From advances in microscopic materials to innovations in computational finance, Rensselaer students and faculty are encouraged to invent useful applications for their ideas and discoveries. The examples cited above join the ranks of some of the most groundbreaking inventions in human history — from television to the microprocessor — which are all the work of Rensselaer graduates.

Student Inventors

Students in Rensselaer’s Design, Innovation, and Society program help to create products, services, and media to address the societal and environmental concerns of the 21st century. Some of their recent inventions have garnered international attention.

Eben Bayer ’07 and Gavin McIntyre ’07 founded Ecovative Design, which manufactures Greensulate, a low-cost, biodegradable form of organic insulation.

Another team of Rensselaer students developed a foot-scanning technology designed to help people with diabetes avoid foot disorders.

Jennifer Ash ’08, a graduate of our Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program, led an interdisciplinary student team to create an interactive game simulation to help individuals with disabilities develop life skills.

As one of our graduates observed, “If someone were to invent a pair of glasses here that allowed you to see Rensselaer’s creative spark, the light would be blinding.”