CBE News and Events
Prof. Plawsky has had a number of experiments conducted on the International Space Station, but the two most recent ones deal with heat. The first experiment will examine the movement of heat and liquid within a heat pipe. Heat pipes are used to cool critical microelectronic components like in your laptop, the Mars Rovers and satellites. The second will test and validate theories of boiling and condensation.
The annual CBE AIChE reception will be held on Tuesday, October 30, 2018! Click for more details.
“Innovation by Evolution: Expanding the Enzyme Universe”
This year's Abbott Lectures will be on Wednesday, April 18 and Thursday, April 19 and will feature Distinguished Professor, Andrew Zydney, from the Pennsylvania State University. All are welcome!
Institute News
RPI Creates Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has established the Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation, a new area within the university that incorporates a number of key translational activities at RPI, including intellectual property and technology licensing, large-scale corporate partnerships, initiation and growth of start-up ventures, and translational campuses, including the Rensselaer Technology Park, as well as translational activities in New York City.
Investigation Onboard the Space Station Seeks New Insights Into Cooling Technology for Electronics
What if microgravity holds the key to preventing the overheating of advanced electronics? That’s one idea behind an International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory-sponsored investigation that recently launched to station on Northrop Grumman’s 19th Commercial Resupply Services mission (NG-19). This week, the ISS crew is working on the experiment, which aims to improve the efficiency of heat transfer devices used in various technologies, from laptops to NASA’s Hubble Telescope.
DOE Awards $26 Million To Support Community-Centered Approach To Siting Spent Nuclear Fuel
— The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $26 million in funding geographically and institutionally diverse awardees, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), who will engage with additional partners and communities to further the conversation around consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel.
RPI Researchers To Contribute To New Center for Continuous mRNA Manufacturing
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Steven Cramer, William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering, and Todd Przybycien, professor of chemical and biological engineering, will contribute to a three-year research program led by faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that aims to design the world’s first fully integrated, continuous mRNA manufacturing platform. Both Cramer and Przybycien are members of Rensselaer’s Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. The platform is part of an $82 million effort funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
100-Year-Old Treatment Inhibits COVID-19 Infection
A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has illuminated a new possibility for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in research published in Communications Biology.