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.''
Notable alumni
Business
- John J. Albright, businessman and philanthropist
- Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com
- Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment
- Gary Burrell, founder of Garmin
- George Lewis Capwell Cronin, businessman and founder of the Ecuadorian baseball & soccer team Club Sport Emelec
- Nicholas M. Donofrio, director of research at IBM, trustee
- Joseph Gerber, founder of Gerber Scientific
- William Gurley, and Lewis E. Gurley, brothers and founders of Gurley Precision Instruments
- J. Erik Jonsson, co-founder and former president of Texas Instruments Incorporated, and mayor of Dallas
- William Meaney, president & CEO of Iron Mountain
- William Mow, founded apparel maker Bugle Boy in 1977
- Sean O’Sullivan, along with three other RPI students, founded MapInfo on the RPI campus
- Nicholas T. Pinchuk, chairman & CEO of Snap-on
- Curtis Priem, NVIDIA co-founder; architect of the first PC video processor and many that followed; trustee
- John Rigas, co-founder of Adelphia Communications
- Sheldon Roberts, 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, 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
- Zachary Barth, video game designer, creator of Infiniminer
- Felix Bernard, composer of the Christmas song "Winter Wonderland"
- Julie Berry, children's author
- Charles Amos Cummings, architect and historian
- Warren Davis, video game designer/programmer
- David Duquette, philosophy professor
- Bobby Farrelly, film director, writer and producer, Dumb and Dumber, Shallow Hal, There's Something About Mary
- Fitzedward Hall, Orientalist
- David Hayter, Canadian voice actor
- Ned Herrmann, creator of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
- Lily Hevesh, YouTuber and domino artist
- Tyler Hinman, multiple winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
- Erin Hoffman, game designer and author
- Joe Howard, Jr., reporter and war correspondent
- Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, artists who both graduated from RPI
- Meera Nanda, writer, philosopher of science, and faculty, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- Mary Pride, Christian author
- Samuel Wells Williams, 19th-century linguist
Invention and engineering
- Truman H. Aldrich, civil engineer, also briefly a US State Representative
- B. Jayant Baliga, inventor of the insulated gate bipolar transistor
- Garnet Baltimore, first African-American engineer and Garnet D. Baltimore Lecture Series honoree
- Virgil Bogue, chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad and Western Maryland Railway constructions
- Peter Bohlin 1958, architect of the famous 5th Avenue Apple Store
- Bimal Kumar Bose, electrical engineer
- Leffert L. Buck, civil engineer and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures, including the Williamsburg Bridge in NYC
- Alexander Cassatt, civil engineer and railroad executive
- George Hammell Cook, state geologist of New Jersey
- Dr. Allen B. Dumont, perfected the cathode-ray tube; the "father of modern TV"
- Theodore N. Ely, railroad executive
- George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel
- Lois Graham, first woman to receive an engineering degree from RPI, and the first woman in the U.S. to receive a PhD in mechanical engineering
- Frederick Grinnell, inventor of the modern fire sprinkler
- Walter Lincoln Hawkins, African-American inventor of plastic telephone wire
- Beatrice Hicks, co-founder of Society of Women Engineers
- Henry Wilson Hodge, director of railroads for the American Expeditionary Force during World War I
- Marcian Hoff, "father of the microprocessor"
- Dorothy Hoffman, first woman to serve as president of any scientific society in the US, elected president of American Vacuum Society in 1974
- Frank Hursey, inventor of QuikClot
- J. Christopher Jaffe, leader in architectural acoustic design; taught acoustics at the Juilliard School, City University of New York, and Rensselaer
- Theodore Judah, visionary of the transcontinental railroad
- Robert Loewy, aeronautical engineer
- William Metcalf, steel manufacturing pioneer
- Keith D. Millis, metallurgical engineer and inventor of ductile iron
- David L. Noble, inventor of the floppy disk
- Ralph Peck, geotechnical engineer
- Emil H. Praeger, designer of Shea and Dodger Stadiums, Tappan Zee Bridge, Arecibo Telescope and a renovation of the White House
- George Brooke Roberts, civil engineer, 5th president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
- Washington Roebling, chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge
- Mortimer Rogoff, first to patent an electronic navigational chart and set up industry standards
- James Salisbury, physician and inventor of the Salisbury Steak
- Steven Sasson, engineer and inventor of the digital camera
- Robert "RJ" Scaringe, CEO & founder of Rivian
- John F. Schenck, physician and co-inventor of the first clinically viable high-field MRI scanner at General Electric
- Massood Tabib-Azar, chemical engineer
- Raymond Tomlinson, inventor of the email system
- Alan M. Voorhees, city planner and traffic forecaster; former Rensselaer trustee; principal supporter for the Voorhees Computing Center at Rensselaer
- John Alexander Low Waddell, civil engineer and prolific bridge builder
- Robert H. Widmer, aeronautical engineer and designer of the B-58 supersonic bomber
Military
- Harold J. Greene, major general, U.S. Army, highest ranking casualty of the War in Afghanistan
- William L. Haskin, U.S. Army brigadier general
- Arthur L. McCullough, U.S. Air Force general
- Ario Pardee Jr., Union Army veteran who attained the rank of brigadier general by brevet
- L. Scott Rice, 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, U.S. Army; commander of United Nations Command, commander of ROK-US Combined Forces Command and commander of U.S. Forces Korea ; former director of the Joint Staff
- Franklin Guest Smith, Union Army veteran who attained the rank of brigadier general
- Blake Wayne Van Leer, commander and captain in the U.S. Navy; led SeaBee program and led the nuclear research and power unit at McMurdo Station during Operation Deep Freeze
- Peter D. Vroom, inspector general of the U.S. Army
- Arthur E. Williams, lieutenant general, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Chief of Engineers in 1992
- Ronald J. Zlatoper, 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, U.S. representative from Illinois
- Truman H. Aldrich, U.S. representative from Alabama
- William Beidelman, Union Army second lieutenant, second mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania
- Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
- George R. Dennis, United states senator from Maryland
- Francis Collier Draper, Toronto lawyer, Toronto Police chief
- Thomas Farrell, deputy commanding general of the Manhattan Project
- Nariman Farvardin, provost of the University of Maryland
- Lincoln D. Faurer, director of the National Security Agency and chief, Central Security Service, 1981–1985
- Richard Franchot, U.S. representative from New York
- Arthur J. Gajarsa, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, trustee
- Naeem Gheriany, minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Libya
- Thomas J. Haas, current president of Grand Valley State University
- John Hammond, US representative from New York, iron manufacturer
- Walter F. Lineberger, U.S. state representative of California, 1917–1921
- Richard Linn, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- George Low, manager of NASA's Apollo 11 project; president of RPI ; namesake of RPI's Low Center for Industrial Innovation
- Hani Al-Mulki, former prime minister of Jordan
- John Olver, Massachusetts state representative since 1991
- Ely S. Parker, Civil War statesman, author of Appomattox Courthouse agreement
- Clarkson Nott Potter, U.S. representative from New York, surveyor, lawyer, and president of the American Bar Association
- Mark Shepard, Vermont state senator
- Clement Hall Sinnickson, U.S. state representative from New Jersey, 1875–1879
- Peter G. Ten Eyck, New York state representative
- Mike ter Maat, 2024 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee
- Tony Tether, director of DARPA, 2001–2009
- W. Aubrey Thomas, U.S. state representative from Ohio, 1900–1911
- De Volson Wood, first president of the American Society for Engineering Education
Science and technology
- David Adler, physicist
- Don L. Anderson, geophysicist
- James Curtis Booth, chemist
- James Cantor, neuroscientist, sex researcher
- Ronald Collé, nuclear physicist at NIST
- George Hammell Cook, state geologist of New Jersey
- Edgar Cortright, former NASA official
- Ebenezer Emmons, geologist, author of Natural History of New York and American Geology
- David Ferrucci, computer scientist, developed IBM Watson AI Jeopardy player
- Asa Fitch, entomologist
- Alan Fowler, physicist, NAS member
- Claire M. Fraser, 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, shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries on tunneling phenomena in semiconductors; Institute Professor of Science
- Morton Gurtin, mathematical physicist
- James Hall, geologist and paleontologist
- Jon Hall, 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, optical communications researcher, pioneer of quantum optics
- Eben Norton Horsford, "father of food science" and author, discovered baking powder
- Douglass Houghton, Michigan's first state geologist; namesake of a Michigan city, county, and lake
- Robert Kennicutt, astronomer
- Richard Klein, astronomer
- David Korn, computer programmer who created the Korn Shell
- Richard Mastracchio, NASA astronaut, flew on STS-106 Atlantis, 2000
- Mark T. Maybury, chief scientist of U.S. Air Force
- Nimai Mukhopadhyay, physics
- Pat Munday, environmentalist
- Heidi Jo Newberg, professor of astrophysics at RPI
- James "Kibo" Parry, satirist, Usenet personality, and typeface designer
- Henry Augustus Rowland, first president of the American Physical Society; Johns Hopkins University's first physics professor
- Mark Russinovich, Windows software engineer
- Peter Schwartz, futurist and writer
- Marlan Scully, physicist known for work in quantum optics
- Robert C. Seacord, computer security specialist and author
- Andrew Sears, computer science professor at UMBC
- Kip Siegel, physicist, professor of physics at the University of Michigan
- George Soper, managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, later the American Cancer Society
- Chauncey Starr, pioneer in nuclear energy
- John L. Swigert Jr., astronaut, member of Apollo 13; recipient of 1970 Presidential Medal of Freedom; elected to U.S. House of Representatives for Colorado, 1982
- Dennis Tito, millionaire and the first space tourist to pay for his own ticket
- Michael Tuomey, state geologist of South Carolina and Alabama
- Chris Welty, computer scientist
- Gregory R. Wiseman, NASA astronaut
- Chris Wysopal, also known as Weld Pond, member of the hacker think tank L0pht Heavy Industries, founder of Veracode
Sports
- John Carter, NHL forward 1986–1993
- Kevin Constantine, 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, NASCAR driver
- Don Cutts, NHL and International Hockey League (1945–2001) goaltender 1974–1984
- Oren Eizenman, Israeli-Canadian ice hockey player
- Andrew Franks, NFL placekicker for the Miami Dolphins since 2015
- Tim Friday, NHL defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings 1985–1986
- Ken Hammond, NHL defenseman 1985–1993
- Michael E. Herman, President of the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball 1992–2000
- Joé Juneau, 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, NHL goalie for the Buffalo Sabres since 2016
- Neil Little, 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, professional ice hockey player
- Mike McPhee, NHL forward 1983–1994; won the '85–86 Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens; played in the 1989 NHL All Star Game
- Matt Murley, NHL forward 2003–2008
- Kraig Nienhuis, NHL forward 1985–1988
- Adam Oates, co-head coach of the New Jersey Devils 2014–2015; 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, senior football advisor New England Patriots
- Brian Pothier, NHL defenseman 2000–2010
- Daren Puppa, NHL goaltender 1985–2000, played in the 1990 NHL All Star Game
- Brad Tapper, head coach of the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL; NHL forward for the Atlanta Thrashers 2000–2003
- Graeme Townshend, head coach of the Jamaican Men's National Ice Hockey Team; player development coordinator for the San Jose Sharks 2004–2008, NHL forward 1990–1994
Faculty
Past
- Sharon Anderson-Gold, Science and Technology Studies
- George C. Baldwin, Nuclear Engineering
- Bimal Kumar Bose, Electrical Engineering
- George Hammell Cook, senior professor, Geology
- Richard DiPrima, Fluid Dynamics
- Amos Eaton, first professor, Geology
- Michael James Gaffey, Planetary Science
- Sorab K. Ghandhi, Electronic Materials, Microelectronics
- Benjamin Franklin Greene, third senior professor and first director of RPI
- James Hall, Geology and Chemistry
- Granville Hicks, English
- Matthew A. Hunter, Metallurgy, first to isolate titanium metal
- Annette Kolodny, English
- Matthew Koss, Physics
- Robert J. Linhardt, Bioengineering
- Edith Hirsch Luchins, Mathematics
- James D. Meindl, Microelectronics
- Henry Bradford Nason, Chemistry
- E. Bruce Nauman, Chemical Engineering
- Gina O'Connor, Business
- Pauline Oliveros, Music
- Robert Resnick, Physics
- George Rickey, Architecture
- Neil Rolnick, Music, founder of iEAR
- David Rosowsky, Civil Engineering
- Henry Augustus Rowland, Physics
- Lee Segel, Mathematics
- Stephen Van Rensselaer, founder of the institute
- William A. Wallace, Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems
- 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
- Jonathan Dordick, Biochemical Engineering
- Evan Douglis, Architecture
- Faye Duchin, Economics
- Ron Eglash, Science and Technology Studies
- Peter Fox, Earth and Environmental Science, Computer Science, Cognitive Science
- Ivar Giaever, Physics Professor Emeritus
- Wayne D. Gray, Cognitive Science
- Juergen Hahn, Biomedical Engineering
- James Hendler, Computer Science
- Xavier Intes, Biomedical Engineering
- 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
- Sal Restivo, Science and Technology Studies
- Morgan Schaller, Earth and Environmental Science
- Michael Shur, Semiconductor Electronics
- Ron Sun, Cognitive Science
- Boleslaw Szymanski, Computer Science
- Jeff Trinkle, Computer Science
- Ge Wang, Biomedical Engineering
- E. Bruce Watson, Earth and Environmental Science
- Langdon Winner, Science and Technology Studies
- Houman Younessi, Systems Engineering
- George Xu, Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear
- Xi-Cheng Zhang, Physics and Terahertz Technology