The RNA Institute, in partnership with St. Louis-based Sigma-Aldrich, will bring together leading researchers from across New York State to discuss state-of-the-art scientific and technological innovations at an RNA symposium on January 23. A 3-day workshop on synthetic and viral-based systems for gene silencing will also be held.

Steve Severin ’08 began developing modern business skills long before entering the workforce. “I had a keen interest in both finance and technology,” said Severin, now a senior technology auditor with American Express. "I could see that a dual degree of finance and information technology management at UAlbany was the route to go.”

In recognition of Sustainability Week, UAlbany is launching a series of environmental initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and enhancing career opportunities for students. Most notably, beginning in the fall of 2013, undergraduates are able to enroll in a multidisciplinary sustainability minor.

The 13-year collaboration between the National Weather Service (NWS) and the University at Albany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES) will continue through September 2016, thanks to a new three-year award from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Center for Technology in Government and the UAlbany - Albany Law School Institute for Financial Market Regulation will hold an expert workshop on information sharing and coordination challenges in financial market regulation on Nov. 14 in Washington DC. Financial services, regulatory, and academic experts will attend.

The University holds Connect-to-Community Week as part of its third annual Community Service Month, designed to encourage volunteerism, advance University-community partnerships, and increase student and faculty involvement in community-based learning and research.

Dorcey Applyrs and Theresa Schalk Taylor are poised, confident and articulate leaders who credit UAlbany’s Center for Women in Government & Civil Society (CWGCS) with developing their leadership skills so that they can improve the lives of City of Albany residents.

Tech commercialization expert Michael Shimazu is appointed Associate VP of Business Partnerships and Economic Development, a new position in which he will manage and advance UAlbany's public-private partnerships, including the Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex (E-TEC) initiative and the University’s START-UP NY program.

Allyson Impallomeni didn’t ask for much when she arrived at the University at Albany in 2006. “I wanted a phenomenal, affordable education,” she said. She found that and a lot more through her own initiative and the broad range of opportunities offered at UAlbany.

During spring break 2007, then UAlbany-undergrad Matt Barry mucked out houses in New Orleans and stripped them down to the framework 18 months after Hurricane Katrina. Barry, now a third-year doctoral student in chemistry, is one of eight Peer Ministers with Cornerstone Campus Ministry.  

UAlbany's The RNA Institute adds two research scientists who will support the Institute’s collaborative RNA research efforts to combat the most difficult of human diseases. Jia Sheng and Alan A. Chen bring their expertise in predicting RNA structure and testing it using x-ray crystallography to the national research resource.

Seventeen teams of elementary school children connect technology and the real world when the College of Computing and Information hosts its 6th Junior FIRST Lego League Expo on Dec. 7. The 6 to 9-year-olds from area schools and community groups develop Lego-based “Disaster Blaster” projects around emergency response to natural disasters.

One of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious scientific societies, the New York Academy of Sciences, profiles The RNA Institute in a featured story, “The Rise of RNA: A New Target for Therapeutic Agents.” The article says the Institute is now leading the way in expanding RNA’s role in “the great drama of the molecular biology of life.”