In the last few weeks of the Spring Semester, The Polytechnic met with professors across three schools to learn what the transition looked like department to department. What we found, broadly speaking, was that the Computer Science and ITWS departments seemed to have transitioned most easily, while studio and lab-type courses faced the brunt of the switch to online classes.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Rensselaer leaders prepared to bring students back to campus for the fall 2020 semester, they relied on a powerful algorithm to determine a testing schedule that, along with other tools, has helped maintain a safe environment on campus. That algorithm is now publicly available as a free online app.
...read more

Francine Berman, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, has been selected by the National Academy of Public Administration for inclusion in its 2020 Class of Academy Fellows, in recognition of her years of public-focused service and expertise.
...read more

TROY, N.Y. — More strategic and coordinated travel restrictions could have reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic, data confirms. The conclusion, available in preprint on MedRxiv, an online repository of papers that have been screened but not peer reviewed, stems from new modeling conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
...read more

As the volume of available information expands, the fraction a person is able to absorb shrinks. To break this cycle, computer scientists say we need new algorithms that prioritize a broader view over fulfilling consumer biases.
...read more

In the spring 2020 semester, more than 2,000 students and 242 professors, teaching assistants and mentors relied on Submitty, the open-source tool designed and built by students, faculty, and teaching assistants at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
...read more