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.
