support for Students initiative, the report mentions, has built on many areas of the Institute. An example of this, it says, would be the apparent improvements to the First-Year Experience. The report also describes the introduction of such buildings as the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, the Computation Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, and the East Campus Athletic Village. It does mention, though, that “the accessibility of these buildings for students have been in question.”

Following “Programs and Initiatives” is the section based on the Institute’s rankings. Many students have shown concern about RPI’s current rank, usually citing the drop from 41 to 50 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. The report, though, promotes the concept that this data has “very little impact” on anything other than application rates. Statistics that have impacted the student body, on the other hand, are rankings about the faculty resources. As numbers had fallen, “RPI has reacted by capping many class sizes at 19,” commented Cummings. He goes on to mention, as an example, that students have been having difficulties getting into Sustainability Studies classes.

The third section, “Work Environment & Academic Culture,” focuses on the atmosphere for faculty members at the Institute. As mentioned in the report, many members of the faculty have shown concern about the situation. However, “many faculty members interviewed had indicated a desire to remain anonymous, citing the possibility of action against them as a result.” The report states this perceived lack of well-being may be related to the drop in faculty resources ranking as mentioned previously. Also, the report mentions that there may be a correlation between this apparently negative atmosphere and recent departures of various members of both faculty and staff, such as Laban Coblentz.

Much of the rest of the report encompasses the fourth section, “Institutional Finance.” This section is much longer than the other sections, as it includes information both on the current financial state of the Institute and the expenditures and financial decisions that led to this situation. The report shows that RPI has a current debt of $701 million. This follows in the wake of rising expenditures—during the 2008–09 academic year, total expenditures amounted to more than $375 million. This also may have had an effect on financial aid for students. In recent years, students have had to take out larger student loans; whether this is due to financial decisions or the economic status of the country is debatable.

Having taken all of this information into consideration, the Senate developed the motion—passed a few weeks ago—that represents, according to Cummings, the Senate’s official position on the state of the Institute. The board of trustees received the motion shortly after its release, but claimed the comments made in the motion “are not well founded.”

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Editor’s Corner

Editor hopeful for RPI, Poly

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Michael Chu, Editor in Chief

The last time I wrote an editorial was in the beginning of the fall semester. In that article, I talked about my return to school from a year-long leave of absence, and how great it was to be back at RPI for the fall semester.

Now that the semester is almost over, all I can think of is this: I was mad pro at timing my return.

There’s been a lot going on this fall, from the departure of Laban Coblentz (I’m going to call it: the thing that started it all), the men’s hockey team having a lackluster season (I still have faith in you guys), and the Student Senate having long and intense meetings to articulate its concerns about RPI (see: State of the Institute).

But all that makes it sound like this fall has been completely awful, which most definitely isn’t the case. I’ve made a bunch of new friends, reacquainted myself with old one, and continued my involvement with The Poly. So much so, in fact, that I’m currently Editor in Chief of the newspaper you’re reading. In the words of the editor before me, “I’m in charge. Me. I can boss people around and print terrible things about important people and leak classified documents, all because I have the power to do so. And if I say so, it’ll happen, because I’m EIC.”

I guess that’s not exactly how it works (as Sarah Hulse, too, went on to point out), but it’s a humorous idea. On a more serious note, I do have realistic goals and ideas for The Poly: to keep up-to-date with coverage, provide more variety of articles, improve quality/quantity of pieces, and continue to update/maintain the website. I won’t be able to get any of that done without the support of all the editors you see in the staff box below. But I’m confident that they, too, are on the same boat and will make this newspaper the best that they can.

However, these are just a few of my ideas (vague as they may be). If you have any feedback, send it to us at poly@rpi.edu (just keep it constructive). Want to help out with writing articles? Send an e-mail to the appropriate section. Got an opinion about something or want to promote an event/cause on campus? Shoot us a Letter to the Editor or My View (the more editorials, the better). Want to take photos, work on layout, or improve your grammar through copy-reading? E-mail the respective department to find out more. Like working with money, websites, or computers? The Poly has a place for those who have a knack for that, too. We’re always looking for more help.

But really, more than anything else, the most important way to help The Poly is by providing your continued readership. While I can endlessly wax poetic about how words are dead until they are read, I won’t bore you with that an instead leave you with the idea that there are so many stories and ideas waiting to be told, and The Poly might just be the publication to help with that.

This is the last issue of the semester, so check back for more in January. In typical Michael Chu fashion, I’m really nervous, but also really hopeful and excited (for both The Polytechnic and RPI). We’ll try our hardest to produce the most bestest, greatest newspaper ever.

It will be great.

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Health Bytes

Negative attitude may affect health, studies show

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Mala Krishnamoorthy, Staff Columnist

Tuesday morning blues. It’s still dark in my room. No slits of pale yellow between the blinds. That must mean it’s either cloudy or still night. I lift my head, not too far, but just enough to see the clock. Through bleary eyes, I can make out 8 … 30. Crap. Class started 30 minutes ago. Now, I’m on overdrive; I jump out of bed and immediately start coughing from dry mouth—open mouth breather, what can I say? I reach down and grab the cap of the water bottle beside my bed. Unfortunately, the lid had not been screwed on properly—to say the least, no more water in bottle, no water for my throat, and a wet carpet and power cord. Smooth. At least I didn’t get electrocuted.

I finally make it outside of my room. It’s pouring. Falling water seems to be the trend this morning. I race toward the shuttle, splashing puddles out of my way. I’m soaked. My thoughts become as clouded as the ominous sky above, and I begin to stress. I have too much work to do. I am not going to be able to finish it all! I have to get my car fixed. Who knows, watch the dealer be closed by the time I get there, or better yet, watch them overcharge me, those—My shoes are ruined. Fabulous … $100 down the drain; my favorite pair.” And on and on … With each step toward the shuttle and school, I become increasingly negative, and suddenly, I find myself very unhappy and lost in my thoughts. I can feel my body responding, the stress and negativity coursing through every artery, vein, and capillary in my body. Bad news. I’m shaking with anger and even the slightest irritation perturbs me. I’m tense. My heart is pounding and the frown on my face deepens as my headache worsens. What a day!

So, what can we take from this lovely, comforting vignette? The message is clear: Negative thinking is unhealthy. It can lead to mental, physical, and emotional distress both for the unhappy person and all of those unfortunate souls who happen to run into him or her during the course of the day. It’s contagious. Studies have shown that negative thinking can also have serious impacts on the health and well-being of patients suffering from disease. Patients fighting terminal illnesses, cancer, and other diseases have always been told to keep a positive outlook. Negative energy feeds the disease and can make the prognosis worse. To quote the cliché, “The mind is a powerful thing.”

However, a recent CNN article noted that “Surveys of the leading research in the field conclude that recovery rates from cancer, for example, are not higher among patients who take a positive attitude about fighting their disease. Studies that show the reverse have been small and, according to their critics, flawed in serious ways.”

So what are we to believe? Should we walk around scowling and breathing fire or should we turn that anger into positive thinking? Should we, as they put it, “turn that frown upside down?” I believe in the latter and, though I cannot say I follow the advice, positivity should be the goal. As human beings, we are wired and attracted to smiles; it is a comfort even to the stranger walking down the street, to see a friendly face; a smile implies happiness, comfort, security, and a vast array of thoughts and intentions. In clinic, medical students are taught to develop rapport with the patient, and this involves empathy and a reassuring, safe physician-patient interaction. I mean, can you honestly say that you would prefer the care of a grumpy, apathetic doctor, irrespective of his or her medical competence?

Positivity may not appear to show any statistically significant change in the health care status of the terminally ill. However, it may be very important for preventing illness. Angry, negative personality types can predispose and increase the risk of depression and a variety of other psychiatric illnesses. We are bombarded with negativity from the media and the stresses of everyday life. It takes a great deal of energy to maintain a happy disposition 24/7, and this is not necessarily healthy either. It is important to allow oneself to experience emotion and react to situations and interactions. What is most important is the ability to cope and control those emotions in an adaptive manner. Furthermore, our genes are not simply a function of inheritance, but are also capable of responding to environmental factors. Physiologic states such as stress resulting from negative thinking could impact poorly on overall health and increase the risk for developing disease in the future.

So the next time you are having a bad day, just “put a smile on.”

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RPI victorious in Tri-State Tourney

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Matthew Dawson, Senior Reporter

A week after its loss to The Sage Colleges, the men’s basketball team headed to Massachusetts for their game against Williams College. Williams is ranked seventh in the nation, so RPI expected a challenging game ahead of time. Despite a strong first half, RPI could not hold on and the Ephs came from behind for the 91-84 victory.

RPI started with very energetic play, especially on defense. The full-court press helped limit the Ephs’ offensive options early on. Senior Matthew Pooley continued to play well and he scored five of RPI’s first twelve points while the defense limited Williams to five points.

The Ephs climbed back in and took the lead with 11 minutes to play in the half, bringing the score to 19-18. Williams then extended its lead to 26-20 before RPI came storming back to reclaim a 42-38 advantage at halftime. RPI’s constant pressure had resulted in 13 turnovers, which it had turned into 19 points at the break.

The Engineers stared well again as they stretched their lead to 11 points. However, just like before, the Ephs fought their way back into the game. Williams saw RPI open a 56-49 lead, but reacted with seven points to tie it at 56 with 12 minutes to go.

Soon the Ephs took the lead for good when a breakaway made it 60-58. They then began to increase their advantage to 73-64, but the Engineers managed to bring it back to 84-82 with 1:10 remaining. This would be as close as RPI would get and Williams would win 91-84. This left the Engineers with a 1-3 record.

After the loss, RPI headed to Vermont for the Tri-State Shootout for its first round tilt against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Once again RPI shot out to an early advantage, leading 13-3 at one point against the Trailblazers. However, MCLA came back and slowly cut the deficit, tying the game with 6:44 left in the half. The Trailblazers then took the lead into halftime, 49-44.

MCLA extended the lead to seven almost right away after the intermission. But this time, it would be RPI that would show the fight back as it managed to get the game tied at 57 with almost 15 minutes left in the half.

RPI grew its lead to eight points when junior Redon Qello scored two of his team-high 20 points on a lay-up with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

The lead would change a couple of times throughout the period as no team could break away from the other. Fortunately, RPI held onto the lead late when two free throws by junior Jamie Zajac and one by Pooley proved to make the difference and RPI captured a 98-96 victory.

The Tri-State Shootout Championship was not nearly as close as RPI’s first game as it used an excellent second half to get a 107-90 tournament win against St. Joseph’s College.

RPI did not start the game well, going down 19-4 at one point. However, the Engineers were able to keep the Saints within striking distance for the rest of the half despite only shooting 32 percent. The first frame finished 57-48 in favor of St. Joseph’s.

RPI finally saw the lead in the second half when eventual tournament MVP Qello sank two free throws to make the score 68-66 in favor of the Engineers. Rensselaer began shooting much better and finished with 47 percent shooting. This was highlighted by the performances of Zajac, who scored 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting and junior Brendan Farley who nailed five treys.

The better offensive shooting was also paired with better defense as St Joseph’s only shot 27 percent. RPI was playing very well and finished the game off with a 27-10 run which brought the score all the way to 107-90.

Qello was awarded tournament MVP for his excellent performance while Zajac was placed on the All-Tournament team for his.

Following the tournament, Qello was tabbed as the Liberty League Performer of the Week.

The two Tri-State Tournament victories brought RPI’s record to 3-3 and the Engineers have to wait until January 2 to play the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. Rensselaer then comes back home for a five-game home stand including games against Middlebury College on January 3, the Liberty League opener against the Rochester Institute of Technology on January 6, and a game against St. Lawrence University on January 7.

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Rensselaer In Brief

CREDC launches new plan

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Sarah Hulse, Senior Reporter

The Capital Region Economic Development Council, co-chaired by President Shirley Ann Jackson and CEO of SEFCU Lou Castellana recently released their five-year strategic plan for improving the economic status of the Capital Region. Earlier this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed a number of committees throughout the state to come up with plans to revitalize their regions and compete for $200 million in state aid. CREDC’s plan would benefit eight counties in New York state.

RPI has received extensive local media attention since the plan’s announcement, as it has been touted to stand the most immediate financial gain if the group’s plans were to be approved. If their request for $25 million was approved, it would then have a petascale (or greater) supercomputer in the Rensselaer Technology Park, which would replace the current supercomputer there. The current supercomputer at the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations is touted as one of the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputers, and is funded by IBM and New York State, as well as RPI. The upgrade, as explained in the council’s plans, is expected to bring in additional corporate investment and academic partnership in research requiring use of the computer, and can deliver 6,000 new jobs. The total cost of the supercomputer would be $150 million.

The Institute is also mentioned in another plan to create the New York Capital Research Alliance, which would link Albany Medical Center, RPI, and the University at Albany, as well as other colleges, in pursuing further research in biomedical science and technology and attracting private and federal sponsored funding. The plan requests $900,000 in funding to establish the Alliance. Another $6 million is requested to leverage $40 million in funding from partner investors to continue support of the High Performance Computer Consortium, which involves Rensselaer, Stonybrook University, and the University at Buffalo. All plans involving RPI are expected to show the best results within the mid to long-term (18-36+ months.)

CREDC’s plan also highlighted further investment in regional tourism, ranging from establishing media and arts festivals such as Model of Human Occupation to investing further in local ski resorts like Windham Mountain. It also highlighted waterfront improvements in downtown Troy around Monument Square. For more information, check out http://capitalregionopenforbusiness.com/.

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Editorial Notebook

Student shares bio experience

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ryan Baltazar, Photography Editor

When I first started Biology 1010: Introduction to Biology in the beginning of this semester, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. On the one hand, all of my friends were telling me how awful the class was. All the work felt like busy work and the amount of effort they put into the class didn’t feel proportional to the amount of satisfaction they got out of it. On the other hand, I had also been hearing that the biology department was trying to fix its introductory course. Now that the class is basically completed (all that is left is the final exam), I feel that I can finally give a well formed opinion on the class as a non-biology major at RPI.

The material covered in lab and in lecture was basically what I was expecting from an introductory biology course: ecology, evolution, basic topics on cells, and so on. It’s basic stuff that was a complete rehash of what I had learned back in high school. But even though almost all the material were things that I had previously learned, I wasn’t as bored in lecture as you might expect. My professor managed to teach and present the material in a way that was both entertaining and informative, while still keeping up with the expected schedule. Not only that, but he tied in a lot of topics that were relevant to today’s society with the rest of the topics. The fact that he was constantly making relevant puns and jokes in class also kept drawing me back to the class, instead of wanting to skip lecture every week.

And then there are the labs. The labs are held every week and vary between wet labs (i.e., hands on labs) and simulation labs. The labs are meant to complement and reinforce the material that is taught in lecture by showing actual examples of the theories. Did they do this? Yes, they did. The wet labs were mildly interesting (albeit a little creepy for some) and having a good group kept the labs bearable for the three-hour duration. The simulation labs weren’t as interesting and usually involved using some form of software while completing some worksheet on the topic. A lot of the simulation labs were mind numbingly boring and usually involved making predictions that anybody with even the slightest sense of logic could make. These predictions were then confirmed by clicking some buttons and watching some numbers. For three hours. Were these simulation labs easy? Yes. Did they help reinforce some of the concepts? Sort of. But honestly, they felt more like busy work than anything else.

While I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect in the beginning of the semester, I was fairly certain that I was going to hate the course. Instead, I can’t say I hate the course because there were some interesting things we did in lab, and while the lectures weren’t the best in the world, they at least kept me coming back. All this being said, the course still feels like a lot of the work is just busy work and not worth my time. The current state of the course isn’t terrible, but it could definitely still be improved. I encourage the biology department to try and make the course more interesting to those who are not biologists and make the course one that people want to take instead of avoid.

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