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Marc Cavosie has been named to the U.S. National Junior Hockey Team. The sophomore forward is expected to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championship Tournament in Moscow from December 26 to January 5.
Marc is the first member of the hockey team to participate in the World Junior Tournament since Adam Bartell in 1993. Participation on the National Junior Team is a big honor, and can only go to a player who is under 20 years old.
Campus.News is reporting that The Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education published results of a survey of the Freshmen who participated in the laptop purchase program, conducted by Rensselaer for the first time last year.
The article said, "... 83 percent of {respondents} were satisfied with their laptops. More than 81 percent said that having a laptop allowed them to communicate effectively with course instructors. In addition, 75 percent said that having a laptop enabled higher-quality interaction with their professors."
The Poly had an interesting article on the faculty forum to discuss the results of the laptop survey. It reveals some concerns that the faculty has about their ability to tailor the courses to utilize the laptops in a meaningful way. Read on for a summary of the article as well as a brief history of the Laptop Program itself....
In a related article, the Poly pointed out that the faculty are still not sure that this program is achieving its goals. In an article describing the faculty meeting where the survey was discussed, Poly reporter Terrence Brown said, "The central question of the afternoon, raised by Provost Bud Peterson, was 'Are laptops measurably improving the student learning experience?' And while no one, including the Anderson Center, could confirm this with concrete evidence, there was a consensus that the laptop initiative had not harmed the student learning experience."
The approach that all parts of the RPI community is taking toward evaluating the Laptop Program is excellent. The incorporation of laptop computer use into the classroom is another huge change in the way courses are designed. And, just as the success of the Interactive Learning initiative was hard to measure, so is the impact of laptops on course work.
At the beginning of the 1999 academic year, Rensselaer began requiring entering Freshmen to purchase IBM Thinkpad 600 laptop computers. The purpose was not only to ensure that each student had their own, modern PC, but also to allow more extensive use of computers in the classroom.
In April, The Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education conducted a survey of the Freshmen who had received laptops throught the new program. Over four hundred of the students, nearly one third of the total population, responded to the survey.
The survey is the first large-scale attempt to gauge student satisfaction with the program.
Today's New York Times informs us that an anonymous donor has given Rensselaer $130 million for a new biotechnology research center and a performing arts center.
The NYT article is here.
A set of press releases and other related documents can be viewed at RPI's web site.
Private sources tell me that the biotech center will be placed in the parking lot between the DCC, CII, and Old School 14 (Academy Hall). It is possible that the roadway into campus will be moved to accomodate this. The new PAC is expected to be built on the side of the hill to the west of the Folsom Library.
The Times Union is reporting that two hockey players from RPI have swept the weekly awards given by the ECAC. Carson Butterwick, a sophomore from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, was named ECAC Player of the Week. Freshman Nathan Marsters from Grimsby, Ontario, won ECAC Goaltender of the Week.
In other news, US College Hockey Online reports that Rensselaer has risen to eleventh in the USCHO Division I Poll. According to their article, "Things remained relatively calm in the USCHO.com Top 15 this week. The lone exception was Rensselaer's big jump into the rankings, placing at No. 11 after a weekend sweep of Princeton and Yale...."
Dave Aiello wrote, "The biggest hockey game of the season, from the New Jersey alumni's perspective, is the RPI-Princeton game. This season, the Engineers honored us by coming into Princeton and delivering a dominant 6-2 victory. Read on for more information about the game and the events that surrounded it."
Dave Aiello continues:
Update on February 12, 2001: Here's a shot of the big table at the pre-game dinner. Clockwise from the lower left:
John Zoeller, Mimi Zoeller, John Cloninger, Jeanine DeMicco, Julie's friend from Dow Jones, Julie Aiello (my sister), Dave Aiello (that's me), Ellie Finegan, "Dr. Bill" Ryan, Henry Scheuer, and Joe Pilaro.
I was trying to figure out where Kathleen Kuykendall, my fiancee, was in this picture. But, I bet she was the one who took the picture. (Nice job, Kathleen.)
Thirty-one seconds into the first period, RPI fell behind 1-0 on a goal by George Parros (the only current Princeton player from New Jersey). Anyone who follows the ECAC knows that a goal by the home team that comes this quickly after the beginning of a period is very depressing to the visitors.
But, RPI came back with 4 consecutive goals to put the game out of reach by the end of the first period. As Jayson Moy pointed out in his USCHO report on the game, it was as if Rensselaer continued its momentum from the Yale game the night before.
Princeton scored another goal, four and a half minutes into the second period. But that was their last goal of the game.
The team played very well overall. The line of Matt Murley, Nolan Graham, and Carson Butterwick played particularly well, as they had in the game against Yale on Friday night. Nathan Marsters, a freshman goalie from Grimsby, Ontario, played a solid game.
I met two people who completely surprised me when I first saw them. Eric Schofield works for the Rensselaer Athletic Department, and I worked with him extensively back in the late '80s when I was the manager of the RPI Hockey Team. I didn't expect to see him because he is not one of the people who travels with the team whenever they are on the road. Another guy I met at the game was Frank Russo, a former teammate from the New Jersey Golden Blades Junior "B" team, circa 1984. (This was the travel team that I played with before I went to RPI.) What a shock it was to meet someone that I knew from hockey but had not seen in 15 years.
I also had a chance to say hello to Kevin Gertz, one of the assistant referees in the game. Kevin is a member of the Metropolitan New York Chapter of NIHOA (in addition to the ECAC staff), and I have worked many high school hockey games with him over the years.
John Cloninger and I had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Murley's mother at the game. Matt is one of the leading scorer's for RPI this season, and he is originally from Lansingburgh. I did not know this until Saturday night, but I officiated some of his youth hockey games when I worked as an official in the Albany area.
I had a chance to shake hands with Ivan Moore the newest assistant coach of RPI. Ivan was on the team when I was the manager. He is a great addition to Dan Fridgen's staff, in that he has played for RPI fairly recently, and knows what it takes to succeed on and off the ice better than anyone.
I made reservations for 10 people at the Tap Room, and we squeezed 11 people around it. For a list of who they were, see the photo caption above. Henry Rosenblatt was also at the Tap Room, having dinner with members of his family.
Steve Nudelman, John Capolongo, and Sandeep Nandy also made it for the game, despite some difficulties en route.
John Cloninger tells me that Eric Metzger, another former student manager, was also at the game. I did not see him myself.
Disclaimer: A lot more people attended the event, and I will try to list as many as possible here, in future updates to this story.
On Friday night, RPI came back from a 3-1 deficit after two periods to beat Yale 5-4 in New Haven. Matt Murley scored a goal with 1:06 left in regulation to pull out the victory.
RCNJ member John Cloninger attended the game, and we hope that he will provide a first hand account.
The Rensselaer Club of New Jersey announces the events associated with the Mens' Varsity Ice Hockey Game between Rensselaer and Princeton University on Saturday, December 9, 2000. The RCNJ will make a limited number of game tickets available to its members and their friends for the face value of $8.00 each. There will also be an optional pre-game dinner at the Yankee Doodle Tap Room in the Nassau Inn in Princeton.
Update: The dinner plans have been changed because we were unable to achieve the minimum number of confirmed attendees for the formal dinner that we had planned previously.
Read on for a description for event details and directions to the sites....
The RCNJ will not reserve tables in the Tap Room for you. In order to guarantee seats for your party, reservations are recommended.
Parking is available at one of the garages in Palmer Square that adjoin the Nassau Inn. The Nassau Inn is a five minute walk from Baker Rink if you want to park your car and leave it in one place. (Please confirm that the parking facility that you use will be open until at least 10:30 pm if you leave your car in Downtown Princeton before the game.)
In our preparation for the RPI-Princeton game, we overlooked the results of last weekend's games. On Friday night, Union came from behind twice to tie Rensselaer 2-2 at Houston Field House. Dan Fridgen was quoted in the USCHO article as saying, "I think it's a disappointing tie. We played hard enough, we played well enough to win the game, but give them credit, they're a good hockey team."
In the Saturday game, RPI beat Quinnipiac 6-3. The Engineers broke the game open with three consecutive third period goals. Quinnipiac is a member of the MAAC Conference.
Summing up the Quinnipiac game as well as the team's weekend experience, Dan Fridgen said, We certainly didn't have a stellar first period; we did a good job of regrouping in the second and kept coming at them in the third. We won two periods out of the three, losing one and that's a good weekend. We played five out of six periods this weekend and took three of four points."
Tickets remain available for the RPI-Princeton Hockey Game on Saturday, December 9, 2000, at 7:00pm. They are being sold at face value, $8.00 each.
Henry Scheuer will handle the distribution of tickets this week because Phil Lurie is away on business. Henry can be reached by telephone at 800-999-6726 extension 4106. He is available at this number during business hours each day until the end of the day on Friday. If you want to do business by email, contact Dave Aiello.
Three weeks ago, we announced plans for a sit-down dinner on Saturday, December 9, prior to the RPI-Princeton Hockey Game. At the time, we indicated that this dinner would be cancelled if fewer than 40 people committed to attend by December 1.
Unfortunately, we were forced to cancel the dinner for that reason. We have replaced this event with an informal gathering at the Yankee Doodle Tap Room in the Nassau Inn at 4:30pm. For more information see the Rensselaer-Princeton Hockey Game Event Details article. Contact Dave Aiello or John Cloninger if you have any questions.