Notable ECSE Alumni

Jay Baliga was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama for “development and commercialization of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor and other power semiconductor devices that are extensively used in transportation, lighting, medicine, defense, and renewable energy generation systems.”

Alan Borck founded RLC Electronics, a leading supplier of high-end radio frequency and microwave components in 1959. He is honored for lifelong contributions to the development and manufacturing of RF and microwave components.

Bruce Carlson is an honored electrical engineering professor and textbook author. As author or co-author of four textbooks, eight editions, several translations, numerous articles and proposals, Professor Carlson is also listed in "Who's Who Among American Teachers," having been selected by a student of merit as a teacher who "made a difference" in that student's life. He has received the IEEE Education Society McGraw-Hill/Millman Award for exceptional textbooks in electrical engineering and the Darrin Counseling Award for unusual contributions in the counseling of students.

Mukesh Chatter received his Master's Degree from the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering in 1982.  He is a successful high tech entrepreneur and current co-manager of investment firm NeoNet Capital. In 1999, He co-founded Nexabit Networks in 1996 with his wife Priti Chatter.  Nexabit developed and makes high speed terabit network switches and routers, and was acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1999. He also founded NeoSaej Corp. and Axiowave Networks Inc.

In 1931, Allen DuMont developed an improved version of the cathode ray tube that was both cheaper to produce and longer lasting than the existing German tubes then available. He produced the first all-electronic television set in 1939. He founded the DuMont TV network in 1948, among the world’s pioneers and among the first in the United States. It was also the only TV network not to spring from a preexisting radio network. In 1915, DuMont received a first class commercial radio operator’s license, the youngest to do so – at age 14.

Nariman Farvardin received his Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.   He joined the faculty of the University of Maryland's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1985.  He served as the Chair of the department, and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Provost, and Acting President at the University of Maryland. Since 2011, he has been the President of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey.  

Peter Hart invented the A* search algorithm, which lies at the heart of every GPS router and the paths of characters in most video games. He also coauthored what is widely considered the definitive textbook in pattern recognition. He was the founding director of the Fairchild/Schlumberger Artificial Intelligence Center and co-founder of Syntelligence. In 1997 he founded Ricoh Innovations. He holds more than 100 US and foreign patents.

Hermann Haus’s research and teaching covered fundamental investigations of quantum uncertainty in optical communications to the practical generation of ultra-short optical pulses. In 1994, the Optical Society of America awarded Dr. Haus its Frederic Ives Medal, their highest honor. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1995 and inducted into the Rensselaer Hall of Fame in 2007. He was an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ted Hoff was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama for the conception, design, development, and application of the first microcomputer. The subsequent commercial acceptance of this universal building block enabled a multitude of novel digital electronic systems.

Doug Mercer has been awarded more than a dozen patents for his pioneering work in analog-digital conversion; it is virtually impossible to make a cell phone call without encountering something of his design. He has also contributed to innovative engineering education at Rensselaer and elsewhere.

Sean O'Sullivan is an entrepreneur, inventor and investor, born in New York City and currently living in Princeton, New Jersey. He is best known for co-founding MapInfo Corporation, which popularized street maps on computers, and for coining the term Cloud Computing". He is the founder and Managing Partner at SOSV, a venture capital operation.

Mr. Priem designed the first graphics processor for the PC, the IBM Professional Graphics Adapter. He co-founded NVIDIA, a manufacturer of graphics and multimedia integrated circuits in 1993, and served as the chief technical officer from 1993 to 2003. He holds almost 200 U.S. and international patents, all of which relate to graphics and I/O.

George Saridis was the Founding President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Council, which later became the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. The IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation was established in 2007 in honor of his leadership and contribution to the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. George Saridis was a pioneer in learning control, adaptive control, control of nonlinear and stochastic systems, robotics, traffic control systems, and intelligent control, making significant contributions to the advancement and application of engineering and technology. He also made important contributions to the early development of computational intelligence. 

Steven Sasson was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama for the invention of the digital camera, which has revolutionized the way images are captured, stored, and shared, thereby creating new opportunities for commerce, education, and improved worldwide communication.

Nambi (Nambi) Seshadri was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to wireless communications, an honor considered among the highest of professional engineering distinctions.

Paul Severino was a co-founder and chairman of Bay Networks Inc. Bay Networks was formed in October 1994. He served as chairman of Bay Networks until November 1996. Bay Networks was acquired by Nortel Networks in 1998. He also co-founded and served as the president of Wellfleet Communications Inc. in 1986 and Interlan Inc. in 1981. He was also involved in the startup of Data Translation Inc. in 1976 as vice president of engineering. Prior to that he worked as a product development engineer at Digital Equipment Corp. and Prime Computer Inc. He received B.S.E.E. degree in 1969 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, where he serves as a trustee. 

Chauncey Starr founded the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in 1973 as an industrywide cooperative program for electricity and environmental research; he remains its president emeritus. Among his many awards and honors, Starr received the Atomic Energy Commission Award in 1974 for his work in the peaceful uses of atomic power.

Raymond S. Tomlinson has been credited with inventing network electronic mail - Tomlinson is the man who put the @ sign in e-mail. He received the George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award from the American Computer Museum in April 2000, almost 30 years after he wrote what has been called the “killer application” of the Internet.

Dr. Eitan Yudilevich received his doctoral degree from the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the field of medical imaging. He earned his Master's Degree in mathematics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in electrical engineering at Haifa's Technion.  Dr. Yudilevich has been the Executive Director position at the BIRD Foundation since January 1, 2006.