Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life. He is chairman and CEO of the venture capital firm Revolution, and chairman of the Case Foundation, both of which invest “in people and ideas that can change the world.” Prior to starting Revolution, he was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of America Online Inc. (AOL) and, later, the chairman of AOL Time Warner. “At Rensselaer, we challenge and motivate our students to change the world, and Steve Case is doing just that every day,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson, who will lead the conversation with Case. President Jackson has called for a new way—that she describes as the “new Polytechnic”—of learning and working across disciplines and sectors, using new tools and technologies and our global interconnectivity. Using them, particularly in the arenas of big data, high performance computing, and web science, we are able to develop new approaches to the challenges of energy, food, water, health, and national security, climate change, and natural resource allocation, which are fundamental to our daily lives and to the long-term viability of the planet. “Data is the new natural resource of the 21st century,” President Jackson said. “The ways we generate it and mine, manage, preserve, and connect it, by harnessing powerful new analytical and computational capacities, will shape and change our world. We will discuss cultivating entrepreneurs and growing an innovation ecosystem that uses data to unlock potential solutions to the grand global challenges.” Lally School of Management Dean Thomas Begley said, “Steve Case’s work and vision is in sync with the Lally School’s rich tradition of technological entrepreneurship. Now more than ever, we are focused on bridging management and technology to create global business leaders who will guide their organizations toward innovative products, processes, and businesses.” Founded in 1824, Rensselaer was the first technological research university in the English-speaking world. For nearly two centuries, the Institute has been a driving force behind breakthroughs in engineering and science in virtually every arena—from transportation and infrastructure to business, medicine, outer space, and cyberspace. “We are proud to be part of the bridge to the bicentennial anniversary of Rensselaer,” Dean Begley said. “As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Lally School, we also highlight important milestones of how the world has been transformed by the achievements of Rensselaer people past and present.”