| Fall 06: Dean's Message: A Year in Review
As we start a new academic year, it is a good time to pause and reflect on the changes that have occurred during my first year at Rensselaer. There were a number of very exciting announcements and developments:
- The 100 million dollar Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI). This partnership with IBM and the State of New York will lead to a world-class computational facility that will allow our faculty to continue to develop new technological processes that will facilitate rapid implementation of nano-technological developments.
- The $30,000 Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize that will recognize outstanding young inventors at Rensselaer. This award is being offered through a partnership between Rensselaer and the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit organization that recognizes invention, encourages sustainable solutions to real problems, and inspires students to innovative and create.
- The renewal of our NSF-sponsored Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for Directed Self Assembly of Nanostructures.
- The initiation of the International Program for Engineering Undergraduates.
- The development of a new Masters degree jointly with the Lally School of Management and Technology.
- Continued increase in our research expenditures, and our doctoral and undergraduate student numbers.
- A large increase in the engineering program at Hartford.
- The formation of a new advisory council for the School of Engineering.
Already this new academic year has lead to another major development – the announcement that the School of Engineering and Rensselaer was selected to become a Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) institution. This selection means that every engineering student will have access to a broad suite of software that will allow an “integrated parametrics-based approach to all aspects of a product’s life–from its design inception through its manufacture, marketing, distribution, and maintenance and finally into recycling and disposal”. This cradle-to-grave approach in manufacturing is being sponsored by GM, EDS, Sun Microsystems, and UGS. The $514 million PACE gift is the largest in-kind gift that has been received during Rensselaer’s 1.4 billion dollar campaign. This software will ensure that all of our undergraduates continue to receive an education that is at the leading edge of instructional technology.