RCNJ

Earlier this week Rensselaer announced that Robert J. Linhardt was appointed a "senior constellation chair" of biocatalysis and metabolic engineering at Rensselaer. Dr. Linhardt is a world renowned researcher into the properties and new applications of complex carbohydrates. This includes the use of complex carbohydrates carriers of drugs for advanced brain cancer and thrombotic problems.

Dr. Linhardt will serve as chairman of a "constellation" at RPI. According to the press release:

At Rensselaer, a constellation is a multidisciplinary team of senior faculty, junior faculty, and graduate students led by one or two outstanding stars in a particular research field of strategic and focal interest to the university. Rensselaer has chosen biocatalysis and metabolic engineering as one of these focal areas. Linhardt will take the lead in structuring the rest of the constellation, including attracting additional high-level faculty researchers.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The headlines from the Times Union say it all:

• RPI Runs into a Big Red Wall
• RPI Continues Its Downward Spiral

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The homestanding RPI Men's hockey team tied Princeton and lost to Yale this weekend. As a result of this weekend's games, Rensselaer remains in 11th place, trailing everyone but Princeton.

The most interesting development of the weekend, from the perspective of reading the USCHO.com recaps, was what Yale coach Tim Taylor said after the game on Saturday night:

I don't know how many games RPI has won, but that's the best 11th-place team I have ever seen. They skate well, play hard and it will be an interesting playoff situation.

This season's team is a nice looking group of young men who are obviously struggling. They've had some tough breaks. Hearing Taylor's comments might make the weekend a little less painful for them. But, only a little. Above all, they need to win.

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

Mark Ameres, the president of the RAA's New York City Chapter, wrote to point out that he has started a new weblog at http://ameres.blogspot.com/. This complements his other website at http://www.mameres.com/.

In his initial entry, Mark writes, "It's really tough to decide what to write and what to publish. I guess I should read more blogs before putting pen to paper and foot to mouth."

Here's a tip from someone who runs more than one weblog: Once you start a weblog about a topic, make it the only web site you run about that subject. You can't maintain three or four web sites that have significant subject overlaps. You spend time thinking about which site is the best location for a piece of content, when you should be posting and moving on. FWIW.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's Times Union reports that Ryan Shields scored on a deflection with 7.1 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Engineers to an improbable 4-3 victory over Brown in The Big Red Freakout of 2003. Over 5,000 boisterous fans attended the game, the highest turnout of the season.

Scott Basiuk had two goals and Kevin Croxton has one goal for RPI. Nathan Marsters made 18 saves for the victory.

This is RPI's 13th consecutive win or tie in Freakout competition, (9-0-4). Brown is 0-6 in Freakout games. Of the Freakout, Basiuk said, "It's quite a spectacle. In my 16 or 17 years of playing hockey, I've never seen anything like this. The fans are pumped up and crazy; it's one of the greatest things a player can be part of."

In Friday night's game, Harvard scored five consecutive goals en route to a 6-4 victory. RPI actually led the game 2-1 at the end of one period of play.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Mens' Hockey Team suffered through its fifth and sixth straight losses this weekend on the infamous North Country trip. On Friday night, St. Lawrence scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat RPI 4-2. Ben Barr scored both goals for Rensselaer, while Kevin Kurk had 29 saves.

In the annual Satellite Hockey game on Saturday night, Clarkson destroyed Rensselaer 7-1. The Golden Knights scored seven consecutive goals in the first two periods of the game. Chris Hussey scored for RPI on the power play with a little over 3 minutes remaining in the game.

Nathan Marsters had a game he would probably like to forget: 12 saves / 5 goals in 24 and one half minutes. Kevin Kurk relieved Marsters and largely stopped the bleeding.

RPI returns home for a weekend series against Harvard and Brown, beginning on Friday. Saturday night is the Big Red Freakout.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)