George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation
Encyclopedia
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
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History
The center is named after George M. Low, who was an important administrator at NASA and President of the institute during the time of construction. With the support of Eastman KodakEastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Colt Industries and General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, a proposal was made to Governor Hugh Carey
Hugh Carey
Hugh Leo Carey was an American attorney, the 51st Governor of New York from 1975 to 1982, and a seven-term United States Representative .- Early life :...
to jointly sponsor a research and teaching center to promote industrial innovation. In July 1982, the State of New York agreed to use Rensselaer as the site for the new center. President Low stated that the State had "taken a giant step in its efforts to attract, nurture and keep advanced technology business in the state, a step that is certain to make a substantial impact on New York's economy."http://www.lib.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/Archives/buildings/cii.html Construction began during the summer of 1984 and the center was dedicated on May 14, 1987.
The CII building is notorious for its tall, hollow center stairwells. In 1992 the self-declared Rensselaer Drop Squad spent most of a semester dropping a series of ever more bizarre items down the 7-story stairwell before they were eventually apprehended. The items included typewriters, 150 McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
hamburgers, tennis balls and a Christmas tree.http://www.dropsquad.com/
On 29 March 2007, RPI graduate Anson Tripp committed suicide by jumping from the top of one of the stairwells after traveling to RPI from Massachusetts. Because of uncertainties surrounding the death, there was a full evacuation of the building and shutdown of all campus activities after his body was found. In August 2008, metal cables were installed in the center of the two main stairwells to prevent objects from falling, most likely in response to this event.
Starting in early 2008, planning began on an exterior overhaul, replacing the vast network of faulty bricks that encase the building. Black tarp was placed around part of the building to prevent falling bricks from injuring people below. As of February 2011, work on the north wall of the central tower has been completed, with work beginning on the northern annex section of the building.
Facilities
Major Research Centers Housed in the Low Center
- Center for Integrated Electronics (CIE)http://www.rpi.edu/dept/cie/
- Within the CIE:
- Center for Advanced Interconnect Systems Technologies (CAIST)
- Center for Broadband Data Transport Science and Technology
- Center for Microcontamination Control
- Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES)
- The Focus Center - New York, Rensselaer: Interconnections for Gigascale Integration
- Advanced Power Device Research Laboratory
- Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS)http://www.cats.rpi.edu/
- New York State Center for Studies of the Origin of Life http://www.origins.rpi.edu
- Center for Terahertz Research http://www.rpi.edu/terahertz/
- Scientific Computation Research Center http://www.scorec.rpi.edu/
- Future Chips Constellation http://www.rpi.edu/futurechips
The George M. Low Gallery
Upon his death, the Low family bequeathed all of Low's awards and memorabilia to the institute. These possessions were included in the George M. Low Gallery, a museum on the fourth floor, which is a tribute to George Low, NASA, and the engineers of the Apollo program. It is designed to make one feel almost as if they are in outer space; darkness contrasts with the lit exhibits, and pictures of astronauts and space are backlit from the outside..