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.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Presidents of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Notable alumni
Business
- John J. Albright (1868), businessman and philanthropist
- Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com
- Gary Burrell, founder of Garmin
- Nicholas M. Donofrio (1967), director of research at IBM, trustee
- Joseph Gerber (1947), founder of Gerber Scientific[1]
- William Gurley (1839), and Lewis E. Gurley, brothers and founders of Gurley Precision Instruments.
- J. Erik Jonsson (1922), co-founder and former president of Texas Instruments Incorporated, and mayor of Dallas
- John M. Lockhart (1887), industrialist, donated $5 million under the name "Builder" (for the Class of '87 Gym and four other buildings)[2]
- William Mow (1959), founded apparel maker Bugle Boy in 1977.
- Sean O’Sullivan (1985), along with three other RPI students (Laszlo Bardos, Andrew Dressel, and John Haller), founded MapInfo on the RPI campus
- Curtis Priem (1982), NVIDIA co-founder; architect of the first PC video processor and many that followed; trustee
- John Rigas, co-founder of Adelphia Communications
- Sheldon Roberts (1948), member of the "traitorous eight" who created Silicon Valley; co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Amelco
- Bert Sutherland, manager of Sun Microsystems laboratories
- 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
Humanities, arts, and social sciences
- Charles Amos Cummings, architect and historian
- Bobby Farrelly, film director, writer and producer, Dumb and Dumber, Shallow Hal, There's Something About Mary
- Fitzedward Hall (1901), Orientalist
- David Hayter, Canadian voice actor
- Ned Herrmann, creator of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
- Erin Hoffman, game designer and author
- James Flaherty, actor and stand-up comedian
- Tyler Hinman (2006), multiple winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament[3]
- Joe Howard, Jr. (1857), reporter and war correspondent
- Jennifer & Kevin McCoy (1994), artists who both graduated from RPI[4]
- Meera Nanda, writer, philosopher of science, and faculty Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- Mary Pride (1974), Christian author
- Samuel Wells Williams, 19th century linguist
Invention and engineering
- Truman H. Aldrich (1869), civil engineer, also briefly a US State Representative
- Garnet Baltimore (1881), engineer and Garnet D. Baltimore Lecture Series honoree
- Peter Bohlin 1958, architect of the famous 5th Avenue Apple Store
- Virgil Bogue (1868), chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad and Western Maryland Railway constructions
- 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; the "father of modern TV"
- Theodore N. Ely (1896), railroad executive
- George W. G. Ferris (1881), inventor of the Ferris wheel
- 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), "father of the microprocessor"
- 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
- Ralph Peck (1937), geotechnical engineer
- Emil H. Praeger (1915), designer of Shea and Dodger Stadiums, Tappan Zee Bridge, Arecibo Telescope and a renovation of the White House[5]
- George Brooke Roberts (1849), civil engineer, 5th president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
- Washington Roebling (1857), chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge
- 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 email system
- David L. Noble (1940), inventor of the floppy disk
- Alan M. Voorhees (1947), city planner and traffic forecaster; former Rensselaer trustee; 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[6][7]
- John F. Schenck (1961), physician and co-inventor of the first clinically viable high-field MRI scanner at General Electric[8]
Military
- Harold J. Greene (1980), major general, U.S. Army, highest ranking casualty of War in Afghanistan
- 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
- Thomas R. Sargent III, vice admiral, U.S. Coast Guard; Vice Commandant 1970-1974
- Walter L. Sharp, General, US Army; Commander of United Nations Command, Commander of ROK-US Combined Forces Command and Commander of U.S. Forces Korea (2008-2011); former Director of the Joint Staff (2005-2008)
- 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; former Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; trustee
Politics and public service
- J. Frank Aldrich (1877), United States Representative from Illinois
- Truman H. Aldrich (1869), United States Representative from Alabama (1896–1897)
- Myles Brand (1964), president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
- George R. Dennis, 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, 1981-1985
- Richard Franchot US Representative from New York (1861–1863)
- Arthur J. Gajarsa (1962), federal judge, trustee
- Naeem Gheriany, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Libya
- Thomas J. Haas (1983), current president of Grand Valley State University[9]
- John Hammond, US Representative from New York, iron manufacturer[10]
- Walter F. Lineberger, US State Representative of California, 1917-1921
- Richard Linn (1965), federal judge
- George Low, manager of NASA's Apollo 11 project; President of RPI (1976-1984); namesake of RPI's Low Center for Industrial Innovation
- 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[11]
- G. Nagesh Rao (2002), Chief Technologist & Entrepreneur in Residence at US Small Business Administration & 2016 USA Eisenhower Fellow, 2013–Present
- 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), first president of the American Society for Engineering Education[12]
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
- Alan Fowler (1951), physicist, NAS member
- 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
- Ivar Giaever (1964), shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries on tunneling phenomena in semiconductors; Institute Professor of Science
- Morton Gurtin (1955), mathematical physicist
- James Hall (1832), geologist and paleontologist
- Jon Hall (1977), Executive Director of Linux International
- Peter E. Hart, group senior vice president of the Ricoh company; artificial intelligence innovator
- Edward C. Harwood, economist
- Hermann A. Haus (1951), optical communications researcher, pioneer of quantum optics
- Eben Norton Horsford (1838), "father of food science" and author, discovered baking powder
- Douglass Houghton (1829), Michigan's first state geologist; namesake of a Michigan city, county, and lake
- Robert Kennicutt (1973), astronomer
- Richard Klein (1966), astronomer
- David Korn (1965), computer programmer who created the Korn Shell
- Richard Mastracchio (1987), NASA astronaut, flew on STS-106 Atlantis, 2000
- Mark T. Maybury, Chief Scientist of US Air Force
- Pat Munday (1981), environmentalist
- Heidi Jo Newberg (1987), professor of astrophysics at RPI
- James "Kibo" Parry, satirist, Usenet personality, and typeface designer
- Henry Augustus Rowland (1870), first president of the American Physical Society; Johns Hopkins University's first physics professor
- Mark Russinovich, Windows software engineer
- Peter Schwartz, futurist and writer
- Robert C. Seacord, computer security specialist and author
- Kip Siegel (1948), physicist, professor of physics at the University of Michigan
- Andrew Sears, computer science professor at UMBC
- Marlan Scully, physcist known for work in quantum optics
- George Soper (1895), managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, later the American Cancer Society
- Chauncey Starr (1935), pioneer in nuclear energy
- John L. Swigert Jr. (1965), astronaut, member of Apollo 13; recipient of 1970 Presidential Medal of Freedom; State Representative for Colorado, 1982
- Dennis Tito (1964), 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, NASA astronaut
- Chris Wysopal, also known as Weld Pond (1987), member of the hacker think tank L0pht Heavy Industries, founder of Veracode
Sports
- John Carter (1986), NHL forward 1986–1993
- Kevin Constantine (1980), Head Coach of Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League; NHL Head Coach of the San Jose Sharks 1993–1995, the Pittsburgh Penguins 1997–2000, and the New Jersey Devils 2001–2002; recipient of USA Hockey's Distinguished Achievement Award
- Erin Crocker (2003), NASCAR driver
- Don Cutts (1974), NHL and International Hockey League (1945–2001) goaltender 1974–1984
- Andrew Franks (2014), NFL placekicker for the Miami Dolphins since 2015.
- Tim Friday (1985), NHL defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings 1985–1986
- Ken Hammond (1985), NHL defenseman 1985–1993
- Michael E. Herman (1962), President of the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball 1992–2000
- Joé Juneau (1991), NHL forward 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
- Jason Kasdorf (2016), NHL goalie for the Buffalo Sabres since 2016.
- Neil Little (1994), NHL Scout for the Philadelphia Flyers organization; Goaltending Coach for the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League 2007–2008; AHL goaltender 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 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 2003–2008
- Kraig Nienhuis (1985), NHL forward 1985–1988
- Adam Oates (1985), Co-Head Coach of the New Jersey Devils; Head Coach of the Washington Capitals 2012-2014; Assistant Coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning 2009–2010 and the New Jersey Devils 2010–2012; NHL forward 1985–2004; played in the 1991-1994 and 1997 NHL All Star Games; inducted into the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 2012
- Matt Patricia (1996), Defensive Coordinator for the New England Patriots
- Brian Pothier (2000), NHL defenseman 2000–2010
- Daren Puppa (1985), NHL goaltender 1985–2000, played in the 1990 NHL All Star Game
- Brad Tapper (2000), NHL forward for the Atlanta Thrashers 2000–2003
- Graeme Townshend (1989), Player Development Coordinator for the San Jose Sharks, NHL forward 1990–1994
Faculty
Past
Current
External links and references
- ↑ http://www.rpi.edu/about/hof/gerber.html
- ↑ "J.M. Lockhart Gave R.P.I. Millions Anonymously", New York Times, June 8, 1939
- ↑ http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=1630&setappvar=page(1)
- ↑ http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/mccoy06/mccoy06_bio.pdf
- ↑ "Emil H. Praeger". RPI: Alumni Hall of Fame: Emil H. Praeger. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ↑ "Robert H. Widmer". RPI Alumni Hall of Fame: Robert H. Widmer. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ↑ Martin, Douglas (2 July 2011). "Robert H. Widmer, Designer of Military Aircraft, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ↑ Cline HE, Schenck JF, Hynynen K, Watkins RD, Souza SP, Jolesz FA (1992). "MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery". J Comput Assist Tomogr 16 (6): 956–65. doi:10.1097/00004728-199211000-00024. PMID 1430448.
- ↑ http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/news/newsletter/ewp_fall06.pdf
- ↑ http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000129
- ↑ http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000461
- ↑ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9890%28189509%2F10%292%3A9%2F10%3C253%3ABDVW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage
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