Johannes Goebel, hired as a consultant 2001, became the RPI facility's director in 2002, six years before it opened as an arts incubator, research space and campus venue. Johannes Goebel, a champion of computer music in Germany who was hired at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001 as a consultant on what was described as the world's first university-based center for technology and the arts before being named its founding director the following year, is retiring in November.