Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, is a large university in Troy, New York, near Albany, founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer, it is one of the oldest technical institutions in the United States.It has six schools: Architecture, Engineering Science, Humanities & Social Sciences, Information Technology, Management, and Science. RPI is a tech oriented university and all of the dorm rooms have hard-wired high speed internet access. The current President of RPI is Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson. RPI also had the United States' first on-campus high-tech business incubator.
Notable alumni include Washington Roebling (1857), who was the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge; George W. G. Ferris (1881), who invented the Ferris Wheel; Dr. Allen B. Dumont (1924), who perfected the cathode ray tube and is considered the "father of modern TV"; Paul Severino, founder of Wellfleet Communications, which merged with SynOptics Communications to become Bay Networks, now owned by Nortel; and Bobby Farrelly, famous director, writer and producer of such films as "Shallow Hal" and "There's Something About Mary."
RPI's unofficial mascot is the albino squirrel.
