Founders of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Stephen van Rensselaer

Stephen van Rensselaer was the eighth patroon of the Van Rensselaer estate, which was established in the 17th century. He was born in 1764, attended Princeton and Harvard universities, and took charge of the manor of Rensselaerwyck around 1785. His landholding was operated in a traditional near-feudal manner in which tenants leased land for farming and for settlement as towns. The city of Troy and many other villages were established on his lands. He was politically well-connected and served in both houses of the New York State Legislature, as Lieutenant-Governor, and in the U.S. House of Representatives. He established the Rensselaer School in 1824, naming Amos Eaton senior professor. He supported the school until his death in 1839.

Amos Eaton

The first senior professor at the Rensselaer School. He was the force behind its creation and its early years. Trained as a teacher and lawyer, Eaton took up science on his own and became a scholar of botany, chemistry, geology, and mathematics. He conducted geological and agricultural surveys of the Erie Canal area and taught as an itinerant lecturer in the years around 1820, gaining wide renown for his lectures. He was born in 1776 and died in 1842.

Presidents of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

President	Degrees (Italics indicate honorary)	Tenure	Previous Position
Samuel Blatchford	D.D.	1824-1828	Pastor of the Lansingburgh and Waterford Church.
John Chester	D.D.	1828-1829	Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany.
Eliphalet Nott	D.D., LL.D.	1829-1845	Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Albany.
Nathan S.S. Beman	D.D., LL.D.	1845-1865	Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Albany.
John F. Winslow		1865-1868	Businessman and iron manufacturer.
Thomas Brinsmade	M.D.	1868	Troy physician.
James Forsyth	LL.D.	1868-1886	Attorney and Banker.
John H. Peck	LL.D.	1888-1901	Attorney and judge.
Palmer C. Ricketts '75	C.E., E.D., LL.D.	1901-1934	Professor of rational and technical mechanics and academic director of RPI.
William Hotchkiss	B.S., C.E., Ph.D., D.Sc., LL.D.	1935-1943	President of the Houghton School of Mines.
Livingston W. Houston '13	M.E., LL.D., D.Eng., D.Sc., J.U.D.	1943-1958	President and board chairman of the Ludlow Valve Manufacturing Co. and treasurer of RPI.
Richard G. Folsom '71	B.S., M.S., Ph.D., D.Sc., D.Eng., LL.D.	1958-1971	Director of the Engineering Research Institute at the University of Michigan.
Richard J. Grosh	B.S., M.S., Ph.D., D.Sc.	1971-1976	Dean of the School of Engineering at Purdue University.
George M. Low '48	B.Aero.E., M.Aero.E., D.Eng., D.Sc.	1976-1984	Deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Daniel Berg	B.S., M.S., Ph.D.	1985-1987	Vice-President and Provost of RPI.
Roland W. Schmitt	B.A., B.S., M.A., Ph.D.	1988-1993	Senior vice president for science and technology for General Electric Co.
R. Byron Pipes	B.S., M.S.E., Ph.D.	1993-1998	Provost and professor of engineering at the University of Delaware.
Shirley Ann Jackson	B.S., Ph.D.	1999-	Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Through its history, Rensselaer has been served by five acting presidents. William Gurley and Albert Powers held that position from James Forsyth's death in 1886 until John Peck became Rensselaer's eighth president two years later. Daniel Berg was acting president from spring 1984, shortly before President Low died, until his election in March 1985. Stanley Landgraf '46 was acting president from March until September 1987. Neal Barton '58 served as acting president after the resignation of R. Byron Pipes until July 1999.