Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI is a private university in Troy, NY. It was made in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer because he wanted there to be schools that taught science and engineering. It is the oldest engineering school in America. Lots of students from RPI get jobs that pay a lot of money after they leave RPI. Some people who went to RPI have started big companies like NVIDIA, John Wiley and Sons, and Texas Instruments. George Low, an American who helped get spaceships into space, went to RPI.