The Jefferson Project at Chautauqua Lake is growing its environmental monitoring and modeling capabilities through a new partnership with the New York State Mesonet, bringing two advanced weather stations to Chatauqua Lake.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is hosting the Natural & Biobased Cosmetic Ingredients Conference April 7–9, 2026, at the university's Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) in Troy, N.Y. The three-day event draws cosmetic scientists, biotechnologists, and product developers from both industry and academia to discuss emerging research and commercial developments in sustainable cosmetic ingredients. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the nation's oldest technological university, today announced the inaugural winners of the Ajit Prabhu '98 Catalyst Fund Apex Awards, administered through the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship. The three awards totaling $75,000 recognize the most promising student- and faculty-led innovations at RPI with the highest potential for real-world commercial impact.

RPI’s Contemporary Improvisation Ensemble will host “Constellations” on April 9, a collaborative performance with student musicians and renowned artist Nick Dunston. The free concert will take place at 5 p.m. in the Theatre of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) on RPI’s campus.

Many disease-causing bacteria — including pathogens that can cause cholera, meningitis, and certain types of pneumonia — contain an enzyme called Na⁺-NQR. The enzyme is essentially a pump that helps bacteria generate energy by moving sodium ions across their cell membranes while transferring electrons.  

A team of researchers at RPI, in collaboration with the University of South Florida, University of North Carolina, and The Neural Stem Cell Institute, have made a discovery that opens the door to new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. 

The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is pleased to announce staging grounds, a nine-day festival of installations, performances, and public programs exploring how culture is shaped by acts of return and re-animation. Taking place February 20–28, 2026, the festival brings together five international artists—Korakrit Arunanondchai, Jewyo Rhii, Na Mira, Samson Young, and Li Yi-Fan—whose practices illuminate how art restages experience across time. 

The Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) was recently awarded $1 million in federal funds as part of the Congressionally Directed Spending program to advance RPI research and translational efforts related to pharmaceuticals, biopolymers, and food production. 

RPI Professor Karyn Rogers, director of the Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education Center, and graduate student Meri Herrero Perez are among the feature interviewees in the new PBS NOVA documentary Asteroids: Spark of Life?  

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has secured $1 million to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing laboratory that will transform industrial hemp into construction materials, textiles, and packaging, part of a broader effort to position New York state as a leader in sustainable biomanufacturing.