When wealthy landowner Stephen Van Rensselaer founded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1824, he envisioned a new kind of education.
At that time, the college experience was passive; the typical college student attended lectures and took exams. Van Rensselaer wanted students to be active. He wanted them to participate in lectures, engage with the material, experiment and go into the field to learn and apply their knowledge.
That vision has proved durable.
Since its founding, the Troy-based research university has been at the forefront of scientific advancements and technological innovation, with graduates making their mark on the local, national and global landscape. RPI alums have been involved in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and Panama Canal, the invention of sunscreen and the creation of the Ferris wheel, which made its debut at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where RPI had a booth showcasing the many achievements of its graduates.
RPI observes its 200th anniversary this year with activities and programs honoring its rich history, celebrating the present and charting a bright path forward. The school is well-poised for the future, even as America’s colleges and universities face challenging headwinds amid a rapidly changing educational landscape. A few months ago, The College of Saint Rose in Albany closed after years of declining enrollment and financial struggles.
That fate is unlikely to befall RPI. A STEM-centric school renowned for its engineering, computer science and game design programs, the school also has an impressive track record of placing graduates in good jobs and top graduate schools.
RPI president Martin Schmidt attributes the college’s longevity and ongoing success to sticking to its mission and valuing a hands-on learning experience. “The tagline for RPI is knowledge and thoroughness,” he says. “Another way to translate that is rigor. The primacy of the education has always been there.”
Schmidt, a 1981 RPI graduate who became the school’s 19th president in 2022, believes regional engagement is important, and that collaborating with other local institutions to strengthen the Capital Region will be a big focus of his tenure. The school recently brought a quantum computer to campus and announced a new quantum computing collaboration with the University at Albany in April.
“RPI’s advancement is tightly coupled to the advancement economically of this region,” Schmidt says. “The next decade is a really important one in opportunity for RPI and the region. While I see challenges, I see opportunities that far outweigh them.”
