Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Founded 1824. Oldest technological research university in the English-speaking world.
Overview
Stephen Van Rensselaer endowed a school for the application of science to common life in 1824, creating the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world. Early graduates built canals, bridges, and railroads that opened nineteenth century America; the Brooklyn Bridge engineer Washington Roebling studied here. About 8,000 students study on the Troy hillside above the Hudson. The Darrin Communications Center and experimental media lab anchor computing research. George Ferris of the Chicago wheel fame is claimed among alumni. RPI pioneered the now-standard engineering degree's shape.
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