So there shouldn't be any surprise in seeing an undergraduate like Vincent J. Pasceri walking the halls in stocking feet, rubbing his eyes, his hair tousled to a peak. But this is a business office, and Vinny, as he is known, is its C.E.O. Pacing the floor talking into his telephone headset, sometimes fresh off the couch where he spent the night, Mr. Pasceri is every bit the struggling small businessman just trying to keep the doors open. At age 21, he is heading up his third company, and now, he and 19 of his friends are in a mad race against the wireless electronics industry and a May deadline to get a new product to market. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute fans the flames of this hothouse. A degree, even from one of the nation's most advanced and respected technical institutions, is not enough to compete in the job market, the institution believes.
Entrepreneurial drive is the key.
It is out to create an entire army of Vinnys, uber-motivated technophiles obsessed with making the next big discovery, and turning it into riches. R.P.I.'s business incubator is one of the nation's oldest, founded 20 years ago at the urging of George M. Low, the university's president from 1976-84. A former director of the Apollo space program, he thought the cooperation of government, industry, and academe that had made Apollo possible could be combined to encourage economic development here in the upper Hudson River valley. The incubator has built an enviable record of success. A flag with each company's name hangs from the ceiling of the unheated, enclosed wooden footbridge that links the building with the rest of the campus.