Mark Armour, a Facebook friend of mine who I meet through the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), posted some photos of his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on the social media site a while back and kindly agreed to let me use them here. RPI is located in Troy, New York, as part of the Tri-City Capital District of Albany-Schenectady-Troy.
As Rensselaer's full name implies, technology is a huge part of its mission. Most (44%) students major in engineering, followed by computer science (21%). Other fields such as math, statistics, physical sciences, and biology draw a few percentage each. Fields outside the sciences such as business and the arts also draw a few percentage (source). Accordingly, you'll see mainly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) facilities among the campus photos below.
Shown first is the Voorhees Computing Center. One year ago, the center received the first IBM quantum computer to be located on a college campus.
Following is the Walker Laboratory,
built in 1906, which hosts Chemistry.
Related to Chemistry is Chemical Engineering, which is housed in the
Ricketts Building (along with Biological Engineering).
According to the School's website:
The history of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer dates back to 1848 when Benjamin Franklin Greene, the senior professor, and director at Rensselaer at that time, traveled to Europe to undertake the first systematic study of educational models, examining, among others, the École Des Beaux-Arts and École Politechnique in Paris. Upon his return, he wrote, The True Idea of a Polytechnic, premised on looking forward to the creation of a new world. He proposed the “Rensselaer School” become “The Rensselaer Polytechnic of Engineering and Architecture,” asserting Architecture to be essential to any polytechnic “worthy of the name.”
The
Troy Building, formerly the home of Civil Engineering, now hosts the President, Provost, and various Vice Presidents.
Finally, there is one building I was unable to identify.
