The Rensselaer Technology Park is a technology park in North Greenbush, New York, USA (though with a mailing address in Troy) operated by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As of 2009 the park has over 70 tenants representing a diverse range of technologies and employing over 2,400. [1] The park is located along the Hudson River approximately five miles south of the RPI campus.
In 1979 a special task force was assembled by RPI President George M. Low composed of faculty, staff, alumni/trustees, and students to study feasibility of developing a park. In March 1981 The Board of Trustees authorized a $3 million investment of the endowment to design and build the infrastructure for the first phase of the Park. [1] Between 1981 and 1982 infrastructure was planned and developed over around 150 acres (0.61 km2), including the construction of 0.8-mile (1.3 km) of roadway and underground utilities including power, gas, water, sanitary and storm sewers and telephone. The first tenant was announced in March 1983, an optoelectronics facility for National Semiconductor. 1983–1991 saw the development of over 100 more acres, and the introduction of several more large companies. [1] In July 1992 MetLife opened a 212,000 sq ft (19,700 m2) computer center that serves as the corporation's national disaster recovery site and computer software development headquarters. [2] MapInfo moved to the park in 1993. MapInfo was founded by three RPI students after taking a course in Technological Entrepreneurship during which they produced their first business plan. [1]
The DeFreest Homestead is historic house and barn which was built around 1765 and located near the entrance of the park. The house and surrounding homestead were listed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The Children's Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) is the only science center in the Tech Valley designed specifically for kids and parents to Explore, Discover, and Imagine the world of science together. [3] It features a digital dome planetarium, which shows digital educational movies including Molecularium a nanotechnology show developed at RPI.
The Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) is the result of a $100 Million collaboration between RPI, IBM, and New York State to further nanotechnology innovations. When it opened in 2007 it was the 7th most powerful supercomputing centers in the world, and remains in the top 25.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 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.
There are several songs about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute traditionally sung at special events.
The Lally School of Management was founded in 1963 as part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Its current mission statement is "To bridge management and technology to create sophisticated global business leaders who are prepared to guide their organizations in the conversion of pioneering ideas and analytical insights into innovative products, processes, and businesses."
The Chapel + Cultural Center at Rensselaer is an architecturally unique, multipurpose performing arts and spiritual space in Troy, New York. The Center is owned and operated by the Rensselaer Newman Foundation (RNF). It is conventionally referred to as "The C+CC"; the "+" sign has come to be formally used instead of "and" or an ampersand as a representative symbol of the Christian cross. While located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the C+CC is managed and operated as an independent organizational entity. The C+CC provides a home to the Roman Catholic University Parish of Christ Sun of Justice. Its staff members offer administrative support for chaplaincy services at RPI for the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim communities.
The Center for Computational Innovations (CCI), is a supercomputing center located at the Rensselaer Technology Park in Troy, New York.
The Molecularium Project is an informal science education project of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The project introduces young audiences to the world of atoms and molecules using character driven stories, animations, games and activities, and molecular visualizations. Rensselaer's three principal scientist and educators behind the project are Linda Schadler, Richard W. Siegel, and Shekhar Garde. The Molecularium Project began as an outreach project of Rensselaer's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. To realize the productions, the scientists collaborated with Nanotoon Entertainment, led by writer and director V. Owen Bush, and writer/producer Kurt Przybilla. The Molecularium Project is funded by Rensselaer, the National Science Foundation, and New York State.
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.
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.
Rensselaer at Work is the online division of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, operating administratively from facilities in Hartford, Connecticut, since 1955. Until 1997, it was known as the Hartford Graduate Center. The primary focus of the division is to offer graduate-level professional education to learners across the country via its digital delivery.
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 Hirsch Observatory is an astronomical observatory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. It is located on the roof of the Jonsson-Rowland Science Center and is used by members of the Rensselaer Astrophysical Society as well as astronomy students in laboratory exercises. It is frequently opened to the community for public viewing sessions. The observatory's main dome contains a 16" Cassegrain Reflector, with a CCD camera and fully computerized controls. The observatory also owns a variety of smaller scopes and a SBIG Spectrograph. The spectrograph has been used to catalog bright solar spectrum as part of an effort to create an online digital database for astrophysical research. The current director of the observatory is Professor Heidi Newberg.
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 Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after Curtis Priem, co-founder of NVIDIA and graduate of the RPI Class of 1982, who donated $40 million to the Institute in 2004.
Tech Valley began as a marketing name for the eastern part of the U.S. state of New York, encompassing the Capital District and the Hudson Valley. Originating in 1998 to promote the greater Albany area as a high-tech competitor to regions such as Silicon Valley and Boston, the moniker subsequently grew to represent the counties in New York between IBM's Westchester County plants in the south and the Canada–United States border to the north, and has since evolved to constitute both the technologically oriented metonym and the geographic territory comprising most of New York State north of New York City. The area's high technology ecosystem is supported by technologically focused academic institutions including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Tom Baruch is an American businessman and venture capitalist (VC) based out of San Francisco, California. He was a founding partner of the VC funds CMEA Capital, Formation 8 and is now the managing director of his family office: Baruch Future Ventures (BFV).
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.
Francine Berman is an American computer scientist, and a leader in digital data preservation and cyber-infrastructure. In 2009, she was the inaugural recipient of the IEEE/ACM-CS Ken Kennedy Award "for her influential leadership in the design, development and deployment of national-scale cyberinfrastructure, her inspiring work as a teacher and mentor, and her exemplary service to the high performance community". In 2004, Business Week called her the "reigning teraflop queen".
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.