The Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education (CIPCE) is an official pre-college outreach arm of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As such, it is committed to working with K-12 students and teachers on inquiry- based approaches to teaching in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines, making use of engaging interactive technologies that have proven to be effective classroom tools. We offer many programs for both teachers and students, for in- school and after-school initiatives.

With the recognition that there is a symbiosis between colleges and schools, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute established a Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education (CIPCE). In so doing, it has reinforced the vision of its founder, Stephen Van Rensselaer, "to qualify teachers for instructing the sons and daughters of Farmers and Mechanics, by lectures or otherwise, in the application of experimental chemistry, philosophy and natural history, to agriculture, domestic economy, the arts and manufactures."