Several Rensselaer Institute-wide Research Centers are affiliated with cMDIS.  Together, this creates a research community spanning the broad range of physical, chemical and engineering sciences at Rensselaer. The various centers focus on on future energy systems, advanced manufacturing, the transmission of information and energy by light, advanced building materials and concepts, and applied large-scale computational methods.

The Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE)
Director Dennis Shelden, focusing on accelerated innovation of built ecologies through the development of next generation building systems. 

The Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS)
Funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Innovation.  Director Dan Walczyk, focusing on the development of system-level solutions for advanced manufacturing challenges across a broad array of industries.  

The Center for Future Energy Systems (CFES)
Funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Innovation.  Director Jian Sun, focusing  on fundamental and applied research to accelerate the development of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies.  

The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA)
A National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.  Director Robert Karlicek, focusing on research leading to smart lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties that will change the way society uses lighting. 

The Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC)
Director Mark Shephard, focusing on the development and application of the technologies necessary to enable multiscale computational engineering.