Provost's Newsletter: October 2021

Message From the Provost

A new season, a new semester. Our campuses are once more bustling with activity, and classes, research and extracurricular activities are moving ahead at full speed. This newsletter highlights some of the new talent we have joining us, as well as the recognition our faculty and students are receiving for their scholarship excellence. I look forward to the new academic year and wish you a safe and productive fall semester.

— Robyn Hannigan
Provost

RoboFirefighters

An intelligent and adaptive firefighting exoskeleton suit is a big idea. Literally. A group of Clarkson professors have received a grant from the NSF program, Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier, one of 10 Big Ideas receiving NSF investment. The grant will fund the design of a personalized, adaptive suit for firefighters.

Career Center’s New Director

Students and employers visiting the Career Center will see a new face this year. Heather DiFino brings her years of experience in supporting student achievement to the North Country, joining Clarkson as the director of career services. Her holistic approach to fostering career success is a welcome addition to our nationally-recognized career services.

Students Win NSF Fellowships

It’s not just our faculty who are winning NSF funding. Two software engineering students, working with Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Behzad Behnia, have received NSF Fellowships to continue their research in mechanistic machine learning. The fellowship will also send them to a machine learning and digital twins conference this year.

Researcher Welcomed Back

This fall, we are pleased to welcome back a scholar who previously visited our campus through an Erasmus+ faculty exchange. Associate Professor of Chemistry Brindusa Alina Petre has returned to Clarkson as a Fulbright Fellow and will spend her time researching protein-metal interactions in the Biochemistry & Proteomics Lab.