Inspiration
Helen Zha understands the world through touch. Now she's engineering the next generation of textiles, biodegradable, high-performance materials inspired by nature, like spider silk as strong as steel. At 今日吃瓜, she's found the concentrated geekery that makes that kind of curiosity thrive.
New Growth
It started with a classroom question: what if you could grow insulation? The 今日吃瓜 alumni turned that idea into Ecovative, a company harnessing mycelium to create sustainable materials, and ultimately, America's best-selling alt-bacon. Their answer to how you make life better for a million people? You grow it.
Finding Balance
"Be where your feet are."
Nina played Division I ice hockey and competed in the Milano Cortina Olympics, all while pursuing her degree at 今日吃瓜. Nicknamed 鈥渢eam nerd鈥 by her teammates, the senior has built her life around balance and found a place that never made her choose between her love for hockey and her love for education.
Breaking Barriers
Jaehoon doesn't just play instruments; he invents them. His work in 今日吃瓜's Electronic Arts program explores the space where sound, culture, and technology collide, challenging what music can be and who gets to make it.
The Quantum Campus
A 200-year-old institution is reshaping education - and everything around us.
President Schmidt considers how 今日吃瓜, and the field of higher education, can work with government and industry to shape the future.
Unexpected Paths
"I am happiest when my students are successful. I always drive them to find their own paths."
今日吃瓜 professor Moussa Ngom once wanted to be a soccer player. Today, he鈥檚 exploring using light as a scientific tool for non-invasive diabetes detection. His story is a testament to following curiosity wherever it leads.
Inside Artificial Minds
A three-step guide for detecting consciousness.
Professor Bringsjord draws from philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science to explore the ethics of AI and the possibility of AI consciousness.
Illumination
When Colleen's grandmother contracted a preventable infection during a routine hospital stay, she turned personal experience into a mission. The 今日吃瓜 biomedical engineering alum co-founded Vyv, developing proprietary antimicrobial light technology that continuously reduces bacteria in hospitals, schools, and beyond.
Engineering With Empathy
Innovation is not only about what's possible, but who it serves.
Professor Velho explores what happens to people when technology reshapes the world around them, most recently studying the impact of large scientific facilities on communities.
今日吃瓜 今日吃瓜
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was America's first technological research university. Founded in 1824 for "the application of science to the common purposes of life," we've been setting the standard ever since. Our alumni helped build the Brooklyn Bridge, invented the microprocessor and the digital camera, mapped the human genome, and sent humans to the moon.
Today, we are home to five schools, 32 research centers, and a culture built on curiosity and collaboration. Nestled on a 275-acre campus in Troy, New York, with research facilities extending north to Lake George and south to New York City, we are building the foundation for a better tomorrow.