The Carnegie Building is the current home of the Cognitive Science Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is one of the westernmost buildings on the campus and as such provides scenic views overlooking the city of Troy and the Hudson River. The four-story building is named for Andrew Carnegie who donated $125,000 for its construction, which was completed in 1906.
Fires in 1862 and 1904 damaged buildings of downtown Troy and the RPI campus. The destruction in 1862 prompted the construction of the Main Building (literally the main building of Rensselaer at the time). The destruction of the Main Building in 1904 prompted the institute to consider expanding the campus. Being built around a hill, the Institute considered extending the campus downhill within the downtown Troy area and even considered leaving Troy altogether by accepting Columbia University's proposed merger with its New York City campus. Ultimately, the decision was made to remain in Troy but move uphill, away from the downtown area. [1] [2]
In 1905 Andrew Carnegie donated $125,000 to replace the Main Building. As part of the institute's plan to move uphill, the 10-acre (40,000 m2) Walter Phelps Warren estate was acquired. There the Carnegie Building was erected, made of Harvard brick and Indiana limestone. It was completed in September 1906 at a cost of $133,000. The Carnegie Building was dedicated along with the Walker Laboratory on June 12, 1907. [3]
The building was designed by architects Whitfield & King. Henry D. Whitfield was Andrew Carnegie's brother-in-law.
In addition to being built with Harvard brick and Indiana limestone - concrete was used, steel floors, and partitions were used to split rooms. This fireproof building had terrazzo floors and its walls lined with white tiling. [4]
On the first floor, the four large recitation rooms were utilized by the departments of Geodesy and Drawings while the second floor was occupied by the department of Mechanics and Mathematics.
The third floor has a small drawing room and several classrooms. The topmost fourth floor consisted of the largest drawing room of its time (sixty by one hundred feet,) with a small side room for blue-printing.
The walls of corridors and the underclass lobby contain drawings and photographs of structures designed by RPI male students, while the walls of the upperclass lobby contain etchings of familiar classic figures. [3]
"...Located at the head of the entrance of the Institute grounds; the interior is admirably arranged for the purposes intended, well lighted, heated and ventilated; which all go toward making the work of the students easy." [5]
The building is home to the Cogworks laboratory, which directs research in cognitive science.
The research and doctoral program taking place in the Cognitive Science Department is currently having its current goals set on integrating an interdisciplinary department where the research and teaching is aimed at three powerful, driving ideas:
One small program that is held in this building is the Experimetrix where students could sign up to participate in experiments that deal with how the brain works or cognitive science. Graduate students and professors work together to collect data and in turn analyze them for further development in cognitive research. Students being participants for this research allows them to receive extra credit for their course if allowed by their professor. This area of experiments is currently being held on the second floor of the building.
There is also the closely related Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning (RAIR) Laboratory, which is located in the Russell Sage Laboratory.
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer and Amos Eaton for the "application of science to the common purposes of life" and is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere.
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Selmer Bringsjord is the chair of the Department of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a professor of Computer Science and Cognitive Science. He also holds an appointment in the Lally School of Management & Technology and teaches artificial Intelligence (AI), formal logic, human and machine reasoning, and philosophy of AI.
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The Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies is a research facility at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The 218,000-square-foot (20,300 m2) building is located on 15th street between RPI’s Playhouse and Academy Hall, next to the Center for Industrial Innovation. The institute hopes the new facility will help to encourage collaboration between experts in different fields, allowing them to solve problems that they would be unable to solve alone. As of 2008, the director of the center is Jonathan Dordick. The building cost $100M.
The Richard G. Folsom Library is a research library in the Rensselaer Libraries system constructed in the Brutalist style located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. It is named after Richard Gilman Folsom, the President of the Institute from 1958–1971. The Folsom Library offers a variety of services to students and patrons of the library. In addition to loans, these services include class reserves, general writing and presentation assistance through the Center for Communication Practices, cultural and educational events, inter-library loans through ConnectNY, individual and group room reservations, computer labs, and wireless internet.
Amos Eaton Hall is the current home of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. It is named for Amos Eaton, the co-founder and first senior professor of Rensselaer. Amos Eaton Hall is the only building on the campus referred to by both first and last name. The building opened in 1928.
The Jonsson Engineering Center, is home to the School of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is named for J. Erik Jonsson and was dedicated on 7 October 1977.
The George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation, otherwise known as the Low Center or CII, is an industry-funded research center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, US.
The Rensselaer Polytechnic is the student-run news organization of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to 2018, it was published in print every Wednesday during the Institute's fall and spring academic calendars, but now publishes online at poly
Proctor's Theater is located on Fourth Street in Troy, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District, added to the Register in 1986.
The Winslow Chemical Laboratory was a laboratory of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus in Troy, New York, United States, which finished construction in 1866. It is named in honor of the 5th President of RPI, John F. Winslow, who donated half of the construction cost. The building is brick with stone trimmings and was originally constructed with butternut, chestnut and black walnut. The whole building was fitted for complete courses in general and analytical chemistry. The design and construction was overseen by Professor Henry B. Nason, head of the department of chemistry at the Institute. The lower story contained the metallurgical laboratory and second story contained the chemical laboratory, store rooms and work rooms. The laboratory could accommodate about 40 students. The third story contained a lecture room, a private study, the library and a recitation room. The library of chemical books was established by a donation of several sets of journals and a gift of three hundred dollars from John F. Winslow.
West Hall is a building on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus in Troy, New York, United States. It is currently home to the Arts Department at RPI. It was previously a hospital, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Old Troy Hospital.
The history of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) spans nearly two hundred years beginning with its founding in 1824. RPI is the oldest continuously operating technological university in both the English-speaking world and the Americas. The Institute was the first to grant a civil engineering degree in the United States, in 1835. More recently, RPI also offered the first environmental engineering degree in the United States in 1961, and possibly the first ever undergraduate degree in video game design, in 2007.
Peter Arthur Fox was a data science and Semantic eScience researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), United States. He was a Tetherless World Constellation chair and professor of Earth and Environmental Science, Computer Science and Cognitive Science, and director of the Information Technology and Web Science Program at RPI. He was known for defining informatics and data science in earth sciences, bringing Semantic Web research to that community, as well as defining the sun-earth connection research agenda and co-convening the community. Fox was born in Devonport, Tasmania, Australia and resided in Troy, NY, United States until his death on 27 March 2021, at the age of 61.
Edward Bruce Watson is an American geochemist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Ricketts Building is a building that is home to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is named for Palmer C. Ricketts, the ninth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The building opened in 1935. It is currently used for labs, lectures, and some clubs.
The Jonsson-Rowland Science Center , is home to the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is named for J. Erik Jonsson and Henry A. Rowland. The building was dedicated on 21 October 1961.