School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Rensselaer

06/12/2026

🎮 Middle and high school students: build your own video game this summer!

Whether you're brand new to game design or already creating your own projects, RPI's Game Development Camp, taking place on campus from July 6-10, will help you level up. Learn industry-standard tools, work with experienced faculty that have worked for companies like Blizzard and Square Enix, and finish the week with a game of your own.

Ready to play? Register now at the link below.

06/09/2026

Big news for RPI innovation in AI! 🎉

HARMONIC-IR, an AI platform co-founded by RPI faculty Dr. Marjorie McShane and Dr. Sergei Nirenburg, has been named an inaugural recipient of a Faculty Translation Grant through the Severino Center's Apex Awards program.

The $30,000 award supports the commercialization of promising faculty research and will help advance HARMONIC-IR's groundbreaking approach to artificial intelligence and robotics. Built on a novel OntoAgentic AI architecture, the system enables natural-language robot programming by combining knowledge-based cognitive agents with large language models, creating AI that is designed to be more transparent, trustworthy, and adaptable across industries ranging from manufacturing and healthcare to defense.

Congratulations to the HARMONIC-IR team on this exciting milestone!

06/07/2026

Step into fantastical worlds, neon-lit futures, geometric marvels, and landscapes stitched together from color and memory. The Spring ’26 Advanced Digital Imaging galleries in Russell Sage Laboratory are packed with bold, boundary-pushing work you won't want to miss, displayed now through the fall semester.

06/05/2026

What happens to people when technology reshapes the world?

That's the question driving the work of Raquel Velho, associate professor of science and technology studies at RPI.

In an interview with The Atlantic, she discusses why innovation must be guided not only by what's possible, but by its impact on people and society.

Read the Q&A: https://bit.ly/4x4Vkg9

Innovation is not only about what's possible, but who it serves.

06/02/2026

If you haven’t seen it already, the brand-new documentary “Project Chapel,” chronicling the installation of the IBM System One on the RPI campus, features some familiar places… and faces! Yes, that’s our Cognitive Science department chair Jim Hendler speaking about quantum computing and its importance for science, progress, and the education of our amazing RPI students.

Dr. Hendler, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI, is also director of the RPI-IBM Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration. is a pioneering data scientist and Semantic Web innovator whose work in AI, open data, and government technology has shaped national data policy, earned numerous honors, and influenced organizations from DARPA to the National Academies.

“Project Chapel” is streaming right now at PBS.org and at the link in our bio.

05/27/2026

This year’s recital by music fellow Katherine Skovira’s voice studio was as eclectic and compelling as the students performing it: from arias by Claudio Monteverdi and art songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams to indie pop by Jonathan Coulton and The Civil Wars, plus numbers from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Rent, and an original song by Ashley Ficarra ‘29. Thanks to everyone for a great year!

05/21/2026

History, technology, and discovery came together this year in true RPI fashion when HASS faculty and staff helped bring the past to life through the forensic reconstruction of the face of a teenage Revolutionary War soldier who died near Lake George 250 years ago.

Working alongside the New York State Museum and forensic artist Jenny Kenyon, Games & Experiential Media Lecturer Adrianna Oropello and HASS Operations Manager Michael Rosado used advanced 3D modeling and the HASS Digital Fabrication Lab to create precision prints of the soldier’s skull — the foundation for the sculpted and painted reconstruction that will eventually be displayed at the museum.

The remains were uncovered during a 2019 construction project on private property near Lake George, with artifacts tracing the burial to the Continental Army’s campaign in Quebec. Museum officials believe the soldier died of disease in the summer of 1776 when a large, makeshift Continental Army hospital was located near the Lake George’s southern end.

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of American independence, this project highlights the kind of hands-on, cross-disciplinary work happening every day at RPI: where digital fabrication, immersive media, historical research, and creative community partnerships intersect in meaningful ways.
#1776

05/21/2026

05/18/2026

After countless all-nighters, exams, breakthroughs, performances, projects, presentations, friendships, and unforgettable moments, it’s time for HASS to celebrate our 163 graduates.

With more than half of this class dual-majoring across disciplines, the was a group defined by curiosity, creativity, ambition, and heart. From the classroom to the studio, the lab to the stage, you’ve made your mark on this campus in ways big and small.

To the Class of 2026: thank you for the late nights, the laughter, the ideas, the passion, and the community you built together. We can’t wait to see where you go next.

05/15/2026

Kicking off our 2026 Commencement Brunch in 3… 2… 🎉🎊🍾🥳