Alumni
Todd Akin (Class of 1970), former member of U.S. House of Representatives representing Missouri's 2nd District;Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1993–1994 , p. 157 best known for his claim that victims of what he described as "legitimate rape" very rarely become pregnant Paul Allaire (Class of 1960), former CEO of Xerox Harold Stephen Black (Class of 1921), revolutionized electronics by inventing the negative feedback amplifier in 1927 Loree Griffin Burns (Class of 1991) Giovanni Capriglione (Class of c. 1995), degree in physics; Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from Tarrant County, Texas Curtis Carlson (Class of 1967), imaging systems researcher and former president and CEO of SRI International Karen Casella (Class of 1983), software engineer and advocate for inclusion in the technology industry John W. Geils Jr. (dropped out in 1967), founded The J. Geils Band and played lead guitar; bandmates Danny Klein and Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz also left WPI David Gewirtz (Class of 1982), CNN columnist, cyberterrorism advisor, and leading presidential scholar; candidate for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Letters Robert H. Goddard (Class of 1908), widely regarded as the "father" of modern rocketry Eric Hahn (Class of 1980), co-founder of Collabra Software (sold to Netscape) and Lookout Software (sold to Microsoft); in 1997 became CTO of Netscape Elwood Haynes (Class of 1881), early alumnus, prominent chemist and inventor; credited for aiding in the development of the automobile and the creation of stainless steel Aldus Chapin Higgins (Class of 1893), Worcester, Massachusetts lawyer, businessman who invented a water-cooled electric furnace for the Norton Companies John Woodman Higgins (Class of 1896), founder of Worcester Pressed Steel Company and the Higgins Armory Museum Jeremy Hitchcock (Class of 2004), co-founder and former CEO of Dyn William Hobbs (Class of 1883), 19th-century geologist Dan Itse (Class of 1980, 1986), engineer, inventor, member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Lawrence C. Jones (Class of 1915), Vermont attorney general Dean Kamen (dropped out in 1976), invented the first portable insulin pump; started DEKA, the company that invented the Segway Human Transporter and iBOT powered wheelchair; co-founded the international youth organization FIRST Atwater Kent (dropped out in 1895 and 1896), founded the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company, which was the world's leading producer of radios in the late 1920s (there is now a building on campus called the Atwater Kent Laboratories) Everett J. Lake (Class of 1890), representative, Connecticut General Assembly, 1903–1905; senator, Connecticut General Assembly, 1905–1907; lieutenant governor, 1907–1909, and governor, 1921–1923, of Connecticut Robert Lanou (Class of 1952), physicist William Stevens Lawton (transferred out in 1918), United States Army lieutenant general, attended 1917–1918, transferred to the United States Military Academy; Army comptroller Frank Edward Lowe (Class of 1908), U.S. Army major general, trusted advisor to U.S. President Harry Truman during the Korean War; acted as Truman's "eyes and ears" in Korea Joseph Mancuso (Class of 1963), WPI's youngest department chairman; best-selling author in the business genre; founder, president, and CEO of CEO Clubs International Dwight Marcus, chief technology officer and co-founder Yiqi Mei (Class of 1914), president of Tsinghua University, founder of its college of engineering Eric Mill (Class of 2005), executive director for Cloud Strategy of the U.S. General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service Alan R. Pearlman (Class of 1948), founder of ARP Instruments and inventor of the ARP synthesizer Don Peterson (Class of 1971), former CFO of Lucent Technologies, founder and former CEO/ chairman of Avaya Nancy Pimental (Class of 1987), chemical engineering degree, one of the writers of South Park and the movie The Sweetest Thing; replaced Jimmy Kimmel as co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money, alumna of Phi Sigma Sigma Daniel Robbins (dropped out), founder and former chief architect of the Gentoo Linux projectGentoo Weekly Newsletter: December 22nd, 2003 Retrieved October 12, 2007 Andy Ross (Mass Academy Class of 1997), guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005, spent a year at WPI as part of the Mass Academy program Naveen Selvadurai (Class of 2002), co-founder of Foursquare Kotaro Shimomura (Class of 1888), chemical engineer; president of Doshisha University and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd in Japan James Smith (Class of 1906), engineer, entrepreneur, educator, and businessman; co-founder and president of the National Radio Institute Chartsiri Sophonpanich (Class of 1980), president and director of Bangkok Bank, the largest commercial bank in Thailand Robert Stempel (Class of 1955), inventor of the catalytic converter, former chairman and CEO of General Motors Helen Guillette Vassallo, scientific researcher and educator, noted for her contributions to the fields of physiology, pharmacology, and anesthesia Gilbert Vernam (Class of 1914), credited with the inauguration of modern cryptography Richard T. Whitcomb (Class of 1943), aeronautical engineer responsible for the "area rule" of high-speed aircraft design, the supercritical airfoil, and winglets
Faculty WPI has employed several professors whose achievements have made them notable across the nation and the world.
David Adams, biology professor, in 1995 was the first to create a mouse which suffered from Alzheimers Frederick Bianchi, director of Music Technology and co-inventor of the Virtual Orchestra Joseph Mancuso (class of 1963), became WPI's youngest department chairman when he took over the WPI management program after earning an MBA from Harvard; best-selling author in the business genre; founder, president, and CEO of CEO Clubs International Brian Moriarty, professor of interactive media and game development; former game developer for Infocom and LucasArts Kaveh Pahlavan, professor of electrical and computer engineering; director of the Center for Wireless Information Network Studies,;during the 1990s, helped develop the 802.11 wireless protocols Albert Sacco Jr., astronaut, former professor of chemical engineering and department head; payload specialist on the STS-73 mission in 1995 Mimi Sheller, dean of the Global School and theorist of mobilities Michael Sokal, former history of science and technology professor; current president of the History of Science Society
Presidents The following persons have served as the president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 1868:
ImageNameTerm startTerm end1Charles O. Thompson186818822Homer T. Fuller188318943Thomas C. Mendenhall189419014Edmund A. Engler190119115Ira N. Hollis191319256Ralph Earle1925February 13, 1939actingFrancis W. RoysFebruary 14, 1939August 19397Wat Tyler Cluverius Jr.August 1939October 28, 19528Alvin E. Cormeny195319549Arthur B. Bronwell1955196210Harry P. StorkeOctober 1962196911George W. Hazzard1969197812Edmund T. Cranch1978198513Jon C. Strauss1985199414Edward Alton Parrish1995200415Dennis D. BerkeyJuly 1, 2004May 31, 2013interimPhilip B. RyanJune 1, 2013May 31, 201416Laurie A. LeshinJune 1, 2014May 15, 2022InterimWinston Wole SoboyejoMay 16, 2022April 3, 202317 Grace WangApril 3, 2023present
Table notes:
References