List of Iowa State University alumni

Main article: Iowa State University

Alumni

• Bryan M. Walker, Telecommunications Tax and Audit specialist, Kiesling Associates
• Michael J. Volkens, Fashion Model, GQ
• Katharine G. Abraham, Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• William W. Adams, CEO, Armstrong World Industries
• Roberta Green Ahmanson, author and philanthropist
• Sawsan Al-Sharifi, Iraqi Minister of Agriculture
• Clayton Anderson, NASA astronaut; first Iowa Stater in space
• Lloyd Lee Anderson, noted animal science researcher
• Terry Anderson, former Middle East Bureau Chief, The Associated Press
• Jane Armstrong-Byrne, first female vice president of a U.S. Fortune 500 Company
• James Baker, Chairman and CEO, Fuji Xerox’s Palo Alto Laboratory
• Steve Bales, famous NASA engineer
• Robert L. Bartley, editor of Wall Street Journal opinion page for over 30 years, vice-president of Dow Jones & Company, Pulitzer Prize winner, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Robert Baur, Chief Global Economist, Principal Global Investors
• John R. Bauer, CEO, Tropical Nut and Fruit
• Aureliano Brandolini, Italian agronomist and development cooperation scholar
• Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista, former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of Economics
• Bennett Bean, studio potter
• Berkley Bedell, United States Congressman
• Bert Benjamin, inventor of the Farmall tractor, the first tractor that could plow and cultivate row crops
• Ezra Taft Benson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Victoria L. Bernhardt, noted author on public education
• Clifford E. Berry, co-developer of the first electronic digital computer (see Atanasoff–Berry Computer)
• Henry Otley Beyer, father of Philippine anthropology and ethnology
• Georgina Jinkinson Bonesteel, author and television show host
• Bruce Braley, U.S. representative, Iowa's 1st district
• William R. Brinkley, Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
• Donna J. Brogan, noted researcher in biostatistics and public health
• Henry J. Brunnier, soil and structural engineer instrumental in rebuilding San Francisco skyline after 1906 earthquake
• Arthur E. Bryson, Jr., the “father of modern optimal control theory”
• Wesley Buchele, inventor, round hay baler
• Griffith Buck, alumnus and professor of horticulture; developed nearly 100 new varieties of roses
• Kelly Burke, celebrity trainer/talk show host
• Stephanie Burns, president and CEO, Dow Corning
• Carlyle G. Caldwell, Chairman, National Starch and Chemical Corporation
• David P. Campbell, creator of Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory
• Garrey E. Carruthers, Governor of New Mexico (1987–1991); President and CEO of Cimarron Health Plan
• George Washington Carver, first African-American student and faculty member; plant scientist, inventor of peanut butter, musician, artist, orator, athletic trainer and student leader.
• Mark Carr, Federal Reserve analyst.
• Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of women's suffrage movement and founder of the League of Women Voters
• Lauro Cavazos, former U.S. Secretary of Education
• Clarence Chamberlin, aviation pioneer
• Vance D. Coffman, retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin
• William Vernon Cone, professor of neurosurgery, McGill University, Canada
• Larry D. Conrad, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Ann K. Cooper, foreign correspondent, National Public Radio
• John D. 'Jack' Cosgrove, retired President, Rockwell-Collins
• Nancy Cox, Chief of Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 2006 U.S. Federal Employee of the Year
• John J. Croat, inventor of high performance permanent magnets
• Michael M. Crow, President, Arizona State University
• Isaac J. Bean, Stealer for best friends
• Eric Crowell, CEO, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Iowa Lutheran Hospital, and Blank Children’s Hospital
• Chris Cunha, Management Information Systems pioneer
• Lawrence F. Dahl (Ph.D. 1956), professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Esther C. (Peterson) Daniel, noted chemist and cancer research pioneer
• Parviz Davoodi, First Vice President of Iran
• Mildred Day, created recipe for Rice Krispies Treats
• Vine Deloria, Jr., Native American rights leader and author
• Deborah A. Diersen-Schade, physiologist noted for work on lipid nutrition of infants and omega-3 fatty acids
• Don A. Dillman, developer of modern mail, telephone and Internet survey methods
• Bailey Doodad, producer of The Colbert Report
• David J. Drury, CEO, Principal Financial Group
• Charles W. "Chuck" Durham, founder of global architecture and engineering firm HDR, Inc. and noted philanthropist.
• Edward M. Walsh Founder of the University of Limerick
• Lawrence D. Downing, President of the Sierra Club
• Ed Droste, CEO and founder of Provident Management Corporation, Provident Advertising and Marketing, Provident Merchandising, and Provident Creative, and cofounder of Hooters Restaurants, Adobe Gila's, Pete & Shorty's, and Splitsville.
• Michael J. Dubes, President of Conseco Insurance Group
• H.H. Dukes, author, “Duke’s Veterinary Physiology,” one of the longest continually published texts in veterinary medicine
• Kay Eliason, construction manager, Great Alaska Pipeline
• Jacquelyn Jeras Ellis, weather anchor, CNN
• Eugene B. Ely, pioneering aviator who made the first take-off and landing of an aircraft from a ship.
• Bob O. Evans, computer pioneer and National Medal of Technology recipient
• Velmer A. Fassel, creator of inductively coupled plasma for mass spectrometry
• Lyle D. Feisel, former dean, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Binghamton University and former president of American Society for Engineering Education
• Roberta Fenlon, first female president of California Medical Association
• Whitworth Ferguson, founder of Ferguson Electric (for whom Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium in New York is named)
• Charles Lester Fous III, President and Managing General Partner of CLF-IGRY, renowned tympanic membrane research scientist and animal rights advocate.
• William R. Galloway, Senior Vice President, DuPont
• John Garang, former commander of SPLA and former vice president of Sudan
• Roswell Garst, established one of the world’s leading seed corn companies; hosted Nikita Khrushchev on his farm in 1959
• Mark Gedlinske, Chief Information Officer, Data Recognition Corp.
• Russell Gerdin, Chairman and CEO, Heartland Express
• James Lorraine Geddes, American Civil War general; Acting University President in 1875-77.
• Byron E. Grote, CFO, British Petroleum
• John Gustafson, inventor of Gustafson's law of parallel computing
• Michael Hagedorn, executive vice president and chief financial officer, UMB Financial Corp.
• James E. Halligan, former president, Oklahoma State University
• Niels Ebbesen Hansen, Head of the Horticultural Department at South Dakota State University
• Tom Harkin, current United States Senator from Iowa and author of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
• Isaiah "Ike" Harris, vice president and CFO, BellSouth
• John Hayes, Woods Hole scientist known for research on the Earth's carbon cycle
• Charles E. Herbert, founder of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck (HLKB) Architecture
• Robert J. Hermann, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force and Director of the National Reconnaissance Office
• Bourke B. Hickenlooper, Governor of Iowa (1943–1944) and longtime U.S. Senator (1945–1969)
• Darleane C. Hoffman, winner of 1997 National Medal of Science
• Stanley M. Howe, Chairman and CEO of HON Industries
• Harold Hume, noted horticulturalist and president of the University of Florida
• Dwight Ink, U.S. presidential advisor who worked with every administration from Eisenhower to Reagan; Director, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; Administrator, General Services Administration
• Judson G. Isebrands, noted researcher in forestry science and climate change effects on northern forests
• Allen Jacobson, President and Chairman of 3M
• James T. Johnson, President, Gulfstream Aerospace
• David Joos, President and CEO, CMS Energy
• Murray Joslin, pioneer on nuclear energy, vice-president of Commonwealth Edison
• Robert W. Jugenheimer, renowned geneticist noted for work on corn production
• Jerry Junkins, Chairman and CEO of Texas Instruments
• Rick Jurgens, CEO, Hy-Vee
• Antti Herlin, fourth chairman of the Board of KONE Corporation; richest man in Finland
• Anthony Infusino, director of ticket sales, Chicago Shamrox (National Lacrosse League)
• Porter M. Jarvis, Chairman of the Board, Swift & Company
• Charles B. Knapp, former president, University of Georgia
• Jerry Knight, Washington Post business writer
• Edward F. Knipling, noted entomologist and World Food Prize winner
• Tom Knudson, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes (1985, 1992)
• Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Robert E. Kowalski, best-selling medical author
• Robert Krasa, former Vice-President of Dow Corning, former President and CEO of Haworth, Inc.
• Allan Landon, Chairman and CEO, Bank of Hawaii
• Donald N. Langenberg, noted superconductivity expert; former director of National Science Foundation and chancellor of University System of Maryland
• Tom Latham, current United States Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district
• Dave Loebsack, U.S. representative, Iowa's 2nd district
• Jay L. Lush, pioneer of modern animal breeding
• Norma "Duffy" Lyon, sculptor and butter artist
• Charles Manatt, former chair of Democratic National Committee, co-chair of 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
• Samuel Massie, noted scientist, first African American to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy
• Richard McCormick, President and CEO of US West
• Ed McCracken, former Chairman and CEO of Silicon Graphics (SGI)
• Thomas H. MacDonald, Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, 1919–1953
• Elwood Mead, Commissioner of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation during construction of the Hoover Dam, and influential draftsman of Western water codes (and for whom Lake Mead is named)
• Sloan McGinty, pioneer in field of computer-mediated communication
• Mike McBreen, COO, Nike, Inc.
• Conde McCullough, noted bridge architect
• Sean McLaughlin, former Today Show weather anchor
• Otto N. Miller, Chairman and CEO, Standard Oil
• Dan Mozena US Ambassador to Angola
• Olive Mugenda, vice chancellor, Kenyatta University and first female vice chancellor of a public university in Kenya
• Robert P. Multhauf, director, Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Raj Nathan, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Sybase Inc.
• Dennis Nef, Vice President for Academic Affairs, California State University, Fresno
• Michael T. Nettles, vice president, Educational Testing Service; executive director, United Negro College Fund
• Jackie Norris, Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama
• Bill Northey, Secretary of Agriculture for the State of Iowa
• Diana G. Oblinger, President and CEO, Educause
• James L. Oblinger, Chancellor, North Carolina State University
• Fred W. O'Green, Chairman and CEO, Litton Industries
• James Overdahl, Chief Economist, Securities and Exchange Commission; head of SEC's Office of Economic Analysis
• Rose Marie Pangborn, noted sensory scientist
• Frederick Douglas Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute and founder of the United Negro College Fund
• Sally Pederson, former Lieutenant Governor of Iowa
• Kevin L. Petersen, Director of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
• John K. Peterson, President of Alliant Energy
• Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Archivist of the United States (1993–1995)
• Jon Pickard, architect, Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• J. Roger Porter, noted microbiologist (for whom the J. Roger Porter Award in microbiology is named)
• James J. Renier, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell
• Jonathan D. Rich, CEO, Momentive, Inc.
• Ann Madden Rice, CEO, UC Davis Medical Center
• Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State
• Len C. Rodman, Chairman and CEO, Black & Veatch
• Christine Romans, CNN financial reporter
• Bruce D. Roth, inventor of cholesterol-reducing drug Lipitor; Vice President of Chemistry, Pfizer
• Frederick B. Rudolph, Executive Director, Institute of Biosciences & Bioengineering, Rice University
• John D. Ryder, president, Institute of Radio Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Arend J. Sandbulte, Chairman and CEO, Minnesota Power
• Paul Shirley, former blogger and author for ESPN.com
• Hugh Sidey, journalist for Life and Time magazines covering Presidents Eisenhower through Clinton and Washington insider
• Mallory Snyder, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, actress, MTV's The Real World.
• Lauren Soth, winner of 1956 Pulitzer Prize
• Edward V. Sayre, creator of nuclear technique for archaeological research
• Robert W. Sennewald, Commanding General, United States Army Forces Command
• Graham Spanier, President, Pennsylvania State University
• Scott Stanzel, deputy press secretary, The White House
• Russell Stover, founder of Russell Stover Candies (attended year and a half but did not graduate)
• George O. Strawn, Chief Information Officer, National Science Foundation
• Rao Y. Surampalli, longtime Engineering Director of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 2001 National Federal Engineer of the Year
• Sehat Sutardja, founder and CEO of Marvell Technology Group
• John C. Tannehill, pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics
• Dale A. Anderson, pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics
• Lee Teng-hui, former President of Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Lois Tiffany, national fungi expert
• G. Malcolm Trout, noted food scientist and creator of homogenized milk
• Robert E. Uhrig, Distinguished Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Douglas E. Van Houweling, President and CEO of Internet2
• Darin J. Van Holland, Programmer Analyst at AEGON
• Stephen R. Walker, television show host
• Henry Agard Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, United States Secretary of Commerce, Vice President of the United States, and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred
• Henry C. Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, 1921–1924
• W. Lynn Watney, noted expert on mid-continent U.S. geology
• John H. Weaver, noted expert on nanostructures
• Edwin J. Wellhausen, founder of Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center
• Harley Wilhem, co-inventor, process for large-scale uranium production
• Carol Wilson, operatic soprano
• Dreck S. Wilson, historian of African-American architects
• James Wilson, professor who later became U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
• Thomas Whitney, inventor, pocket calculator
• Thornton "T" Arnold Wilson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Boeing Company
• Harland G. Wood, past president, International Union of Biochemistry
• Randall Wreghitt, Broadway producer
• Deloris R. Wright, noted transfer pricing expert
• Keith R. Yamamoto, noted expert on steroid hormones; Executive Vice Dean, UC San Francisco School of Medicine
• Earl G. Yarbrough, current president of Savannah State University
• John F. Yardley, president, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co.
• Elizabeth Degarmo Yetley, lead scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Ralph G. Yount, president, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
• Sukumar Chakavarthy, Founder, Metacomp Technologies, Inc.
• Neil Kacena, Vice President, Advance Development Programs Deputy Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
• Vijaya Shankar, former Director of Computational Sciences
• Donald F. Young, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor, Iowa State University
• F. Ronald (Ron) Bailey, Director, Aerophysics Directorate NASA AMES
• Paul Kutler, Deputy Director, Information Sciences and Technology NASA Ames
• Joseph L. Steger, Professor, University of California, Davis
• Mike Polich, performance analyst at Principal Global Investors

Notable faculty and administrators

• John Vincent Atanasoff (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), inventor of the first electronic digital computer
• Charles Harvey Brown, founder of Association of College and Research Libraries
• Herbert Fromm, biochemist renowned for his work on enzymes
• Wayne Arthur Fuller, statistician noted for his textbooks on econometrics and survey sampling
• Henry Gilman, known as the "father of organometallic chemistry"
• Helen LeBaron Hilton, national leader for families’ and women’s rights
• Oscar Kempthorne, Distinguished Professor of Science and Humanities at Iowa State University, Professor of Statistics, statistician and geneticist
• Allan Mackintosh, noted solid-state physicist and director of NORDITA
• Elsa Murano, President, Texas A&M University
• Christian Petersen, sculptor, whose works appear around campus
• Jane Smiley, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
• George W. Snedecor, prominent statistician and pioneer of modern applied statistics in the U.S. (for whom the Snedecor Award in statistics is named)
• Frank H. Spedding, noted Ames Laboratory chemist (for whom the Spedding Prize is named)
• Charles H. Stange, famous veterinarian (for whom the Stange Award in veterinary medicine is named)
• Theodore Schultz, the 1979 winner (jointly with William Arthur Lewis) of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
• Grandmaster Yong Chin Pak, instructs taekwondo, hapkido, and judo

Accomplished athletes and coaches

• Chris Anthony, wide receiver for the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League
• Beth Bader, LPGA golfer
• Glen Brand, Olympic gold medalist, wrestling
• Mike Born, former basketball player and IBA player and coach
• Mack Brown, head coach at University of Texas (at Iowa State 1979-1982)
• Mike Busch, former Major League Baseball player
• Pete Carroll, head coach at University of Southern California (at Iowa State 1978)
• Kelvin Cato, former NBA player
• Gene Chizik, head coach at Auburn University
• John Cooper, football captain and MVP and later head football coach at Ohio State
• Troy Davis, 1996 Heisman Trophy runner-up
• Larry Eustachy, former men's basketball coach, 2000 NCAA National Coach of the Year, led team to school record 32 in the 1999–2000 season and trip to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, 2000 Big 12 Conference Tournament Champion and 2001 Big 12 Regular Season Champion.
• Tim Floyd, former men's basketball coach with 81-49 record and only coach with three consecutive 20-win seasons.
• Ron Galimore, first black U.S. Olympic gymnast
• Dan Gable, three-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1972 Olympic gold medalist who later became wrestling coach at the University of Iowa
• Weylan Harding, Arena Football League head coach and former player
• Fred Hoiberg, former NBA player and current assistant general manager, NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves
• Jeff Hornacek, retired NBA all-star
• Kevin Jackson, Olympic gold medalist, wrestling
• Johnny Majors, renowned football head coach (at Iowa State 1968-1972)
• Keith "Lefty" Moore, CBA coach and former player
• Nawal El Moutawakel, first African woman and first Muslim woman to earn Olympic gold; first woman to chair International Olympic Committee Commission.
• Mike Myers, Major League Baseball player
• Yobes Ondieki, first man to run 10,000 meters in under 27 minutes
• Johnny Orr, the most successful coach in Iowa State and Michigan men's basketball history
• Ben Peterson, Olympic gold medalist, wrestling
• Darryl Peterson, NCAA all American and former professional wrestler
• Cael Sanderson, four-time undefeated NCAA wrestling champion who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Cael is formerly the University's Head Coach of Wrestling.
• Jack Trice, football player and pioneer for minorities in sports, died of injuries sustained in a football game
• Jim Walewander, former Major League Baseball player
• MMA Fighters: Mike Van Arsdale, Justin Eilers
• NBA Players: Zaid Abdul-Aziz (born Donald A. Smith), Victor Alexander, Bill Cain, Kelvin Cato, Marcus Fizer, Jeff Grayer, Fred Hoiberg, Jeff Hornacek, Loren Meyer, Paul Shirley, Barry Stevens, Jamaal Tinsley, Jackson Vroman, Will Blalock and Dedric Willoughby
• NFL Players: David Archer, Mike Banks, Richard Barker, Matt Blair, Aaron Brandt, Jordan Carstens, Todd Doxzon, Dennis Gibson, Troy Davis, Tim Dobbins, Reggie Hayward, Ennis Haywood, LaMarcus Hicks, Ellis Hobbs, Keith Krepfle, Nick Leaders, J.J. Moses, James Reed, Bruce Reimers, Marcus Robertson, Sage Rosenfels, Oliver Ross, Keith Sims, Tom Vaughn, Seneca Wallace, Chris Washington, Tom Watkins, Eugene Williams, and Tony Yelk

Presidents of Iowa State University

Main article: Presidents of Iowa State University