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Welcome to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Rensselaer is poised at a time of great opportunity. As new technologies drive the economy and shape society, our historic mission and our core academic strengths position us to capitalize on this technological revolution.
The Rensselaer Plan serves as our catalyst for change. A comprehensive strategic plan for the Institute, it defines our core enterprises for the Institute, and sets forth our goals for the coming years.
To fulfill The Rensselaer Plan, we continue to pursue certain areas as our highest priorities.
A greatly enhanced research portfolio is the single most transformational objective of The Rensselaer Plan. As one of our highest priorities, we are dramatically expanding our research enterprise to develop specific focal areas within the disciplines of biotechnology and information technology leveraging our existing strengths.
To achieve this goal for research, we are expanding the faculty, and recruiting constellations of renowned faculty who will create critical mass and specialized expertise for our ambitious research goals.
The new biotechnology and interdisciplinary studies center, opened in September 2004, provides a platform for collaboration among many diverse academic and research disciplines — including biology, chemistry and chemical biology, chemical and biological engineering, biomedical engineering, and biocomputation — to enhance discovery and encourage innovation.
An experimental media and performing arts center will showcase our distinctive programs in the electronic arts, while providing facilities that will broaden campus discourse and allow us to fully engage the larger community in the performing arts. This facility represents a major step toward enriching the resources for the cultural, intellectual, and personal development of our students.
The enhancement of campus and community across the board, including the first-year experience of our students, faculty, and staff, is among our highest priorities.
The anonymous gift commitment of $360 million received in 2001 is transformational and an endorsement of our vision. It is a tremendous vote of confidence in Rensselaer, in its plans for the future, and for the bold initiatives under way.
I invite you to peruse our Web site, and to learn more about Rensselaer, our existing strengths as well as our ambitious plans for the future as a world-class technological research university.
Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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