Clarkson University

Know Your Purpose?
ACHIEVE IT HERE.

Clarkson is a private, national research university and proven leader in technological education and sustainable economic development. STEM intersects with our scholarship, research, innovation and teaching through more than 90 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, education, sciences and health professions. With our 4,800+ students, we ignite connections across disciplines, industries and social cultures to create the entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge and intellectual curiosity needed to innovate world-relevant solutions and prepare the leaders of tomorrow. Alumni earn salaries that are among the top two percent in the nation and realize accelerated career growth. Clarkson’s main campus is located in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate programs, online networks and research facilities are based near industry partners in Saranac Lake, Schenectady, Beacon and New York City.

The favorite verse of our namesake Thomas S. Clarkson, “the workman that needeth not to be ashamed,” was the motto chosen by the founders when our doors opened in 1896 as a new kind of school that blended a technology-rich curriculum with other disciplines, and compelled faculty and students to always seek out the real needs of the American people.  Today, we continue to defy convention by going beyond the status quo of deep disciplinary knowledge.  Everyone has opportunities and hands-on access to build the practical skillsets to stretch boundaries.  Clarkson graduates emerge with the entrepreneurial competence to make sense of complex systems and forge connections across people and fields.  One in five alumni already leads as a CEO, senior executive or owner of a company. 

Clarkson’s globally oriented faculty pursue interdisciplinary research focused on rapidly solving real world problems for a better future. Example signature areas of research include healthy global solutions, advanced materials development, computational and data-enabled discoveries, next generation medicine and healthcare, and STEM and entrepreneurial education. Our external network engages 380+ active partners in industry, government agencies, chambers of commerce and research organizations affording students access to world relevant problems to pursue with their professors as well as a direct pipeline to internships and careers after graduation. In addition to an engaged 44,000+ strong alumni community living in 87 countries, our global reach extends through the networks of our schools, ROTC command, research centers and institutes.

Your university experience shapes your life
At Clarkson, we want that experience to be balanced. We merge academics and extracurricular activities into what we like to think of as “serious fun.” We're known for our tight-knit community, where our students make lifelong connections and consider the people around them their Golden Knight family.