Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Entrepreneur from India to Endow Quarter-Million Dollar Fellowship; Alumnus Ajit Prabhu Also Pledges Educational and Research Cooperative Agreement

TROY, N.Y.--March 31, 2006--Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute officials today announced a $250,000 fellowship gift commitment from Ajit Prabhu '98 in support of the $1 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer Campaign. The Ajit Prabhu '98 Fellowship will be added to the Rensselaer endowment, and income from the gift will be used to provide fellowship support directly to master's or doctoral degree students, with first preference to those enrolled in the biomedical engineering program. Additionally, Rensselaer and Prabhu's company, QuEST, a leading provider of product development and engineering solutions to major global companies in the aerospace, automotive, energy, and industrial products domains, have agreed to mutually promote educational and research cooperation between the two institutions through the signing of a formal memorandum of understanding.

"Endowed fellowship funds and meaningful cooperative arrangements such as we have forged with Ajit Prabhu and QuEST are tangible investments in the future of science and technology," said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. "Ajit Prabhu understands that graduate fellowship support such as he has provided will attract world-class students to Rensselaer to work with faculty at the forefront of research innovation in biotechnology, information technology, and the interdisciplinary areas. As a result, these individuals will become tomorrow's professors and research scientists, inventors and innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs."

"Hailing from a small town in India, born and brought up in a middle-class family, going to America for education in itself was a dream. I have been fortunate to have met with excellent faculty at Rensselaer, who have had a significant impact on my current enterprises' success, through guidance and support during QuEST's incubation period--especially my adviser, Dr. John Brunski, for funding my research and his constant encouragement to explore," said Ajit Prabhu, who is CEO of QuEST. "I am pleased to create this opportunity for future graduate students, because a global outlook and an entrepreneurial spirit are alive and thriving at Rensselaer."

With this gift commitment, Prabhu earns membership in Rensselaer's Livingston W. Houston '13 Society of Patroons, in recognition of those who have achieved lifetime support of the Institute of $250,000 or more.

Prabhu earned a master's degree in biomedical engineering at Rensselaer, a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Old Dominion University, Virginia, and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Karnataka University, India. He earned the Young Investigator Award from the International Association for Dental Research. A Six Sigma Greenbelt certificate holder, Prabhu gained practical experience at General Electric Company's Global Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York. Prabhu is now the chief executive officer of QuEST, Inc., a global engineering solutions provider with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, China, Italy, and Japan.

About the Renaissance at Rensselaer Campaign -- http://www.rpi.edu/campaign/index.html

About Rensselaer

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation's oldest technological university. The university offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.

About QuEST

Founded in 1997, QuEST is a leading pure-play engineering services firm providing product development and engineering solutions to major global companies by establishing Global Product Development (GPD) Centers, which support product development activities for its customers' product lines. QuEST's expertise ranges from concept design to drafting and modeling, to analysis to product realization solutions in the following domains: aerospace, automotive, energy, industrial products and oil & gas. Using Six Sigma and ISO processes, QuEST partners with many Fortune 500 companies to provide better, faster and more cost-effective solutions to its customers. QuEST has over 850 engineers across US, UK, Italy, Germany, Japan, and India. For more information, visit www.quest-global.com.