Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM - The Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy Presents The Professor Meyer H. Birnboim Endowed Lecture Series in Optics Speaker: NICHOLAS A. KOTOV Joseph B. and Florence V. Cejka Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Title: “Chiral Nanostructures and Giant Optical Activity”

Wednesday / October 21, 2026 at 1:00 pm The Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has named Ajit Prabhu ’98, Co-Founder and CEO of Quest Global, as the 2026 recipient of the William F. Glaser '53 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The honor recognizes Ajit's role in co-founding and leading Quest Global, a global engineering services company. Presented by Severino Center Talk Founder of Quest Global to Be Named RPI’s Entrepreneur of the Year

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Established in 1990, the Entrepreneur of the Year award honors Rensselaer graduates who have achieved success as entrepreneurs and now serve as role models for current students and aspiring entrepreneurs. The Severino Center and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute invites you to celebrate this year's honoree Ajit Prabhu ’98, the founder of Quest Global. The awards ceremony, fireside chat with President Schmidt, and an RPI startup pitch competition will start at 1 pm in the EMPAC theater.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Materials Science and Engineering of Magnesium Diboride Thin Films Xiaoxing Xi Department of Physics, Temple University

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM - This Mathematical Sciences Colloquium will feature a presentation titled "Towards traversing and understanding the solution space of neural networks" by Dr. Will Redman. He is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and a member of the Data Science and AI Institute. His research interests are in the dynamics of learning and the learning of dynamics.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM - Join us for an ECSE Mercer Distinguished Lecture: "Big Data at Scale and Small Data at Low Latency: From Research Prototypes to Production Systems" with Prof. Xiaodong Zhang from Ohio State. Abstract and speaker bio can be found at the event URL.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM - "Computational structural dynamics (CSD), aeroelasticity, and statistical energy analysis", Dr. Zahra Sotoudah, Professor, Aerospace Engineering Department, Cal Poly Pomona

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The RPI men's soccer team turned in a dominant performance in a 3-0 non-conference victory over MCLA at Shewcraft Field. Matt Schlotterbeck scored twice for the Engineers, while the RPI defense limited the Trailblazers to four total shots as the Engineers improved to 6-5-3 on the season.

Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM - Join Professor Azita Hirsa and Ajit Prabhu ’98G, CEO and Chairman of QuEST Global, named 2026 Entrepreneur of the Year by RPI’s Severino Center, for a Leaders in Action conversation on engineering, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Ajit will discuss learning from setbacks and building trust as a company grows, followed by audience Q&A. Hosted by the School of Engineering and the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department.Refreshments will be served. All are welcome!

Ready for liftoff? Join Procurement Services for the 2026 Supplier Showcase on Thursday, December 3, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at The Armory (AS&RC). This year's space-themed event, inspired by RPI alumnus Reid Wiseman and the Artemis II mission, brings together campus and supplier partners for an afternoon of networking, innovation, raffle prizes, complimentary professional headshots, refreshments, and fun.