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The Institute’s long-standing reputation for research and educational distinction draws students from every state and more than 80 foreign countries.
More than 140 degree programs in nearly 60 fields lead to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Students are encouraged to work in inter- and cross-disciplinary programs that allow them to combine scholarly work from several departments or schools. The university provides rigorous, engaging, interactive learning environments and campuswide opportunities for leadership, communication, and creativity.
Over nearly two centuries, Rensselaer has maintained its reputation for providing an undergraduate education of undisputed intellectual rigor based on exceptional pedagogical innovation in the laboratory and classroom.
As a research university, Rensselaer has built an outstanding faculty whose research programs include such areas as biotechnology, nanotechnology, advanced materials, microelectronics, information technology, computational modeling and simulation, and electronic arts.
The Institute is especially well-known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.
Students
Rensselaer enrolls 5,272 undergraduates and 2,003 graduate students in residence on the Troy, N.Y., campus, as well as 2,355 in Hartford, Conn., and in distance learning opportunities around the world.
Self-identified underrepresented minorities account for 9 percent of the undergraduate student body. More than 25 percent are women. It is an exceptionally bright and ambitious group: 60 percent of the members of the class of 2005 were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
Students operate the Rensselaer Union and control its $8.5 million annual budget. They belong to 23 NCAA intercollegiate teams, scores of intramural teams, and more than 130 clubs. About 30 percent of men are members of fraternities and 20 percent of women belong to sororities. Students publish a weekly newspaper and operate a 10,000-watt radio station.
Approximately 23 percent of Rensselaer graduates go on to graduate school. The average starting salary for Rensselaer bachelor’s recipients in 2001 was $53,250 and $67,019 for master’s degree recipients, higher than the national averages.
Rensselaer ranks annually among the top 50 national universities in U.S. News & World Report, and its graduate engineering program ranks among the top schools in the U.S. Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine has consistently ranked Rensselaer among the “most wired” universities. SUCCESS Magazine ranked the Lally School sixth best in the country for entrepreneurship.
Faculty and Educational Innovations
Rensselaer’s more than 450 faculty members include a Nobel laureate, National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award winners, members of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, and other eminent professionals.
Rensselaer faculty take pride in their dedication to teaching. In coordination with the Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, Rensselaer’s faculty devote much thought and time to designing more dynamic teaching methods, redesigning curricula, and transforming classrooms into interactive learning environments where students learn by doing.
Rensselaer is the recipient of the “triple crown” of higher education awards—the Hesburgh, Boeing, and Pew Charitable Trust awards for innovations in undergraduate education. Rensselaer is the only technological university to win all of these prestigious honors.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education, has cited Rensselaer’s studio classes in “Ten Ways to Change Undergraduate Education.”
Rensselaer’s leadership in the area of interactive learning was recognized when the Institute received an $8.8 million grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. This grant is aimed at helping the nation’s colleges and universities to use information technology to boost educational quality and reduce costs.
Research
One of the hallmarks of a Rensselaer education is the opportunity for intellectual partnerships between students and faculty. Particularly unique are the opportunities open to undergraduate students. During the 2001-2002 school year, 282 students participated in the Undergraduate Research Program in which students in all four class years took part in formal research.
Graduate students are involved in myriad projects from the development of “smart” materials and manufacturing processes to exploring the social and humanistic effects of technology.
Rensselaer’s research ties are national and international with experiments conducted at the Saclay Laboratory in France, the Bates Accelerator, the National Radio Astronomical Observatories, Sandia, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Laboratories in Brookhaven, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge. Over the last five years, the university has averaged over $40 million a year in research awards.
Location
Rensselaer’s historic campus sits on a bluff overlooking the city of Troy, N.Y., and the Hudson River. The area offers a relaxed lifestyle with many cultural and recreational opportunities, with easy access to the high-energy metropolitan centers of the Northeast.
Troy is 10 miles northeast of Albany, New York’s capital, and 150 miles north of New York City. The area is centrally located with easy access to Boston (3 hrs.), Montreal (4 hrs.), and Niagara Falls (5 hrs.). Troy and the Capital Region (population 873,500) are home to many well-known colleges such as Albany Medical College, Russell Sage, Siena, Skidmore, Union, University at Albany (SUNY), and the nearby Williams College.
The area offers a variety of recreational and social opportunities. The Adirondacks, the Berkshires, and the Catskills, all within an hour of Troy, offer hundreds of areas for camping, hiking, and skiing. Many clubs sponsored by the Rensselaer Union take full advantage of these natural resources.
Arts organizations of every description are also found in the area. The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, considered by many experts to have the finest acoustics in America, is a short walk from campus as is a new downtown arts center. Nearby Saratoga Springs is the summer home to the New York City Ballet, the New York City Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Albany’s Pepsi Arena hosts a wide array of top-name musical groups, sporting events, and other entertainment options.
Rensselaer at Hartford is housed in its own eight-story building on 16 landscaped acres in downtown Hartford, Conn., readily accessible from both Interstates 84 and 91. The Rensselaer Groton Site is located at the Trails Corner Professional Center in Groton, Conn.
Facilities
Rensselaer’s 260-acre campus and its several off-site facilities provide diverse environments for learning and living. From the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation, with its manufacturing high bay laboratories and meeting rooms, to the Adirondack site of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, Rensselaer’s facilities support the needs of researchers and students.
The 15 major interdisciplinary research centers and several smaller ones, the Incubator Center for start-up high-tech companies, and the nationally known Rensselaer Technology Park offer undergraduate and graduate students a wide range of opportunities for research and learning through interaction with business, government, and industry.
Rensselaer’s nearby Technology Park houses more than 50 companies and 2,300 employees. The Incubator Center, recently named Business Incubator of the Year, nurtures some 28 startup companies. Two-thirds of the company owners and staff are Rensselaer faculty, students, or graduates.
Rensselaer’s Mobile Computing Program, requiring all undergraduate students to own laptop computers, has received resounding praise. Students have anytime/anywhere mobile access via more than 8,000 data ports on campus. Additionally, the top two floors of the Student Union accommodate wireless computing. Most of Rensselaer’s major computing facilities are open 24 hours a day; a Help Desk is open during business hours, and the department of Computing and Information Services supports student and faculty needs. It is hard to find a classroom that has not been fitted or retrofitted for the computing needs of the 21st century.
The academic library system is one of the first in the nation to have integrated a broad range of electronic features into its online systems. Users can consult the catalog, order copies of articles, renew books, and read files of campuswide information such as job openings and grant opportunities at computer terminals on and off campus. The Rensselaer libraries contain more than one-half million books, reports, and documents, as well as more than 7,000 titles of print and electronic journals.
Institute residence facilities house up to 2,900 single students and 93 student families in a variety of living environments. Indoor and outdoor athletic facilities include the Houston Field House, which is home of the NCAA Division I Engineers ice hockey team. The Mueller Center, a $6 million, 32,000-square-foot fitness center, houses more than 40 pieces of aerobic exercise equipment.
The mission of Rensselaer at Hartford is to anticipate and respond to the needs of individuals and organizations through the implementation of high-quality educational programs for working professionals. In support of this mission, Rensselaer at Hartford provides conference facilities suitable for small and medium-sized programs accommodating from 10 to 100 participants. Rensselaer at Hartford’s conference facilities are ideal for meetings and seminars for corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations, as well as professional associations. Amenities include on-site security; free, lighted parking; bookstore; and cafeteria. Rensselaer has also been serving students and corporations in southeastern Connecticut since 1977.
Alumni
Rensselaer’s more than 72,000 living alumni are active and influential in all facets of society. They are engineers, physicians, attorneys, architects, writers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. By contributing to scholarships and sharing their expertise with Institute leadership, they significantly enhance campus life.
The Office of Alumni Relations, supported by the Rensselaer Alumni Association, seeks to create and sustain mutually beneficial relationships among current students, alumni, and the Institute. A full range of services are offered, including career assistance, regional and campus events, affiliate group programs, print and Internet communications, sports programs, and more. Student programs include the Red and White service organization, regional “fairs,” alumni speakers, and mentoring programs.
Accreditation
Rensselaer is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and by a number of professional and academic societies. Undergraduate degree programs in chemistry are certified by the American Chemical Society; professional programs in architecture are accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board. The Lally School of Management and Technology is an accredited member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, an international accreditation. All engineering bachelor’s degree programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Board for Engineering and Technology. The exception is engineering science, which is not intended as preparation for professional engineering practice.
Rensselaer at Hartford is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, by the Board of Governors for Higher Education of the State of Connecticut, and by a number of professional and academic societies. Rensselaer at Hartford’s Lally School of Management and Technology is an accredited member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
Rensselaer admits qualified students without regard to age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, marital status, or disability.
Why Not Change the World?—The Rensselaer Plan
The Rensselaer Plan—the Institute’s new strategic plan—serves as the driving force to achieve new prominence for the Institute in the 21st century. This comprehensive plan defines Rensselaer’s core enterprises and sets forth the Institute’s goal to double its doctoral program and virtually triple its research initiative with special focus on biotechnology and information technology.
To fulfill the Rensselaer Plan, President Shirley Ann Jackson identified certain areas as the highest priorities of the Institute. The initiatives under way include the recruitment of faculty constellations in biotechnology and information technology; a first-year experience initiative to support the drive to attract and retain the very best students, faculty, and staff; construction of a 200,000-square-foot biotechnology and interdisciplinary studies center, expected to house 60 faculty members and more than 300 researchers and graduate students; and a world-class experimental media and performing arts center.
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