Posted on Mar 15, 2002

The College on Friday received a donation from
IBM that will bring about $1 million in technical support aimed
at helping students gain access to leading-edge technology.

IBM will assist the College through a combination
of software access, software development, visiting faculty
and a variety of sophisticated equipment, such as an atomic
force microscope for a nanotechnology materials lab and several
high-powered computer workstations. Union also will gain, for
faculty and student research, access to an IBM supercomputer located
at the University at Albany.

The partnership with Union, announced by President
Roger Hull and John E. Kelly III, senior vice president and group
executive of the IBM Technology Group, will further promote the
sharing of technical knowledge and the formation of joint
programs between RPI in Troy and the University at Albany.

The supercomputer at the University at Albany is an
IBM RS/6000, a system extensively used by university researchers
as they confront the daunting science and technology
challenges associated with the development of new generations of
computer chips. The targeted portfolio of computer devices ranges from
the more “traditional” microprocessor and memory type
computer chips to the emerging areas of biochips, micro- and
nano-systems and ultra-high frequency communication devices
and associated equipment.

Nanotechnology – technology at the molecular level- is
a fast-growing field focused on creating chips, and systems
that go with them that are much smaller and faster. IBM is a
leader in this field, having, for instance, built the world's first array
of transistors out of carbon nanotubes – miniscule
cylinders as small as 10 atoms across, 500 times smaller than today's
silicon-based transistors.

Posted on Mar 15, 2002

Calling the initiative “back to the future,” John E. Kelly III, senior vice president and group executive of the IBM Technology Group, embraced the College's new multidisciplinary Converging Technologies program by announcing on Friday a $1 million gift from IBM that will give students and faculty access to the latest technology.

“The launch of Converging Technologies is another example
of the very positive steps forward the College is taking,” he said.

“Perhaps more than anything, we hope that what will come out
of this grant are future leaders from this College – multidisciplinary leaders – who will contribute to this country and to companies like IBM.”

“I think that Converging Technologies is something `back
to the future' for Union,” he said. “This is a very unique institution. From its founding in 1795, it has been
a truly unique blend of liberal arts, sciences and engineering.”

“It is our hope that the donation we're making today will
… fuel the fire of this new Converging Technologies initiative.”

Posted on Mar 15, 2002

Show up and act interested.

That seemed to be the message that 20 high school
guidance counselors from across the U.S. will take back to their students
after attending selection meetings on Tuesday of candidates for the
Class of 2006, an exercise that Dan Lundquist, vice president
for admissions and financial aid, called “a no-holds-barred,
unvarnished look at the Union strong-average applicants.”

Counselors said they were surprised that some of
the applicants – even local ones – never took the time to come for a
campus interview, a visit or an open house. They also said they were pleased
by the candor of the discussion and the careful consideration that
went into each folder.

Admissions staffers took a break this week from the
“toughest 10 days of the year,” when the
final shaping of the class occurs, to host a two-day conference
with counselors that included meetings with faculty; campus
tours; sessions on financial aid, curriculum and residential life;
and, perhaps most memorable, open selection meetings. “This was
real kids, real counselors, and real admissions cases,” Lundquist said.

Union staffers and counselors used folders of current
applicants, but all information was kept confidential and had no bearing
on a final decision, Lundquist noted.

While so-called “beauty contests” are nothing new,
a number of the high school counselors said it was refreshing
to see a selection committee considering the minutia of folders
from current applicants who could go either way. Similar
counselor programs at other colleges use applications from the
previous year, often of their “high end”
only, Lundquist said.

“This process has made me understand that my
average students need to show their colleges that they have a real,
authentic interest,” said one counselor.
“I'm going to make sure that they visit, call, write … do whatever it takes
to get that across.”

The visitors also reported being impressed by their
exchanges with Union faculty. “The counselors said they had a real
appreciation that a kid who comes to Union will be taught by a Ph.D. in a class
or lab with maybe, at most, 24 others,” Lundquist said.

“This is a group of seasoned, respected professionals with
an average of 25 years in the business,” Lundquist said. “Colleges
are blowing rose-colored smoke at them all the time. They told us
they were really refreshed by our candor.”

“The most important thing that we wanted the counselors
to take back was a sense of the values that Union tries to bring to bear
in making these tough decisions,” Lundquist said. “I hope they
go back and say `I visited a selective college … if you're interested,
you better visit, let them know you're interested, and get your stuff in
on time.'”

As for Union's admissions staff, Lundquist said they
were reassured that they can pick up the phone to ask questions of
the counselors. “It's important for us to be reminded that their support of
a kid doesn't end when they write a letter of recommendation.”

Posted on Mar 15, 2002

And speaking of Hollywood, two recent alumni – identical twins no less – are players in (yes, another) reality TV series.

Shola and Doyin Richards '97 are one of the 11
two-member teams competing in The Amazing Race,
which premiered Monday on CBS.

The game goes a little like this: travel a course around
the world, compete in a series of mental and physical tasks,
and be the first team back to claim the $1 million prize.

The twins were both psychology majors, and members
of Sigma Chi and the basketball team.

“We share a close and powerful bond that most
people would be lucky to experience in their lifetime,” they said on
the CBS Web site. “We're more than just brothers; we're best
friends that share a bond that cannot be weakened by time, distance,
or any other outside force.”

Posted on Mar 15, 2002

Yes, that's College electrician Danny Curran playing the part
of a peanut vendor in Time Machine, the
just-released remake of the science-fiction film based on the book by
H.G. Wells.

Curran's cameo comes in a nighttime winter scene
at Iroquois Lake in Schenectady's Central Park. The
several-minute scene, shot in February of 2001 between 6 p.m. and
6 a.m. over four consecutive days, required about 50 takes,
Curran recalls.

The weather was brutally cold, Curran says, but the extras
were treated to frequent warm-up breaks and ample food.

The scene is a key one in the film; it is the setting of a
marriage proposal and a death.

Curran, who admits he went to the casting call “on a
lark,” said his ample mustache may have helped him land the
part. “They called me back (after the original audition) to ask if
my mustache was real,” Curran said. “Evidently some of
the people were pasting them on.”

As for his future acting plans, Curran is clear: “I'm waiting
for Hollywood to call.”