RCNJ

John Cloninger reports that the campus was rocked yesterday by reports that Rensselaer Computer Science graduate student Robert Svensson was killed while exploring Clarksville Cave. The latest story, also published in the Times Union, indicates that emergency rescue personnel from various Albany County agencies have decided to drain the subterrainian pool in which his body lies because a team of a dozen divers has been unable to recover the body. {Update on 03/01: Divers successfully recovered the body today, overcoming a number of difficult natural obstacles.}

In an article published on The Poly Web Site, Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson said, "We are deeply saddened to hear of this tragic and untimely accident. Our hearts and our deepest sympathies go out to Robert?s family and friends.... Our first priority is to come together to provide a support structure for those who are grieving. Counseling and support services have been made available to the students and an on-campus memorial service is being planned."

The RCNJ certainly joins President Jackson in extending our sympathies to the family and friends of Robert Svensson.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Club of New Jersey will hold its annual dinner meeting on Wednesday, February 28 at 6:00pm at the Montclair Golf Club in West Orange. Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson, Rensselaer's new provost will be the featured speaker.

Read on for more information and directions.

RSVP Instructions

Philip M. Lurie '74
Rensselaer Club of New Jersey
P.O. Box 461
Paramus, NJ 07653-0461

For more information, contact Phil Lurie, phil-lurie@att.net.

If you are RSVPing after February 14, please phone Ken DeGhetto at 973-630-8301 to be added to the guest list.

Directions

Montclair Golf Club
25 Prospect Avenue
West Orange, NJ 07052
973-239-1800

From the West (including Interstate 287)

Interstate 80 East to Interstate 280 East to Exit 8B (Prospect Avenue, Cedar Grove). Pass through four traffic lights. Between the second and third traffic lights, you will pass a shopping center on the left side of the road. After the fourth traffic light, a large restauarant called the Manor will be seen on the left side of the road. Shortly thereafter on the left is the entrance to Montclair Golf Club.

From the East (including NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway)

Take Interstate 280 West to Exit 8B. Follow the instructions listed above, beginning with "Pass through four traffic lights."

Order of Program

• 6:00-7:00pm, Cocktails (hosted by Ken DeGhetto '50) and Hors d'oeuvres
• 7:15-7:20, Introduction by Ken DeGhetto
• 7:20-7:45, Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson - The Rensselaer Plan: One Year Later
• 8:00-9:30, Dinner

Biographical Sketch of Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson

G.P. "Bud" Peterson joined Rensselaer as Provost on July 1, 2000. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985, and remained there on as a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department. During his nineteen years at Texas A&M, he was named the Halliburton Professor of Mechanical Engineering (1990) and the College of Engineering's Tenneco Professor (1991). He served in a number of administrative roles, including Division Leader for the Thermal and Fluid Science Division, Department Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, and most recently as Associate Vice Chancellor and Executive Associate Dean of the College of Engineering. In 1993 he was invited to serve as the Program Director for the Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Division of the National Science Foundation where he received the 1994 NSF Award for Outstanding Management. Prior to joining Texas A&M University, he was Head of the General Engineering Technology Department at Kansas Technical Institute. Peterson earned three degrees from Kansas State University (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1975; B.S., Mathematics, 1977; and M.S., Engineering, 1980).

Peterson is the author or co-author of 125 refereed journal articles and more than 150 conference publications in the area of thermodynamics and heat transfer. His technical contributions have been recognized through numerous awards including the Dow / ASEE Outstanding Young Faculty Award; the ASME / Pi Tau Sigma Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award, and the AIAA Thermophysics Award. He is a member of Pi Tau Sigma, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi, as well as a Fellow of both the ASME and AIAA, and holds eight patents.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Late last week, Howard Deutsch '69 sent the following message to members of the RCNJ Leadership Committee:

"A decision has been made to postpone the Rensselaer NJ/NY Technology Forum. The new date for the forum is October 18. This change in date has been made to provide more time to line up sponsors. Our goal is to have two sponsors providing $5,000 each. We have until June 30 to line up the sponsors."

Read on for more of Howard's comments....

Howard Deutsch continued:

First, I want to thank all of you for your help in planning the Forum and in any efforts you have taken to line up sponsors! As many of you said, the timing was ambitious and we are now in a much better position to plan the event to ensure success. The members of the planning committee in Troy believe they will be able to reallocate the funding they have secured for the Forum to next year's budget.

Please continue your efforts to line up sponsors.

The RCNJ Leadership Committee also wants to make this important program affordable to RPI students and young alumni who would benefit most from exposure to this program. As such, the need for corporate sponsorship is obvious.

If you want to help make this event a reality, please contact Howard Deutsch at howdeutsch@aol.com.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mens' Hockey Team continued to have difficulty scoring this weekend. On Friday, they lost a heartbreaker to Harvard, 1-0. As Tim Wilken from the Times-Union pointed out, that was the first time that RPI had ever been shut out 1-0 in Houston Field House, where we've played hockey for 51 seasons.

On Saturday, The Engineers came out of their scoring slump a little, defeating Brown 4-2. This was a key victory in terms of positioning the team for the playoffs. If RPI had lost this game, they might have been eliminated from contention for home ice during the ECAC playoffs.

However, due to the RPI victory over Brown, and the coincidental Union defeat of Harvard, and Dartmouth's loss to Yale, the Engineers trail Dartmouth by only two points. RPI's chances of winning a home ice playoff series look better when you compare the remaining schedules of Dartmouth, RPI, and Yale.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello said, "This weekend, the mens' hockey team held its annual Alumni Weekend in conjunction with the last two home games of the regular season. My fiancee, Kathleen Kuykendall, and I travelled up to Troy for the weekend and we had a great time."

"Here's a picture that Kathleen took of a faceoff during the Alumni Game on Saturday afternoon. It was probably after a goal by the White Team, because the White Team beat the Red Team, 11-8."

"Read on for more pictures and descriptions of the events...."

Dave Aiello continued:

In the game, the White Team jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first period, looking like they were going to run away with it. The Red Team battled back in the second period, but ultimately could not make up the hole they dug for themselves in the first period. As I said earlier, the final score was White 11, Red 8.

This is a picture of the handshake at the end of the game. Each year, the game is played with a different number of players and coaches. Last year, if I remember correctly, we had four lines and six defensemen, plus goalies-- a huge turnout for the alumni game. This year, only 14 players and two goalies played. That meant we had to play 4-on-4 for the entire game, so that we could change two or three players per shift. Most of the guys who played in this game were pretty tired at the end, because we almost never remained off the ice for more than a minute of playing time.
Kathleen took this picture of me, near the RPI bench, after the game. Note that I was on the Red Team. We lost. The White Team was in the locker room celebrating already.
After the game, we had lunch in one of the meeting rooms in Houston Field House. It's a lot easier to identify people in this picture than in the ones that were taken of the game. On the right side of the table, Bud Lindner is sitting in the foreground. Next at the table is Kathleen Kuykendall. Rick Borina '92 is the man seated next to Kathleen. Rick now lives in East Northport, NY, which is on Long Island. There is another person beyond Rick who is totally obscured. Beyond them is Todd Hilditch '92 from Vancouver, BC. Head Coach Dan Fridgen is the man standing on the right side of the table, wearing the tan baseball cap. I can't identify the other people beyond him. On the left side of the table, Jon Pirrong '96 is the only person I can identify. He is wearing the dark-colored baseball cap.
Here's a picture of Kevin Mazzella '91 and me. Kevin came up to Troy this weekend with his wife and their two children. He and I were at RPI at the same time, and I don't think I had seen him in about 8 years. Kevin lives in Middletown, CT and works for General Electric.
That night, we all attended the game between Rensselaer and Brown University. We must have brought the team luck because RPI beat Brown 4-2. Here is a picture of Burton Clarkson '50 and me at the game during the second period. Burt was the captain in 1949-50, and he was the team's leading scorer that season. He now lives in Houston, TX.
We even got a picture of two New Jersey alumni. This picture is of me and Tom Bellatty '51. Tom was the leading scorer in 1950-51, and he was the team's captain. He lives in West Caldwell with his wife. Tom was on the ice for the Alumni Game as one of the two referees. He regularly officiates mens' hockey at Clary Anderson Arena in Montclair.
Between the second and third period of the game, most of the alumni who played in the game that afternoon were introduced. Left to right: Dan Hershberg '62, Tom Bellatty '51, Paul Murphy '81, Pat Valiquette '76, Jeff Whiteside '86, Dave Aiello '89, Paul Krosney '68, Jerry Bailey '75, Chuck Rancourt '70, Bob Mattice '75, Scott Prekaski '00, Jon Pirrong '96, Don Cutts ('74?), Burt Clarkson '50. I hope I identified everyone correctly in the photo.
Here is a picture of me with Kathleen Kuykendall, my fiancee. A number of the guys brought their wives and families with them. It's a lot more fun to have them there than it would be for us to attend by ourselves. I want to thank Kathleen for taking most of the photos that are seen in this article. Thanks to Tom Bellatty for taking this photo.

Note: These photos are 50 percent reductions from the originals, which are each 640 x 480 pixels in size. They were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 950. If anyone wants a copy of any or all of the full-sized images, please email me: dave_aiello@ctdata.com.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ketan Vakil recently reported in The Poly that Monument Square in Downtown Troy was used as a movie set by DreamWorks. According to the article, "... DreamWorks SKG was here on Friday and Saturday nights to film the 19th century scenes in a remake of H.G. Wells' classic science-fiction story The Time Machine."

The same area of Downtown Troy was a scene for several movies in the 1980s and 90s, including Ironweed, the movie version of the famous William Kennedy novel.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "Earlier tonight, I posted the one hundredth article to the RCNJ.org Web Site since we relaunched it over Labor Day Weekend 2000. This is a major milestone for our Web Site. In the three year history of the Web Site prior to September 2000, we posted fewer than one hundred articles."

"I would like to thank John Cloninger and the other members of the RCNJ Committee for their support and assistance during the redevelopment of this Web Site."

"When we set out to create a Web Site for the RCNJ back in 1997, I dreamed that we would be able to create an information resource that told our members something new and interesting whenever they visited. I think it's safe to say that we have achieved that."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tim Wilkin of the Albany Times Union may be one of the best hockey writers in America. Who else would have the courage to relate what Matt Murley said in the aftermath of Saturday's 6-3 loss to Yale?

"This might have been one of the worst games of all-time," RPI winger Matt Murley said. "It was the worst game I have ever played in my RPI career, that's for sure.... This is very frustrating. We are playing a team that's just about in last place and we were terrible."

In Friday's game, RPI got a goal from Conrad Barnes about 9 minutes into the third period to break a scoreless tie. They made that goal stand up, shutting Princeton out 1-0. This is the first time that RPI has shut out Princeton since 1972. It was Barnes' second career goal, and his second goal in as many games.

RPI really needs points in order to secure "home ice advantage" in the playoffs. The four teams with the best ECAC records at the end of the regular season host a first round playoff series. But, as Tim Wilkin said in his article about the Yale game, "To advance in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, a team has to play well on back-to-back nights. That's bad news for the RPI hockey team."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "Marketing and Media Relations at Rensselaer has produced a beautiful Web Site that provides a Virtual Campus Tour. This site debuted in mid-January and was the result of several months of work by Steven R. Morris, Gary Gold, and Mark M. McCarthy."

"This is possibly the most user friendly Web Site that has ever been built at RPI. It shows off the best features of the campus, and is accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world who has access to the Internet. I recommend it highly, particularly as an introduction to RPI for prospective students."

"I picked out some parts of the tour that I thought were particularly well done. Read on for that list...."

Dave Aiello continued:

Here are some of the best features of the tour:

• New Buildings and Recent Renovations
  
  
  
  • Barton Hall
    
  • Mueller Center
    
  • The Approach
    
  
  
• Special Interest Tours
  
  
  
  • Learning & Research
    
  • Residence & Dining
    
  • Sports, Fitness, & Recreation
    
  • Campus Flyover
    
  
  

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rensselaer Alumni Relations is sponsoring two "Ask the Expert" on-line discussions which will take place continuously from February 12 to 23. The topics are "Directions in Information Technology" and "How to Get a PE License".

Ask the Expert discussions are led by alumni who are experts in these subject areas. Roy Forsberg '82 from Nortel Networks will lead the Directions in Information Technology discussion. Doug Hasbrouck '57 will lead the Professional Engineering licensing discussion.

For more information and instructions on how to participate, visit the Discussion Groups page of the AlumServ Web Site at RPI.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello said, "It's pretty tough to say, but we all had a good time at the Satellite Hockey Broadcast at the Sportz Bar and Grill in East Hanover on Saturday night. I say that because RPI lost to Clarkson, 3-1."

"How do you know we had a good time? The proof is in the pictures, of course."

"Thanks to John Cloninger for acting as the official host of this event. We'd also like to thank Kate Potvin and her boyfriend Matt Brown for driving down from Troy and joining us."

"Read on for more pictures of John Cloninger and his friends...."

Dave Aiello continues:

When I was writing this story, I couldn't decide if John Cloninger was running for Mayor of East Hanover, NJ, or if he was just the host of the Satellite Hockey Game. That's not really fair for me to say because I set him up for this. I took most of the pictures, and I insisted that John get into most of them.

Pictured here is John Cloninger with John and Elise Caporale and one other person. In the finest Web tradition, I am posting these photos as soon as I can, so I am still pulling together captions and credits for them. If you are pictured in any of these photos, and you have not been identified in a caption, send me an email at dave_aiello@ctdata.com.
Pictured here is Sandeep Nandy, Steve Nudelman, John Cloninger and Dave Nangle. I allege that Steve Nudelman said that the RCNJ Satellite Hockey Event was a lot more happening than he remembers the New York City Chapter's event was last year. Maybe Mike Torre can show us some of his pictures from this year for comparison?
Pictured here is Knute Leidal and his wife Betty Leidal. I had a really nice conversation with them. It's great when I see people at our events who I have not seen at other recent RCNJ events. Knute said that they had been to the Rensselaer 175th Anniversary Event at the Liberty Science Center, and that they had also been to the dinner where we introduced former RPI president R. Byron Pipes to the alumni of New Jersey. So, they are definitely not strangers.
Pictured here are Chris and Karen Parsons. They live in Long Valley, which is a town in Morris County that is on Route 24 west of Chester. Most people who live in Morris County don't know that.
Pictured here is Mike Lobo, Denise Combs, and Dave Aiello (that's me). Denise works for Schindler Elevator in Morristown. Denise says that Mike is a classmate of hers (they are Class of '93) and he works in a civilian position for the U.S. Air Force in Colorado Springs, CO.
This is by far my favorite picture. Bud Maasch of the Class of 1931 is pictured here. Bud's 70th reunion is coming up in June. On his right is Jim Odell, who I think is his son-in-law. I'm willing to bet that this is the first time that Bud's picture has appeared on the Internet.
When Kate Potvin arrived with her boyfriend Matt Brown, we got her to pose for a picture with John Cloninger and me. Matt used my digital camera to take the big group photo that appears in the story introduction. That's a good picture, thanks a lot. Doesn't it look like we are having a good time?
John Markert introduced himself to us after the game. I had seen him earlier in the evening, but I originally thought he was with Clarkson. Silly me. I felt embarassed at that point, so John Cloninger graciously agreed to be a part of the photo.
Here is a picture of the Satellite Hockey Game event hosts. John Cloninger represents RPI. Rich Stamboulian represents Clarkson. Rich has a Clarkson sweater with Dave Taylor's name on it. Anybody remember who that is? Cloninger says he has a 1-4 record as host. Stamboulian has spent most of his recent career as a gracious winner. We'll get 'em next year.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "The North Country Trip is fraught with peril for every team in the ECAC. Only the very best teams in league history have gone up to Canton and Potsdam expecting to sweep. So, it should not be a surprise to Engineers fans that RPI did not come out of this weekend with two wins. But, no one ever wants to get swept, and that's exactly what happened to Rensselaer this weekend."

"By all accounts, RPI played pretty well on Friday night. The team was able to battle back in the third period, against a St. Lawrence team that has been tough all year. Matt Murley tied the game with 1:03 left in regulation, while Nathan Marsters was on the bench in favor of a sixth skater. But the game was put out of reach in overtime, when Blair Clarance backhanded the puck off Marsters glove and into the net. The final score was St. Lawrence 4, RPI 3."

"Saturday night, the Engineers went to Cheel Arena looking for a weekend-salvaging win. This is not an easy place to play, no matter what kind of season Clarkson is having. In spite of Conrad Barnes' first collegiate goal which openened the scoring, RPI gave up three unanswered goals and lost to Clarkson 3-1."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Club of New Jersey, in conjuction with the Rensselaer Development Office's Special Events Group and Clarkson University, is hosting the ninth annual Satellite Hockey Telecast on Saturday, February 10, at 7:00pm. The event will be held at Sportz Bar and Grill, 130 Route 10 West, East Hanover. Sportz Bar and Grill is adjacent to the Ramada Inn.

Read on for RSVP instructions and directions to the event site.

RSVP Instructions

Satellite Hockey Telecast
c/o Laurie Gillespie-Allen, Special Events
Academy Hall - Room 2701
Rensselaer Polytechic Institute
110 Eighth Street
Troy, NY 12180-3590

Please include, site name (New Jersey), name class year, address, daytime phone number, email address, and names of any additional guests.

Directions

From the North, South, or West

Take Interstate 287 to Exit 39 (Route 10 East). Follow Route 10 for 2-3 miles. Make a U-Turn onto Route 10 West at the traffic light in front of the Sony Theater complex (a "jug handle"). Follow Route 10 West a short distance to the Ramada Inn on the right hand side of the road.

From the East

Take Interstate 280 to Exit 4A, Eisenhower Parkway. Follow Eisenhower Parkway south for approximately 4 miles, to Livingston Circle, the junction of Route 10 and Eisenhower Parkway. Take Route 10 West for 2 to 3 miles. The Ramada Inn is on the right, shortly after "East Hanover Plaza" and Costco.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Campus.News reports that Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson will be named Black Engineer of the Year at a conference organized by U.S. Black Engineer and Information Technology Magazine this week in Baltimore.

Tyrone D. Tayborn chairman and CEO of Career Communications Group (publishers of USBEIT) said, "Dr. Jackson is a distinguished theoretical physicist with a long string of 'firsts' to her credit. She is the first woman to win the prestigious Black Engineer of the Year Award; the first African American on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the first African American to head that agency; and the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. at MIT in any discipline...."

As an organization, the RCNJ feels particularly close to Dr. Jackson because she lived and worked in New Jersey for many years. She held positions at Bell Laboratories and Rutgers University prior to her appointment by President Bill Clinton as Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She left the NRC to become the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in July 1999.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Campus.News is reporting that Professor Martin E. Glicksman '57 was selected as a recipient of the Humboldt Senior Research Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany.

Dr. Glicksman, the John Tod Horton Professor of Materials Engineering, gave a presentation to potentential Rensselaer students at the New Jersey Rensselaer Medal Reception in 1998. At that time, he spoke about his work on the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), a series of microgravity crystal growth experiments that flew on space shuttle missions in 1994, 1996, and 1997

The von Humboldt Foundation is a non-profit group organized by the Federal Republic of Germany to promote international research co-operation. The foundation takes its name from Alexander von Humboldt, a noted German scientist of the 18th and 19th centuries who distinguished himself in geography, climatology, ecology, and oceanography.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Times Union reports that RPI jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the Big Red Freakout against Vermont. But, Vermont battled back with a power play goal late in the second period, and another early in the third period, ultimately earning a 2-2 tie.

By all accounts, this is a game that the Engineers should have won, if only because Vermont was 1-7-2 in its last 10 games. It also turns out that Matt Murley hit the post with 11:19 remaining in the third period. This was Rensselaer's last good scoring opportunity.

Hazlet, NJ native Jim Henkel had a goal and an assist for RPI in the game.

In the Friday game, RPI overcame a difficult first period, where Kevin Kurk gave up two goals on four shots, and beat Dartmouth 4-2.

The Times Union article gave an excellent account of the comments Nathan Marsters made about the fan response to Kevin Kurk while he was still in the game. Marsters is the freshman goalie who relieved Kurk (also a freshman) early in the first period:

"That's not right and I don't like it," said Marsters, who stopped all
25 shots he faced. "It could just have easily been me out there. I
felt bad for the way we played in front of him (Kurk) on their two
goals."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "I regret to inform you that Bugle Boy Industries filed today for Chapter 11 Bankrupcy Protection. Dr. William C. W. Mow, one of the most famous of Rensselaer's living alumni, founded the Simi Valley, CA-based company in 1977. According to the AP news report, Dr. Mow had been chief executive until he left the company last week."

"Dr. Mow has been an RPI Trustee, he was commencement speaker in 1994, and he was the first recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Severino Center in 1990. During his long business career, he founded three large companies in different industries. Dr. Mow is also one of the most prolific contributors to Rensselaer from a philanthropic standpoint."

"I am sure that I speak for our entire organization in expressing our sympathy to Dr. Mow, his family, and the employees of his firm. Regardless of how the company is reorganized, this is the end of an era in American fashion."

"More information about the company and its history may be found on the Bugle Boy Corporate Web Site."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)