List of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute people

This is a list of people associated with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, including Presidents, Institute leaders, Trustees, Alumni, Professors and Researchers. For a list of the highest elected student leaders at RPI see List of RPI Grand Marshals.

Presidents of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Name	Years	Previous Position
•  Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford	(1824–1828)	Pastor of the Lansingburgh and Waterford Church.
•  John Chester	(1828–1829)	Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany.
•  Eliphalet Nott	(1829–1845)	Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Albany.
•  Nathan S.S. Beman	(1845–1865)	Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Troy.
•  John F. Winslow	(1865–1868)	Businessman and iron manufacturer.
•  Thomas C. Brinsmade	1868	Troy physician.
•  James Forsyth	(1868–1886)	Attorney and Banker.
•  William Gurley, 1839	(1886–1887) (acting)	Businessman, co-founder of Gurley Precision Instruments
•  Albert E. Powers	(1887–1888) (acting)	Banker
•  John H. Peck	(1888–1901)	Attorney and judge.
•  Palmer C. Ricketts	(1901–1934)	Professor of rational and technical mechanics and academic director of RPI.
•  William O. Hotchkiss	(1935–1943)	President of the Michigan Mining School.
•  Livingston W. Houston, 1913	(1943–1958)	President and board chairman of the Ludlow Valve Manufacturing Co. and treasurer of RPI.
•  Richard G. Folsom	(1958–1971)	Director of the Engineering Research Institute at the University of Michigan.
•  Richard J. Grosh	(1971–1976)	Dean of the Schools of Engineering at Purdue University.
•  George M. Low, 1948	(1976–1984)	Deputy administrator of NASA.
•  Daniel Berg	(1984–1985)(acting) (1985–1987)	Vice-President and Provost of RPI.
•  Stanley I. Landgraf,1946	(1988–1988)(acting)	Chairman of Mohasco Corporation
•  Roland W. Schmitt	(1988–1993)	Senior vice president for science and technology for General Electric Co.
•  R. Byron Pipes	(1993–1998)	Provost and professor of engineering at the University of Delaware.
•  Cornelius J. Barton, 1958	(1998–1999)(acting)	CEO of Dorr-Oliver Incorporated, a chemical engineering firm
•  Shirley Ann Jackson	(1999–	Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

President's Cabinet & Academic Leadership

Cabinet Position	Current Holder	Previous Holder
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Academic Officer	Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson	Cornelius J. Barton
Provost	Dr. Robert Palazzo	Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson
Secretary of the Institute and General Counsel	Mr. Charles E. Carletta
Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President for Policy and Planning	vacant	Laban Coblentz
Vice President, Research	Dr. Francine Berman
Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer	Ms. Virginia Gregg
Vice President for Information Services and Technology and Chief Information Officer	Mr. John Kolb
Vice President and Dean, Rensselaer Hartford Campus	Dr. John Minasian
Vice President, Enrollment, and Dean, Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions	Dr. Paul Marthers	Dr. James Nondorf
Vice President, Human Resources	Mr. Curtis Powell
Vice President, Administration	Mr. Claude Rounds
Vice President, Student Life	Dr. Timothy Sams	Dr. Eddie Ade Knowles
Vice President, Strategic Communications and External Relations	Mr. William Walker
Vice President for Institute Advancement	Brenda Wilson-Hale, J.D.	Dr. Robert Slesinger
Academic Dean Position	Current Holder	Previous Holder
Architecture	Dr. Evan Douglis
Engineering	Dr. David Rosowsky	Dr. Timothy Wei
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences	Dr. Mary Simoni	Dr. Wayne Grey
Lally School of Management & Technology	Dr. Thomas Begley
Science	Dr. Laurie Leshin	Dr. David Spooner

Board of Trustees

Name	! Trustee Position	External Position
The Honorable Arthur J. Gajarsa ’62	Chairman	Judge, 6th Circuit, Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
Ronald J. Zlatoper USN (Ret.) ’63	Vice-Chairman	Retired Admiral, United States Navy
Paula Loring Simon '68	Secretary
Cornelius J. Barton ’58	Active
Thomas R. Baruch ’60	Active
John H. Broadbent Jr. ’59	Active
George Campbell Jr.	Active
John W. Carr ’77	Active
Gary T. DiCamillo ’73	Active
Wanda Denson-Low ’78	Active
Nicholas M. Donofrio ’67	Active
Arthur F. Golden ’66	Active
Michael E. Herman ’62	Active
David M. Hirsch ’65	Active
Thomas N. Iovino ’73	Active
John E. Kelly III ’78	Active
Jeffrey L. Kodosky ’70 B.S.	Active
Mark M. Little ’82	Active
William L. Meaney ’82	Active
Francis L. McKone’63	Active
Nancy S. Mueller	Active
Curtis R. Priem ’82	Active
Janet C. Rutledge ’83	Active
Linda S. Sanford ’75	Active
Paul J. Severino ’69	Active
Jackson P. Tai ’72	Active
G. Robert Tod ’61	Active
The Honorable Harry J. Tutunjian (ex officio)	Active, Mayor
Edward J. Zander ’68	Active

Notable alumni

Main category: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni

Business

• Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com.
• Scott A. Bibaud, Senior Vice President of Broadcom Corporation.
• Gary Burrell, founder of Garmin.
• Bruce Carbonari, President of Fortune Brands, CEO from January 2008
• James Crowe, (1972), co-founder and current CEO of Level 3 Communications. [1]
• Nicholas M. Donofrio, (1967), director of research at IBM, trustee.
• J. Erik Jonsson, (1922), co-founder and former president of Texas Instruments Incorporated, and mayor of Dallas.
• Joseph Gerber, (1947), founder of Gerber Scientific.[2]
• William Gurley, (1839), and Lewis E. Gurley, brothers and founders of Gurley Precision Instruments.
• George Knapp, (1876), industrialist, founder of the Union Carbide Company.
• John M. Lockhart, (1887), industrialist, donated $5 million under the name "Builder" (for the Class of '87 Gym and four other buildings)
• William Mow, (1959) Founded apparel maker Bugle Boy in 1977.
• Curtis Priem, (1982) NVIDIA co-founder, architect of first PC Video Processor, and many that followed, trustee.
• Sheldon Roberts, (1948), member of the Traitorous Eight that created Silicon Valley; co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Amelco.
• John Rigas, co-founder of Adelphia Communications.
• Paul Severino, (1969), founder and CEO of Wellfleet Communications. The Severino Center at the Lally school is named for him.
• Sean O’Sullivan, (1985), along with three other RPI students (Laszlo Bardos, Andrew Dressel, and John Haller) founded MapInfo on the RPI campus.
• Bert Sutherland, manager of Sun Microsystems laboratories.
• Robert O. Swanson, (1958), retired executive vice president and director of Mobil Oil Corporation.
• William H. Wiley (1866), Civil War artillery commander, co-founder of publisher John Wiley and Sons, and US State Representative.
• Edward Zander, former CEO of Motorola.
• Ravi Gopinath (1994), CEO of Geometric Software.
• Schwark Satyavolu (1997), Co-Founder & President of BillShrink, Inc.
• Ferran Soriano, President of Spanair.

Humanities, arts, and social sciences

• Bobby Farrelly, director, writer and producer of such films as Dumb and Dumber, Shallow Hal and There's Something About Mary
• Charles Amos Cummings, architect and historian
• Fitzedward Hall, (1901), American Orientalist
• David Hayter, Canadian Voice Actor
• Ned Herrmann, creator of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
• James Flaherty, actor and stand-up comedian.
• Joe Howard, Jr., (1857), reporter and war correspondent
• Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, (1994), artists who both graduated from RPI.[3]
• Jennifer Seng, artist of the comic strip The Boondocks.
• Mary Pride, (1974), Christian author
• Meera Nanda, writer, philosopher of science, and faculty Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• Samuel Wells Williams, 19th century linguist
• Tyler Hinman, (2006), multiple winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.[4]

Invention and Engineering

• Truman H. Aldrich, (1869), civil engineer, also briefly a US State Representative
• George S. Ansell: President of the Colorado School of Mines
• Garnet Baltimore, (1881), engineer and Garnet D. Baltimore Lecture Series honoree.
• Virgil Bogue, (1868), chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad and Western Maryland Railway constructions
• Milton Brumer, (1923), chief engineer for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and George Washington Bridges in NYC.
• Leffert L. Buck, (1968), civil engineer and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures, including the Williamsburg Bridge in NYC.
• Alexander Cassatt, (1859), civil engineer and railroad executive.
• George Hammell Cook, (1839), State Geologist of New Jersey.
• Dr. Allen B. Dumont (1924), perfected the cathode ray tube and is considered the "father of modern TV"
• George W. G. Ferris (1881), inventor of the Ferris wheel
• Lois Graham, (1946), first woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and the first woman fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
• Frederick Grinnell, (1855), inventor of the modern fire sprinkler.
• Walter Lincoln Hawkins, (1931), African American inventor of plastic telephone wire.
• Beatrice Hicks, (1965), co-founder of Society of Women Engineers.
• Marcian Hoff, (1958), the "father of the microprocessor"
• Howard P. Isermann, (1942), developed the ultraviolet absorber that became the most effective and leading sunscreen in the world.
• J. Christopher Jaffe, (1949), leader in architectural acoustic design. Taught acoustics at the Juilliard School, City University of New York, and Rensselaer.
• Theodore Judah, (1837) visionary of the transcontinental railroad.
• Robert Loewy, (1947), Aeronautical engineer
• William Metcalf, (1858) Steel manufacturing pioneer.
• Keith D. Millis (1938), metallurgical engineer and inventor of ductile iron.
• James K. Mitchell (1954), Professor Emeritus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, lunar soil analysis
• Emil H. Praeger, (1915), designer of Shea and Dodger Stadiums, Tappan Zee Bridge, Arecibo Telescope and a renovation of the White House
• Daniel Reed, (2003), software engineer at Google, also created popular chat program naim.
• Washington Roebling, (1857), chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge.
• George Brooke Roberts, (1849), civil engineer, 5th president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
• James Salisbury, (1844), physician and inventor of the Salisbury Steak.
• Steven Sasson, (1973), engineer and inventor of the digital camera.
• Raymond Tomlinson, (1963), inventor of the electronic mail (email) system.
• Alan M. Voorhees, (1947), city planner and traffic forecaster. Also a former Rensselaer trustee and principal supporter for the Voorhees Computing Center at Rensselaer.
• John Alexander Low Waddell, (1871), civil engineer and prolific bridge builder.
• Robert H. Widmer, (1938), aeronautical engineer and designer of the B-58 supersonic bomber

Military

• Arthur L. McCullough, US Air Force general
• Ario Pardee, Jr., (1858), Commander during the civil war
• L. Scott Rice, (1980), major general, U.S. Air Force; commander of Massachusetts Air National Guard
• Arthur E. Williams, lieutenant general, US Army Corps of Engineers; Chief of Engineers in 1992
• Ronald J. Zlatoper, (1963), Chief of Naval Personnel, Battle Group Commander in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and former Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Trustee.

Politics and public service

• Truman H. Aldrich, (1869), United States Representative from Alabama (1896-1897)
• J. Frank Aldrich, (1877), United States Representative from Illinois.
• Myles Brand, (1964), president of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association).
• George R. Dennis, was a United States Senator from Maryland
• Francis Collier Draper, (1854), Toronto lawyer, Toronto Police Chief
• Thomas Farrell, (1912), Deputy Commanding General of the Manhattan Project
• Nariman Farvardin,(1983), Provost of the University of Maryland
• Lincoln D. Faurer, (1964), director of the National Security Agency and chief, Central Security Service from 1981 to 1985.
• Richard Franchot, US Representative from New York, (1861-1863).
• Arthur J. Gajarsa, (1962), Federal judge, trustee.
• Thomas J. Haas,(1983), current president of Grand Valley State University.[5]
• John Hammond, US Representative from New York, Civil War veteran and iron manufacturer [6]
• Walter F. Lineberger, US State Representative of California, 1917-1921.
• Richard Linn, (1965), Federal judge.
• George Low, manager of NASA for the Apollo 11 project. Low was president of RPI from 1976 to 1984. The Low Center for Industrial Innovation on campus is named after him.
• John Olver, (1958), Massachusetts State Representative (D), since 1991.
• Ely S. Parker, Civil War Statesman, author of Appomattox Courthouse agreement.
• Clarkson Nott Potter, (1843), US Representative from New York, surveyor, lawyer and President of the American Bar Association [7]
• Mark Shepard, (1994), Vermont State Senator
• Clement Hall Sinnickson, US State Representative from New Jersey, 1875-1879.
• Peter G. Ten Eyck, New York State Representative
• Tony Tether, (1964), director of DARPA, 2001-2009
• W. Aubrey Thomas, US State Representative from Ohio, 1900-1911.
• De Volson Wood, (1857), Helped organize the American Society for Engineering Education and held its first presidency.[8]

Science and technology

• David Adler, (1956), physicist.
• Don L. Anderson, (1955), geophysicist.
• James Curtis Booth, (1832), Chemist
• Ronald Collé, (1972), nuclear physicist at NIST.
• George Hammell Cook, (1839), state geologist of New Jersey.
• Edgar Cortright, (1949), former NASA official
• Mark Jason Dominus, Perl programmer, founder of Kibology (Kibo was also a graduate)
• Ebenezer Emmons, (1826), Geologist, author of Natural History of New York (1848) and American Geology
• Asa Fitch, (1827), entomologist.
• Claire M. Fraser, (1977), President and Director of The Institute for Genomic Research.
• Jeffrey M. Friedman, discovered leptin, a key hormone in the area of human obesity.
• Paul Furio, video game developer and musician
• Ivar Giaever, (1964), shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 for discoveries on tunneling phenomena in Semiconductors. Currently an Institute Professor of Science
• Morton Gurtin, (1955), mathematical physicist.
• James Hall, (1832), American Geologist and paleontologist
• Jon Hall, (1977), Executive Director of Linux International
• Edward C. Harwood, Economist
• Eben N. Horsford, (1838), "father of food science" and author, most famous for discovering baking powder.
• Peter E. Hart, group senior vice president of the Ricoh company and artificial intelligence innovator.
• Hermann A. Haus, (1951), optical communications researcher and pioneer of quantum optics.
• Douglass Houghton, (1829), Michigan’s first state geologist. Discovered deposits of salt, copper, and iron. A Michigan city, county, and lake honor his name.
• Robert Kennicutt, (1973), astronomer
• Richard Klein, (1966), Astronomer
• James "Kibo" Parry, satirist, Usenet personality, and typeface designer.
• David Korn, (1965), computer programmer who created the Korn Shell, a popular UNIX shell.
• Richard Mastracchio, (1987), NASA Astronaut, flew on STS-106 Atlantis (September 8-20, 2000).
• Mark T. Maybury, Chief Scientist of US Air Force
• Pat Munday,(1981), Environmentalist
• Heidi Jo Newberg, (1987), professor of astrophysics at RPI
• Henry Augustus Rowland, (1870), first president of the American Physical Society and Johns Hopkins University's first physics professor.
• Mark Russinovich, Windows software engineer.
• Peter Schwartz, Futurist and writer
• Robert C. Seacord, well known computer security specialist and author
• Andrew Sears, computer science professor at UMBC
• Marlan Scully, Physcist known for work in quantum optics
• Kip Siegel, (1948), Physicist and professor of physics at the University of Michigan
• George Soper, (1895), managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer which later became the American Cancer Society
• Chauncey Starr, (1935), pioneer in Nuclear Energy
• John L. Swigert Jr. (1965), an Air Force fighter pilot and test pilot, earned a master’s degree in aerospace science from Rensselaer’s Hartford campus in 1965 and in 1966 was selected by NASA in its 5th astronaut class. Member of Apollo 13. Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom,1970. State Representative for Colorado,1982.
• Dennis Tito, (1964), American millionaire and the first space tourist to pay for his own ticket.
• Michael Tuomey, (1835) State Geologist of South Carolina and Alabama
• Chris Welty, (1995), computer scientist.
• Gregory R. Wiseman, selected June 2009 as NASA astronaut.
• Chris Wysopal (Weld Pond) (1987), member of the hacker think tank L0pht Heavy Industries, pioneer in software vulnerability research, Founder of Veracode.

Sports

• John Carter, (1986), NHL forward from 1986 - 1993
• Erin Crocker, (2003), female NASCAR driver
• Kevin Constantine, (1980), Head Coach of HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss National League A, former NHL Head Coach of the San Jose Sharks from 1993 - 1995, the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1997 - 2000, and the New Jersey Devils from 2001 - 2002, recipient of USA Hockey's Distinguished Achievement Award
• Don Cutts, (1974), NHL and International Hockey League (1945–2001) goaltender from 1974 - 1984
• Tim Friday, (1985), NHL defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings from 1985 - 1986
• Joé Juneau, (1991), NHL forward from 1991 - 2004, selected to the 1993 NHL All-Rookie Team, top scorer at the 1992 Winter Olympics while playing for the Canadian Olympic hockey team
• Ken Hammond, (1985), NHL defenseman from 1985 - 1993
• Michael E. Herman, (1962), President of the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball from 1992 - 2000
• Neil Little, (1994), NHL Scout for the Philadelphia Flyers organization, Goaltending Coach for the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League from 2007 - 2008, AHL goaltender from 1994 - 2005, won the '97-98 and '04-05 Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms, inducted into the Philadelphia Phantoms Hall of Fame in 2006
• Andrew Lord (2008), professional ice hockey player
• Mike McPhee, (1982), NHL forward from 1983 - 1994, won the '85-86 Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens, played in the 1989 NHL All Star Game
• Matt Murley, (2002), NHL forward from 2003 - 2008
• Kraig Nienhuis, (1985), NHL forward from 1985 - 1988
• Adam Oates, (1985), Assistant Coach for the New Jersey Devils, NHL forward from 1985 - 2004, played in the 1991 - 1994 and 1997 NHL All Star Games, 6th on the NHL's all-time assists list
• Matt Patricia, (1996), Linebackers Coach for the New England Patriots
• Brian Pothier, (2000), NHL defenseman from 2000 - 2010
• Daren Puppa, (1985), NHL goaltender from 1985 - 2000, played in the 1990 NHL All Star Game
• Brad Tapper, (2000), NHL forward for the Atlanta Thrashers from 2000 - 2003
• Graeme Townshend, (1989), Player Development Coordinator for the San Jose Sharks, NHL forward from 1990 - 1994

Faculty

Main category: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty

Past

• Amos Eaton, (1824-1942) : First Professor, Geology
• George Hammell Cook, (1842-1846) : Senior Professor, Geology
• Michael James Gaffey, (1984-2001), planetary science
• Benjamin Franklin Greene, (1846-1859) : third senior professor and first director of RPI.
• James Hall, (1833-1850) : Geology and Chemistry
• Granville Hicks, (1929-1935) : English
• Matthew A. Hunter, Metallurgy, first to isolate Titanium metal
• Annette Kolodny : English
• Matthew Koss, (1990-2000): Physics
• James D. Meindl, (1986-1993) : Microelectronics
• E. Bruce Nauman, (1981-2009) : Chemical Engineering
• Stephen Van Rensselaer : Founder of the institute
• Robert Resnick, (1956-1993): Physics
• George Rickey: Architecture
• Henry Augustus Rowland, (1870?-1876) : Physics
• Lee Segel, (1960-1973) : Mathematics
• Denis Fred Simon : former Dean of Lally School
• Robert H. Wentorf, Jr., : Chemical Engineering

Current

• Robert A. Baron : Psychology
• Laura K. Boyer : Science and Technology Studies
• Selmer Bringsjord : Artificial Intelligence, Logic
• Linnda R. Caporael : Science and Technology Studies
• Gina O'Connor : Business
• Jonathan Dordick : Biochemical Engineering
• Faye Duchin : Economics
• Ron Eglash : Science and Technology Studies
• Konrad Fiałkowski : Information Technology
• Ivar Giaever : Physics Professor Emeritus
• Sharon Anderson-Gold : Science and Technology Studies
• Wayne Gray : cognitive science
• James Hendler : Computer Science
• Nikhil Koratkar : Nanotechnology
• Deborah McGuinness : Computer Science
• Don Millard : Electrical Engineering, Electronic Media
• David Musser : Computer Science
• Leik Myrabo : Spacecraft Propulsion
• Satish Nambisan : Management
• Heidi Jo Newberg : Astrophysics
• Pauline Oliveros : Music
• Sal Restivo : Science and Technology Studies
• David Rosowsky : Civil Engineering
• Neil Rolnick : Music, founder of iEAR
• Ron Sun : Cognitive Science
• Michael Shur : Semiconductor Electronics
• Boleslaw Szymanski : Computer Science
• Jeff Trinkle : Computer Science
• William A. Wallace : Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems
• Langdon Winner : Science and Technology Studies
• Houman Younessi : Systems Engineering (Hartford)
• George Xu : Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear
• Xi-Cheng Zhang : Physics and Terahertz Technology

Recent commencement speakers

• 2011 - Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States
• 2010 - Peter R. Orszag - Director of the Office of Management and Budget in President Obama’s Administration
• 2009 - Peter Schwartz ’68 - author and futurist.
• 2008 - David Gergen, former White House aide, author and Harvard professor.
• 2007 - Thomas L. Friedman, best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times.
• 2006 - Wesley Clark, former NATO commander
• 2005 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator from New York 2001 - 2009, former First Lady
• 2004 - Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and 3Com founder
• 2003 - Ben Carson, neurosurgeon
• 2002 - Dennis Tito, space tourist
• 2001 - Bill Cosby, entertainer
• 2000 - Rodney E. Slater, U.S. Secretary of Transportation 1997 – 2001
• 1999 - Bill Nye, "The Science Guy"
• 1998 - Michael E. Herman, President of the Kansas City Royals 1992 - 2000
• 1997 - Roland W. Schmitt, former President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 1996 - Peter Eio, President of LEGO Systems, Inc. 1989 - 2001
• 1995 - G. David Low, NASA astronaut
• 1994 - William Mow, Founder of Bugle Boy
• 1993 - Robert Resnick, retiring RPI Physics Professor 1956 - 1993
• 1992 - Tom Clancy, author, Co-founder of Red Storm Entertainment
• 1991 - Peter Ueberroth, head of the United States Olympic Committee and former MLB commissioner.

External links and references

• Rensselaer Alumni Association Alumni Hall of Fame
• Institute Archives and Special Collections: Commencement Speakers
• Accomplishments of Rensselaer Grads
• Institute Archives and Special Collections: Presidents of RPI
• Rensselaer Board of Trustees
• The Internet Hockey Database: Alumni Report for R.P.I.