Research Centers

The most significant transformation at Rensselaer over the past two decades has been the creation of a research portfolio of a size, significance, quality, and prominence that positions us to impact global challenges.

View all our centers and experts below, or filter by the following criteria

Select a Signature Thrust

Select a Global Challenge

 

Filtered by: Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems

Institute-Wide Research Platforms Learn more about our world-class research platforms and how they push the boundaries of individual disciplines.

The Institute for Energy, the Built Environment, and Smart Systems, based in New York City, uses the most advanced digital technologies to drive decarbonization of urban environments at the systems level.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Energy, Water, Food
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience
  • Climate Change
  • National/Global Security

Institute-Wide Centers Learn more about each of our research centers and the global challenges they seek to address.

An academic and professional collaboration at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute advancing the built environment through research, education, and built projects.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Climate Change
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience

We are a locus of research at Rensselaer, partnering with industry, government, and academic institutions to accelerate renewable energy research, move technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace, and, ultimately, build and sustain economic value.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Climate Change
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience

This multidisciplinary environmental research center is dedicated to understanding the structure and function of aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric systems, with a primary focus on studying the impact of human activities on these interconnected environments.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Climate Change

School Centers The research centers at Rensselaer are at the core of the work we do to tackle the urgent global challenges of today.

Researchers work to develop bio-inspired artificial photosynthetic devices for solar fuel production through research that promotes a fuller understanding of the chemistry behind the biological solar energy conversion of plants.

  • Biotechnology and the Life Sciences
  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Climate Change
  • Energy, Water, Food
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience
  • School of Science

We provide a platform for interdisciplinary research in fluid dynamics, with projects spanning from the design and testing of smart blades for wind turbines to developing new techniques for reducing drag in aircraft, ground, and underwater vehicles.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience
  • Climate Change
  • School of Engineering

We are internationally known for our research in freight transportation, humanitarian logistics, intelligent transportation systems, network modeling, traffic simulation, and traffic signal system control.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Infrastructure Sustainability, Resilience
  • School of Engineering

Rensselaer serves as a key partner of this Center, which is at the forefront of developing a nationwide or continentwide transmission grid that is fully monitored and controlled in real time for high efficiency and reliability, full energy storage utilization, and better renewable energy integration.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Energy, Water, Food
  • School of Engineering

The Center develops next-generation solid-state lighting systems that combine lighting sources, sensors, and controls that have the power to transform the way we live, work, and communicate.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Disease/Disease Mitigation
  • Energy, Water, Food
  • School of Engineering

Our Center is a leading global institution that advances the effective use of light for health, the environment, and overall society through product development, testing, and evaluation.

  • Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
  • Disease/Disease Mitigation
  • Energy, Water, Food
  • School of Architecture
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