RCNJ

Rensselaer News and Communications reports that Bill Cosby will speak at Rensselaer's Commencement, to be held on May 12, 2001, at Pepsi Arena in Albany. Cosby will be presented with an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humane Letters.

John Cloninger said, "Bill Cosby is a first-class choice as a commencement speaker. He is a man who is both an accomplished entertainer and a devotee of education." Dave Aiello put it more bluntly. "The guy who gave the keynote address at my graduation was the head of Battelle Memorial Institute. He meant well, but, he wasn't Bill Cosby. This is another step toward greater national recognition for RPI. We should all thank Dr. Jackson for making this happen."

For more information about the Rensselaer's 195th Commencement, visit the Commencement 2001 section of www.rpi.edu.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "At the beginning of March, I received a letter from Bethany Beaudoin and Susan Haight which asked the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey to send a representative to Troy during Senior Week to attend a Regional Open House. The idea of this program is to provide answers to any questions that Graduating Seniors have about living and working in the communities to which they are moving."

"The RCNJ Leadership Committee discussed this at its last meeting and agreed that we would send a representative to the Regional Open House, but we would also publish as much information about living in New Jersey as we could to our own Web Site. This is the idea behind the Living in New Jersey section of RCNJ.org."

"I am sure that RCNJ Member involvement will be critical in the successful development of the Living in New Jersey section. So, if you have a suggestion of information that should be included, please use the Submit Story form to send it to us."

Dave Aiello continued, "I am including a copy of the text of the letter from RPI, to give everyone an idea of what Alumni Relations thinks Graduating Seniors need to know about the area to which they relocate. We may want to use these ideas as reference points in developing this section of our Web Site. Read on if you are interested."

Bethany Beaudoin and Susan Haight wrote:

March 2, 2001

Dear Chapter Leaders:

On Monday, May 7, 2001, from 4:30--6:30 p.m., Rensselaer will be hosting a Regional Open House for graduating seniors in an effort to assist them in making a smooth transition to life after college.

We encourage each one of you to attend or to invite a member of your chapter to be part of this day. Your role will be to welcom graduating students to your area and provide some of the information the need for a successful relocation.

In addition to chapter representatives, there will also be campus representatives from Graduate Admissions, Professional and Distance Education, and other helpful departments. After the open house, chapter reps are invited to be our guests for dinner and networking.

Over 200 students attended last year's Regional Open House and have attested to the success of the event. "The Regional Open House was a wonderful opportunity for me to find information about the area to which I was relocating. Everything from maps to brochures was made available to answer my questions," said Anne Marie Albini '00, who attended last year's event as a senior.

Please use the enclosed form to indicate your interest in volunteering for this event. Or, if you prefer, please send us an email to confirm your attendance. If you are unable to attend this event, please contact other chapter members as to their availability on May 7. Wherever possible, we hope that representatives will be able to tie this event into their business travel.

We would be happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Thank you in advance for your help in making this important transition for students become a reality.

Sincerely,

Bethany L. Beaudoin

Manager

Chapter Programs

Susan Haight

Associate Director

Alumni Relations- Student/Young Alumni Programs

---

Regional Open House Response Form

May 7, 2001

4:30 - 6:30 PM

• Name:

  
  

• Class Year:

  
  

• Address:

  
  

• Phone:

  
  

• E-mail:
  

(_____) Yes, I will be able to attend the Regional Open House on May 7, 2001 at the Rensselaer Campus.

(_____) No, I will not be able to attend the Regional Open House on May 7, 2001 at the Rensselaer Campus but I have arranged for another chapter steering committee member to attend.

• Committee member attending:
  

(_____) No chapter representative will be available for the Regional Open House on May 7, 2001 at the Rensselaer Campus.

---

Suggested Items to Bring to Regional Open House:

(This list is a guideline for the type of information that is needed. You do not need to include all the information suggested. Please feel free to bring information not listed.)

• Chapter information
  
  
  
  • upcoming events
    
  • contact information
    
  • web page address
    

  
  

• Apartment listings
  
  
  
  • Sunday paper
    
  • free rental books usually available at supermarkets
    
  • realtor listings
    

  
  

• Recent Sunday papers
  
  
  
  • classifieds
    
  • entertainment sections
    

  
  

• Utilities Listing
  
  
  
  • phone company
    
  • electric/gas company
    

  
  

• Local web site addresses

  
  

• Professional listings
  
  
  
  • doctor
    
  • dentists
    

  
  

• Personal recommendations--your favorite
  
  
  
  • supermarket
    
  • bookstore
    
  • restaurant
    
  • cafes
    
  • coffee shops
    
  • clubs
    
  • gym
    
  • hairdresser
    
  • stores
    
  • Saturday night spot
    
  • Sunday morning brunch
    
  • mechanic
    
  • parks
    
  • day trips
    
  • beaches
    
  • hiking/biking trails
    
  
  

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "Last week, we pointed out that PSInet was on the verge of bankrupcy. PSInet's financial difficulties largely stem from fruitless diversifications from its core Internet backbone business that consumed a great deal of the company's financial resources. This is important to us because of the firm's historical connection to Martin Schoffstall '82 and to Rensselaer, which has a big involvement in NYSERNet from which PSInet spun off."

"Since then, I have been looking around the Internet to find information about Martin Schoffstall's work outside PSInet. After all, he left PSInet as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in 1996."

"I found a good deal of useful information about his work at schoffstall.com, a sort of meta-Web Site for his family, investments, and consulting services. If you take a look at the team he has assembled and their client roster, it's pretty obvious that they are doing well and they have a diversified business."

Dave Aiello continued:

It also appears that they are running a venture capital firm with investments that are independent of the consulting business.

In addition, I looked into the point that the September 2000 issue of Rensselaer Magazine made when it referred to Martin Schoffstall as the co-author of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This was confirmed by the fact that he is listed as one of the co-authors of RFC 1067 published by the Internet Engineering Task Force. SNMP is a fundimental building block of Internet reliability, as evidenced by the dozens of books listed on Amazon.com about SNMP.

For those of you who follow what we post on this Web Site, no one pressured me to write a follow-up story. However, it is certainly possible to take the PSInet story out of context and think that it meant that, somehow, Martin Schoffstall has been ruined financially by the company's financial troubles. Therefore, it seemed like a good idea to try to put his current interests and those of his family into perspective.

Finally, in discussions I have had with other members of the RCNJ Leadership Committee, we have consistantly agreed that many alumni are interested in news about major companies founded or managed in some significant way by Rensselaer graduates. This is why we point these developments out, good or bad, as they occur.

If you see a news item that you think we ought to publish in the Alumni News section of RCNJ.org, please let us know by submitting it as a story idea.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "The March 2001 edition of the print version of Rensselaer Magazine contains a letter to the editor that is signed by me. The letter points out the Campus Tour Web Site and says that I feel it is '...possibly the most user friendly Web Site that has ever been built at RPI.'"

"Some of you who are particularly careful readers of RCNJ.org may recognize those words, because they appear in an article on our Web Site that was posted in February. Read on for an explanation of how the text of this RCNJ article was republished by the alumni magazine."

Dave Aiello continued:

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to read the letter, which appears on page 4, here it is. The text written in italics originally appeared in the RCNJ article:

I just wanted to comment on the beautiful Virtual Campus Tour Web site produced by Marketing and Media Relations at Rensselaer.

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

Check it out at http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/tour/.

DAVE AIELLO '89

President

Rensselaer Club of New Jersey

www.rcnj.org

Denville, N.J.

Tracey Leibach, the managing editor of Rensselaer Magazine contacted me on February 21 to request the right to reprint the information. Her request was for the right to edit the information so that it would fit into the Letters to the Editor in terms of appropriate length and style. I asked that references to the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey and www.rcnj.org be added to the signature block in order to promote our organization. My requested changes were accepted, and I greatly appreciate that.

I am pointing this series of events out to our members and friends in order to illustrate the following points:

1. This is yet another illustration of the fact that we are publishing things on RCNJ.org that the alumni community throughout the world wants to hear.
   
2. This also illustrates that this site is being read by people in Troy every day.
   
3. We will not stop our marketing efforts until we are accepted by the greater RPI community as a valuable source of alumni information in our own right.
   

I considered refusing the request to reprint our story because it seemed odd to edit a story from our Web Site into a letter to the editor in the alumni magazine. Then, I remembered our goals for RCNJ.org and I struck the best deal I could to put our message in front of more alumni.

If you have any comments or questions about this story, I would welcome them. Please attach them to the story itself by clicking on "Submit a new comment about the article" shown below, or send me an email.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a story that is running in tomorrow's Wall Street Journal, PSInet, one of the largest Internet Service Providers in the world and the company whose name appears on the stadium where the Baltimore Ravens play, told its investors that "it is likely that the common stock of the company will have no value".

Two of the founders of PSInet, Martin Schoffstall '82 and Bill Schrader, were profiled in the Pioneers of the Internet article that appeared in Rensselaer Magazine in September. Schoffstall, who among other things is credited with co-developing the SNMP protocol said of the situation at PSInet, "This is the death of the child of my youth."

PSInet common stock which has a 52-week high of $50, closed today at 3/16, or approximately $0.19. What can this turn of events be called, other than an unmitigated disaster?

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Freshman goaltender Nathan Marsters was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team this weekend in Lake Placid. Nathan is originally from Grimsby, Ontario, and played Junior hockey for the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League.

He finished the season with a 14-13-1 record, a 2.35 Goals Against Average, and a Save Percentage of 0.929. Nathan certainly deserves this recognition, and the RCNJ congratulates him for an excellent performance in his first season in the ECAC.

In other news from the weekend, St. Lawrence won their second consecutive ECAC Championship, beating Cornell 3-1. Harvard won the consolation game 3-2 over Dartmouth in overtime. St. Lawrence was seeded sixth in the NCAA Eastern Regional Tournament, and they will take on third seeded Colorado College this weekend in Worcester, MA.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "This Sunday's Times Union ran an article speculating about the identity of the donor who made the $360 million donation to Rensselaer last week. It's amazing how many ex-RPI fund raising and PR people that Times Union writer Paul Grondahl managed to quote on-the-record."

"I got a particular kick out of the revelation that the donor is not likely to have distinguished himself (or herself) academically while on campus. That makes me wonder if I should put out a press release denying that I am the big donor. Hmmm...."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "We have been checking periodically to see if Rensselaer's main alumni Web Site, http://www.alumni.rpi.edu/, has come back on-line. This Web Site refers to itself as AlumServ. This afternoon, I was able to access AlumServ for the first time since late last week. So, those of you who have been trying to access information about Alumni Relations, Regional Programs, or the RAA will probably have better luck now."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Campus.News is reporting that the anonymous donor who recently pledged $130 million has agreed to increase the gift to Rensselaer to $360 million. According to the article, it is the largest single gift to a public or private university in U.S. History.

In addition, the terms of the gift, originally reported in the New York Times, have been changed so that the entire gift is now unrestricted.

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson said, "In extending this new gift, our donor expressed the desire to increase support to Rensselaer, and to make an even bolder gesture in support of the Rensselaer Plan and its ambitious goals to advance the position of the Institute as a world-class technological research university. With this new gift, the donor carries out an intention to provide sustained support and make it available to an unlimited array of initiatives. On behalf of Rensselaer, I express my gratitude for this donor's singular, heartfelt, and visionary commitment."

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

Campus.News is reporting that Dr. Heinz W. Engl has been named Dean of the School of Science effective September 1. Dr. Engl is the former dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Kepler Universitat, Linz, Austria. He is currently head of the Industrial Mathematics Institute at Kepler University and founder of MathConsult a firm with expertise in mathematical modeling and related fields.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer, said of Dr. Engl,
"... {He} is an internationally recognized mathematician whose work has earned him numerous honors. His international perspective on IT and mathematical modeling, his broad knowledge of the physical sciences, and his range of experience as a teacher, researcher, and academic administrator make him uniquely qualified to lead the School of Science."

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

The Dartmouth Big Green defeated the Engineers 5-1 on Saturday night. The loss eliminated the Engineers from contention for both the ECAC and NCAA crowns.

Dartmouth and Vermont will play in Thursday night's "play-in" game at Lake Placid, NY. Vermont defeated Clarkson 3-2 in overtime in the third game of their series.

The season-ending loss allows Engineer fans to focus toward next season, a season with a number of unknowns. Who will be the new Athletic Director? Will Dan Fridgen be back as head coach? Will Matt Murley forego his senior year of eligibility?

The RCNJ's best wishes go to Glenn Coupal, who played his last game in the Cherry and the White. We wish it could have resulted in a better outcome!

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was optimistic when Matt Murley scored the game's first goal within the first minute of play, giving the Engineers the early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately the Engineers' hopes of making it to the ECAC Championships in Lake Placid, NY slowly dwindled as the night went on.

Friday night, Dartmouth proceeded to win Game One of the first-round ECAC playoff game by a score of 4-2; the Big Green's victory capped with an empty net goal.

After Murley's initial goal, each side scored on the power play, sending the Engineers to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Two quick goals were scored in the second period by Dartmouth, shockingly within a span of 34 seconds. This dramatically changed the momentum of the game, a setback which the Engineers came close to overcoming but didn't.

As the WRPI commentators noted, this loss now puts the Engineers in the quintessential "must-win" situation. A loss Saturday night ends their season, excluding them from both the ECAC and NCAA championships. Two wins on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, earn them a shot at the ECAC title, which is the only method by which they could enter the NCAA bracket of twelve teams nationally.

To get to the NCAA tournament, RPI would not only need the two wins versus Dartmouth, but also winning their way to the ECAC Championship. This would require no fewer than two consecutive wins in the ECAC tournament, and most likely three.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The main Alumni Web Site at Rensselaer, called AlumServ, is not available at the moment. A Web Page displayed in its place says (in part):

AlumServ is temporarily off-line for maintenance. There are definitely two schools of thought about outages like this. Some Webmasters of community-oriented Web Site (like AlumServ or RCNJ) think that they ought to bring their server down over a weekend when maintenance is required. RCNJ.org, on the other hand, attempts to minimize night and weekend service interruptions because we feel that is prime-viewing-time for our fellow alumni. Speaking of sites that are down, RCNJ.org is planning to go off-line for a short period of time in the next few days. We need to do this in order to relocate our server from one physical location to another. More information about this planned outage may be found in the customer service notice posted to CTDATA.com.

There is a possibility that users may briefly lose access to RCNJ.org because of the time it takes to propagate some IP address changes from our Domain Name Service (DNS Server) to the DNS Server that you use.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am told by a member of the USCHO message boards that NESN will be showing Game 2 of the ECAC first round playoff game between the Engineers and the Dartmouth Big Green.

The game can be seen on NESN (DirecTV 623) at 7PM on Saturday, March 10. A rebroadcast will be shown on Empire (DirecTV 626) at noon on Monday, March 12.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "In his presentation at the RCNJ Spring Dinner Meeting, Rensselaer Provost Bud Peterson mentioned a grant that the City of Troy had received to create an on-line self-service database to enhance youth programs in the city. I found a report about the grant, called The Connected Kids Project, in the February 20 edition of Campus.News."

"Here is the best source of information about the Troy Community Networking Program, of which the Connected Kids Program is a part."

"I don't understand why Rensselaer is not making more noise about this. It's an excellent example of how RPI and the City can cooperate to improve the lives of Troy's children. Perhaps the effort is considered somewhat impractical, because the children that could benefit most from this program may not have Internet access at home. But, I think lower income households will strive to obtain access to the Internet to make this sort of information available to their children."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RPI beat Colgate 3-0 last night, but failed to gain home ice advantage in the ECAC Playoffs next week. The reason is that the Engineers home ice hopes depended upon a Union victory over Cornell, which did not happen.

Rensselaer will play at Dartmouth next weekend in a best of three game series. The first two games will be played on Friday and Saturday nights (March 9 and 10) at 7:00pm EST.

In the victory over Colgate, Nathan Marsters recorded his fourth shutout of the season, including a number of key saves in a first period onslaught. After two periods, neither team was successful in getting on the scoreboard.

Jim Henkel broke through with a controversial goal in the third period after 4:48 of the third period. This was followed by a goal by Matt Murley five minutes later. Carson Butterwick ended the scoring at 15:21. Rensselaer scored all three of its goals on power plays.

Colgate was truly unlucky in this game, losing two arguments over controversial goals. Accoring to the Times Union report on the game, with RPI already ahead 2-0...:

Colgate appeared to get back in the game at 14:57 when P.J. Yedon
knocked the puck in the net, but RPI had its own protest and
{Referee John} Murphy listened to this one. {Nathan} Marsters immediately skated over to
the referee and said Yedon kicked the puck.

Murphy, who originally called the goal good, changed his mind,
much to the chagrin of the sellout crowd of 2,246 at Starr Rink.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RPI traveled to Ithaca on Friday night and beat Cornell 2-1. This was a "must win" if the Engineers are to gain home ice for the first round of the ECAC Playoffs. The Times Union reports that the game was played before a sell out crowd of 3,836 at Lynah Rink. Tim Wilkin characterized the crowd as "loud and intimidating", which it always seems to be when RPI and Cornell hook up in Ithaca in a game with playoff implications.

In order for RPI to gain home ice they must beat Colgate tonight and Union must defeat Cornell. This is a tall order, because Union only has two wins and one tie on the road this season.

Cornell took the lead in the first period. New Jersey native Jim Henkel tied it for RPI in the second. Matt Murley scored the winner on a power play in the third. Murley had been in a slump for a while, but broke through when the team needed him last night.

As always the RPI-Colgate game will be carried in its entirety on WRPI. WRPI is streamed over the Internet in RealPlayer format.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Times Union is reporting that RPI and the "University at Albany" will receive $1 million to fund their incubator programs. The purpose of these grants is to allow the schools' incubator centers to join the U.S. Department of Energy's National Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators. This will help them to facilitate the development of new ventures that work on clean energy or renewable energy applications.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "Last night, the RCNJ held its annual Spring Dinner Meeting. Rensselaer's new Provost, Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson, discussed the progress that has been made in the first year of the Rensselaer Plan."

"This picture shows most of the people who sat at the head table. Clockwise from the lower left: Val Peterson, Dave Aiello '89, Ken DeGhetto '50, Bud Peterson, Phil Lurie '74, and Helen DeGhetto. Betty Lurie '75 is not pictured here."

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

Dave Aiello continued:

In his presentation, Dr. Peterson said that Ken DeGhetto suggested his topic: The Rensselaer Plan: One Year Later. His presentation was, in a way, a continuation of a presentation that President Shirley Ann Jackson gave to the RCNJ last year. Dr. Peterson focused on the differences between traditional annual planning process and the new process that was instituted to implement the Rensselaer Plan. He also explained the top-down approach that was used to drive the changes through to the school and the department level.

This is a picture of Howard Deutsch '69 and Don Bielecki, from Rensselaer's Development Office. Howard is the president of Quantisoft, a company based in Northern New Jersey. Don has worked closely with the leaders of the RCNJ for many years, and attends many of our local events.
This is Ken DeGhetto and his wife Helen. Ken told a story about what it was like to come home from World War II, and to attend Rensselaer under the G.I. Bill. He and Helen were married at the time Ken attended RPI.
Here is a picture of Sandeep Nandy '94 and Bud Peterson. Sandeep works for Verizon in New York City. About this event, Sandeep said, "The evening gave the guests an opportunity to learn more about Bud Peterson. Dr. Peterson was very friendly, open to questions, and made a wonderful attempt to personally get to know the attendees..."
This is a family photo. From the left: Tim Derrick '99, Marge Derrick, and George Derrick '67. George works for Langan Engineering and hosts the RCNJ Phonathon each Fall.
Here is a picture of Audrey Underhill and me. Audrey is Ken DeGhetto's administrative assistant, and provides a great deal of support to the RCNJ Leadership Committee.
This is a picture of Bud Peterson, me, and Dave Bressen '56. Dave Bressen is a member of the RCNJ Leadership Committee, and he is responsible for designing the mailing for the RCNJ Annual Dues Request and the advertisement that appears in the Poly for the Rensselaer - Liberty Science Center Internship Program. In case you are wondering, they are tall, I am not particularly short.
This is a picture of Henry Rosenblatt '54 and his wife, Yolanda. Henry is also a member of the RCNJ Leadership Committee.

Note: The original photos were 640 x 480 pixels and were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 950. The images were cropped to eliminate excessive background and scaled to a consistant width of 240 pixels. 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 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave Aiello wrote, "At the RCNJ Spring Dinner Meeting last night in West Orange, Don Bielecki told me that another recent graduate of Rensselaer had died in a skiing accident earlier this month. I subsequently discovered a Campus.News report stating that Orley Kantz '00 had died as a result of injuries suffered in a February 18 skiing accident."

"Although this accident was nearly two weeks before the accident that claimed Robert Svensson's life, it was the second accidental death of a recent graduate that we learned of in one day. I'm sure that our members join me in expressing heartfelt sympathy to Orley's friends and family."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)