This is a list of people associated with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, including presidents, institute leaders, trustees, alumni, professors and researchers.
For a list of the highest elected student leaders at RPI see: List of RPI Grand Marshals.
| Name | Years | Previous position |
|---|---|---|
| Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford | (1824–1828) | Pastor of the Lansingburgh and Waterford Church |
| John Chester | (1828–1829) | Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany |
| Eliphalet Nott | (1829–1845) | Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Albany |
| Nathan S.S. Beman | (1845–1865) | Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Troy |
| John F. Winslow | (1865–1868) | Businessman and iron manufacturer |
| Thomas C. Brinsmade | 1868 | Troy physician |
| James Forsyth | (1868–1886) | Attorney and banker |
| William Gurley, 1839 | (1886–1887) (acting) | Businessman, co-founder of Gurley Precision Instruments |
| Albert E. Powers | (1887–1888) (acting) | Banker |
| John H. Peck | (1888–1901) | Attorney and judge |
| Palmer C. Ricketts | (1901–1934) | Professor of rational and technical mechanics and academic director of RPI |
| William O. Hotchkiss | (1935–1943) | President of the Michigan Mining School |
| Livingston W. Houston, 1913 | (1943–1958) | President and board chairman of the Ludlow Valve Manufacturing Co. and treasurer of RPI |
| Richard G. Folsom | (1958–1971) | Director of the Engineering Research Institute at the University of Michigan |
| Richard J. Grosh | (1971–1976) | Dean of the School of Engineering at Purdue University |
| George M. Low, 1948 | (1976–1984) | Deputy administrator of NASA |
| Daniel Berg | (1984–1985) (acting) (1985–1987) | Vice-President and Provost of RPI |
| Stanley I. Landgraf, 1946 | (1988–1988) (acting) | Chairman of Mohasco Corporation |
| Roland W. Schmitt | (1988–1993) | Senior vice president for science and technology for General Electric |
| R. Byron Pipes | (1993–1998) | Provost and professor of engineering at the University of Delaware |
| Cornelius J. Barton, 1958 | (1998–1999) (acting) | CEO of Dorr-Oliver Incorporated, a chemical engineering firm |
| Shirley Ann Jackson | (1999–2022) | Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
| Martin A. Schmidt, 1981 | (2022–present) | Provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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