1990s the ratio was around 5:1. In 2009, RPI had a ratio of 2.5:1 (72% male / 28% female), In 2016, the ratio for the incoming freshman class had fallen to 2.1:1 (68% male / 32% female), the lowest in the history of the institute. In the fall of 2016, more than 1,000 women enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's undergraduate engineering programs for the first time in its history. These women represented 30 percent of the student body in engineering at the university, and 32 percent of the university's total gender composition. Shekhar Garde, Rensselaer's dean of engineering, claims he wants to increase the female composition of the institute to 50 percent before 2030.
== Athletics ==
The RPI Engineers are the athletic teams for the university. RPI currently sponsors 23 sports, 21 of which compete at the NCAA Division III level in the Liberty League; men's and women's ice hockey compete at the Division I level in ECAC Hockey. The official nickname of some of the school's Division III teams was changed …
