Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a private research university located in Troy, New York, with two additional campuses in Hartford and Groton, Connecticut. It was founded in 1824 by Stephen van Rensselaer and Amos Eaton for the "application of science to the common purposes of life" and is described as the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world. Built on a hillside, RPI's 265-acre (107 ha) campus overlooks the city of Troy and the Hudson River and is a blend of traditional and modern architecture.

The institute operates an on‑campus business incubator and the 1,250-acre (510 ha) Rensselaer Technology Park. Numerous American colleges or departments of applied sciences were modeled after Rensselaer. The university is one among a small group of polytechnic universities in the United States which tend to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences.

Rensselaer is organized into six main schools within which there are thirty-seven departments: the School of Architecture; School of Engineering; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; School of Information Technology and Web Science; School of Science; and the Lally School of Management & Technology. The university offers around one hundred forty degree programs in sixty fields leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees.

For almost two centuries, Rensselaer has maintained its reputation for providing an undergraduate education of undisputed intellectual rigor based on educational innovation in the laboratory, classroom, and studio.

The Institute is especially well-known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development. Our university promotes excellence across a broad continuum of disciplines—from engineering and biotechnology to athletics and the arts.