Rensselaer MBA Students at Sikorsky Aircraft complete Project for Boys and Girls Club

Pictured here are: (left to right) Nicolae Caldari, Bhudesh Aggarwal, Gary Kuhn, and William O'Donnell. Mr. Kuhn is Physical Director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Shelton, CT. Caldari, Aggarwal, and O'Donnell are all employees of Sikorsky Aircraft in nearby Stratford, CT, and are completing an MBA at Rensselaer.  

Rensselaer students taking classes at Sikorsky Aircraft, in Stratford, CT, completed the MBA program with a briefing on their final Practicum in Management project. Rensselaer students Nicolae Caldari, Bhudesh Aggarwal, and William O'Donnell, fulfilled the requirements of their Practicum project, by presenting a reorganized website and database tool to the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Organized in 1926, this regional Boys & Girls Club is headquartered in Shelton, CT, and organizes programs for 2,000 youngsters every year.

The origins of the Boys & Girls Club of America goes back to 1860, when it was founded by a group of Hartford Women who wanted to expand recreation and education for urban youth. Today the Boys & Girls Club have over 4,000 local affiliates, and serve over 4 million young people.

Gary Kuhn, Physical Director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley, says that the work of these three MBA students has not only speeded-up their website, but made it both user-friendly for clients and much more helpful for administrators like himself.

James Stodder, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Lally School of Management, oversaw the group project. Past projects completed by Rensselaer MBA students have benefitted Dress for Success Hartford (DFSH), Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI), Community Partners in Action (CPA), and Habitat for Humanity.

Rensselaer MBA Students at Sikorsky Aircraft Complete Project for INROADS

Pictured here are: (left to right) David Murano, Jennifer LaVine, Valeria Wells, and Keith Schenone.  Murano, LaVine, and Schenone are Rensselaer MBA students at Sikorsky, while Ms. Wells is the Chief Marketing Communications and Development Officer for INROADS. Attending the final briefing virtually – but not present for this photo – were Adrienne Thomas, INROADS Development and Alumni Associate, and Norma-Ester Medina, a Sikorsky MBA student as well as an INROADS alumna.  

Rensselaer students taking classes on-location at Sikorsky Aircraft, in Stratford, CT, completed the MBA program with a briefing on their final Practicum in Management project. James Stodder, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Lally School of Management, oversaw the group project.

The project selected by the students was to set up a donor database for INROADS, a non-profit founded in 1970 to recruit and train under-represented college students for internships with U.S. corporations. INROADS connects these undergraduates with internship opportunities which lead to full-time employment in those same corporations. 

INROADS has a large set of corporate and individual contributors, but needed a better way to focus that data on their fundraising mission. The new database created by the students should help to meet that goal by organizing data on some 500 donors over the last four years.

“The efforts and work product of the MBA students is invaluable to INROADS in our efforts to efficiently focus on cultivating donors with the greatest capacity to support our mission. With this new data, our organization is poised to leverage limited resources to generate higher returns on time invested,” said Valeria Wells, Chief Development Officer at INROADS, Inc., and the primary fundraiser for the organization.

Past projects completed by Rensselaer MBA students have benefitted Dress for Success Hartford (DFSH), Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI), Community Partners in Action (CPA), and Habitat for Humanity.

Engineering Graduate Programs Recognized as Among the Best in the Nation

Engineering Graduate Programs Recognized as Among the Best in the Nation

Rensselaer’s Energy, Environment, and Economics Discussion Series: “Sustainable Roman Architecture -- the First 2500 Years”

Rensselaer’s Hartford Campus continues its Energy, Environment, and Economics Discussion Series on April 3, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Special guest, Francesco Bedeschi, will give a presentation entitled, “Sustainable Roman Architecture -- the First 2500 Years.” Bedeschi is a faculty member at the University of Arkansas Rome Center, Rome, Italy, where he has been teaching Architectural Design and Historic Preservation over the past ten years. He has a thorough knowledge in the field of green design and is a member of the executive board of the Green Building Council Italia. He is currently working at Rensselaer’s Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE) located in New York City.

Rensselaer at Hartford hosts this series in order to provide a forum for experts, corporate leaders, community participants, faculty, and students to engage in intellectual dialogues pertaining to today’s global energy and environmental challenges. This event will be the fifth session of the Discussion Series and the second session of the Spring 2014 term.

The Discussion Series is free and open to all. Bring a colleague and friend! Food and beverages are provided at each session, starting with a reception at 5 p.m. and a light meal at 6:30 p.m. Sudhangshu Bose, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Department of Engineering and Science, Rensselaer at Hartford, will give insights and perspectives during the introduction at the event. Summaries of previous sessions of the Discussion Series and related materials are available on the web at: http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/news_and_events/events/eeed_series/index.html.

Register for this interactive forum on energy solutions at: http://apply.ewp.rpi.edu/register/?id=5dfba4eb-9464-47d4-bf33-06dfc84cc3d9. For more information, please contact Clarence Byers, Senior Program Manager, at 860-548-2479; 800-306-7778, ext. 2479; or byersc@rpi.edu.

Book Drive at Rensselaer's Robert L. and Sara Marcy Cole Library

The Cole Library at Rensselaer's Hartford Campus is conducting a book drive. A book collection bin is located in the foyer on Level 2. The library will accept any book. Keepers will be processed for the library collection, others will be sent to our partner, Better World Books, for re-purposing or recycling. Thank you.

Podcast of Professor Stodder on "The Colin McEnroe Show" on WNPR

James P. Stodder, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Lally School of Management, was a guest on “The Colin McEnroe Show” on WNPR (90.5 FM) on March 5. Dr. Stodder served as the economics expert for a discussion regarding the minimum wage. Professor Stodder was in the studio for a live broadcast at the same time as President Barack Obama was visiting Connecticut to give a speech about raising the minimum wage. Listen to the podcast HERE.

Rensselaer at Hartford’s Acting Dean and Leadership Expert Authors Book on Visionary Strategic Leadership

David L. Rainey, Ph.D., Acting Dean, Rensselaer at Hartford, and Professor of Practice in the Lally School of Management, has authored the book, Visionary Strategic Leadership: Sustaining Success through Strategic Direction, Corporate Management, and High-Level Programs, recently published by Information Age Publishing.

The book covers the principles, processes, and practices of visionary strategic leadership (VSL). It focuses on a holistic view of the corporation and all of the supporting entities and customers and stakeholders. Dr. Rainey addresses new theories, methods and practices that are in line with 21^st century dynamics.

The framework of the book flows from defining and articulating the concepts of VSL; corporate strategic management (CSM); corporate vision; fundamental values; and discussing high-level (grand) strategies, objectives, and actions; to developing and managing high-level strategic programs and mitigating risks. According to Dr. Rainey, “VSL involves using imagination to address what ought to be done instead of what is being done, obtaining insights from the market spaces and the business environment, being innovative in developing new solutions, and integrating the whole business enterprise.”

The purpose of the book is to provide insights and suggestions for corporate leaders of today and to offer guidance and direction for the young strategic leaders of tomorrow. “VSL involves having a high-level position, being responsible for the strategic leadership and management of a company or a strategic business unit (SBU), inspiring and leading the organization, and sustaining success,” said Professor Rainey. To learn more about the book, please visit: http://www.infoagepub.com/products/Visionary-Strategic-Leadership.

Dr. Rainey is an internationally-known author, educator, academic administrator, and consultant. He is a leading authority on technological innovation, product development, sustainable development, strategic leadership, strategic management, and energy management. Professor Rainey is available for interviews regarding his book and related topics. Read more about him at: http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/faculty/bio/rainey_d.html.

Rensselaer’s Energy, Environment, and Economics Discussion Series -- “Cheaper, Cleaner, More Reliable: The Connecticut Energy Model”

Rensselaer’s Hartford Campus continues its Energy, Environment, and Economics Discussion Series on March 3, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Special guest, Alex Kragie, Deputy Chief of Staff, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), will give a presentation entitled, “Cheaper, Cleaner, More Reliable: The Connecticut Energy Model.” He will discuss Connecticut’s support of fuel cell technology and “micro-grids” – electricity infrastructure with generation and/or storage capacity independent of regional grids, to ensure continuing operation through brownouts or disasters like Superstorm Sandy. 

Rensselaer at Hartford participated in the 22^nd World Energy Congress in Korea. Related to this event, Rensselaer’s Hartford Campus has hosted a continuing discussion series exploring pertinent topics. The purpose of this series is to provide a forum for experts, corporate leaders, community participants, faculty, and students to engage in intellectual dialogues pertaining to today’s global energy and environmental challenges. This event will be the fourth session of the Discussion Series and the first session of the Spring 2014 term.

The Discussion Series is free and open to all. Food and beverages are provided at each session, starting with a reception at 5 p.m. and a light meal at 6:30 p.m. James Stodder, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Rensselaer at Hartford, will give insights and perspectives during the introduction at the event. Summaries of previous sessions of the Discussion Series and related materials are available on the web at: http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/news_and_events/events/eeed_series/index.html.

Register for this interactive forum on energy solutions at: http://apply.ewp.rpi.edu/register/?id=6df4180b-995a-4260-9b1f-fceaf91a4df2. For more information, please contact Clarence Byers, Senior Program Manager, at 860-548-2479; 800-306-7778, ext. 2479; or byersc@rpi.edu.

Rensselaer at Hartford Professor Norberto Lemcoff to Deliver Seminar at NYSSPE Meeting

Norberto Lemcoff, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Department of Engineering and Science, Rensselaer at Hartford, has been invited to present a seminar on “Energy, Energy Efficiency and the Built Environment,” on February 17, at the Hilton Midtown in NYC. The New York State Society of Professional Engineers, Inc. (NYSSPE), will be offering continuing education seminars at the Association of Towns 2014 Training School and Annual Meeting, February 17 and 18.

Dr. Lemcoff will present his seminar at 11 a.m. on Monday, February 17. The abstract for his seminar follows: Buildings in the U.S. today consume about 75 percent of the electricity produced, and 55 percent of the natural gas use. The presentation will analyze the current situation, and discuss the existing opportunities and the new technologies that can be implemented to reduce both the consumption of non-renewable resources and the effect on the environment.

This will be the 81^st annual meeting of the Association of Towns (AOT). The event attracts more than 1,700 elected and appointed officials from more than three-quarters of the state’s 932 towns. The seminars will be focused on infrastructure improvements and green/energy efficient measures. Up to 10 professional development hours (PDHs) will be available. The seminars are approved by NYSSPE, sponsor organization and founders of The Practicing Institute of Engineering, Inc. (PIE). PIE is a NYS provider in the regulations. For more information and to register for the seminars, please visit: http://bit.ly/NYSSPE-AOT-Event. 

Professor Lemcoff has taught a variety of courses in the areas of Mechanical Engineering and is a faculty member of Rensselaer’s International Scholars Program, teaching energy engineering in Rome and Shanghai. His areas of expertise are energy systems engineering, heat and mass transfer, separations, air purification, energy recovery, and reaction engineering. Dr. Lemcoff has over 20 years of industrial experience at The BOC Group Technical Center and at United Technologies Research Center. Bio information for Professor Lemcoff is available at: http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/faculty/bio/lemcoff_n.html.

Rensselaer Alumnus Completes Spacewalk on Christmas Eve

What exciting things did you do over the holidays? Rensselaer alumnus, Rick Mastracchio (’87 M.S. Mechanical Engineering – Hartford Campus), completed a second spacewalk to install a spare ammonia pump module on the International Space Station. According to NASA, “The Christmas Eve spacewalk lasted seven hours and 30 minutes.” Mastracchio is a flight engineer aboard the ISS for Expedition 38. http://www.nasa.gov/content/spacewalkers-complete-installation-of-ammonia-pump-module/#.UsbpUPvYHgk