Three Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professors of chemistry and chemical biology have been named 2011 fellows of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Professors Curt Breneman, James Crivello, and James Moore have been recognized by the ACS for their “outstanding achievements in and contributions to Science, the Profession, and the Society.”

“All three of these scientists have brought a lasting legacy of achievement in chemistry, materials science, and polymer synthesis. Combined, they have taught and studied at Rensselaer for well over three-quarters of a century,” said Rensselaer Provost Robert Palazzo. “We are exceptionally proud of their achievements and look forward to their continued advances in everything from drug discovery to sustainable new materials.”

The 2011 ACS fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting in Denver on August 29, 2011.

Curt Breneman is currently the acting department head of chemistry and chemical biology. He is also the director of the Rensselaer Exploratory Center for Cheminformatics Research (RECCR) and a member of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. His research focuses on understanding and predicting the behavior of molecules in a variety of environments. One of his most important contributions to the field is the development of an entirely new kind of molecular modeling called the Transferable Atom Equivalent, or TAE, method. The method allows quick and accurate reconstruction of molecules, including those used for new drug discovery. The process enables large databases of potential drug or new material molecules to be scanned for important properties such as reactivity with the body or undesirable side effects.

	Collins and her team will send up 16 devices, called Group Activation Packs (GAPs) and each containing eight vials of bacteria, aboard the NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineer Cynthia Collins Will Study the Impacts of Microgravity on Dangerous Bacteria

There will be some very interesting passengers on the final mission of the NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis scheduled to launch July 8, 2011: thousands of bacteria.

Cynthia Collins, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer, is leading a series of experiments called Micro-2A that will be aboard the shuttle during its scheduled 12-day mission. The research seeks to understand how microgravity changes the way potentially dangerous bacteria grows. In particular, the research will examine how they form difficult-to-kill colonies called biofilms. The research has important implications for protecting astronauts while they are in space in enclosed and difficult-to-clean spaces, such as the International Space Station, or during extended space missions deeper into our solar system. It also provides new information in the fight against ever-more virulent bacterial infections such as staph, food poisoning, sepsis, and pneumonia.

Engineering Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Have Developed New Process for the Microdissection and In-Depth Biochemical Analysis of Bone Tissue

A new technique developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute allows researchers to collect large amounts of biochemical information from nanoscale bone samples.

Along with adding important new insights into the fight against osteoporosis, this innovation opens up an entirely new proteomics-based approach to analyzing bone quality. It could even aid the archeological and forensic study of human skeletons.

“We’re able to take very small, nanoscale-sized bone samples, and determine the protein signatures of the bone,” said Deepak Vashishth, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer, who led the study. “This is a relatively quick, easy way for us to determine the history of the bone – how and when it formed – as well as the quality of the bone, and its likelihood to fracture.”

By any reasonable measure, George Plopper is a skilled and successful teacher.

The associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute won awards for his teaching in 2000 and 2001 when he was still at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (and in 1993 as a graduate student at Harvard University). As a result of his recognition at UNLV, Plopper found himself invited to a summer program in 2004 designed to improve the teaching of science on the undergraduate level.

That's where he first encountered Bloom's Taxonomy -- the oft-cited and much-revised classification of levels of thought and learning, which span from the lower levels of basic memorization to the more complex evaluation and creation of knowledge. While those in attendance at the 2004 session casually bandied about Bloomian terms -- including synthesis, comprehension and metacognition -- the jargon left Plopper confused. But after figuring out how to apply it to his own style of teaching, he started to embrace it.

He now applies Bloom to two of his upper-level courses at RPI, and in the process, Plopper said, he has dramatically changed his approach to teaching and to determining what his students learn. No longer content to lecture from the front of the room and convey a series of complicated facts about cancer biology and extracellular matrix interactions, Plopper now makes the process and expectations of learning an explicit part of the syllabus. In effect, he has changed his teaching, and made assessment part of the learning process -- for both himself and his students.