Rev. John Ireland Tucker – Musician, early Rensselaer Trustee, long time rector at the Church of the Holy Cross in Troy, New York, and the first honorary member.
Sandford Fleming – Canadian railway engineer and inventor of worldwide standard time and an early honorary member
William Metcalf – 1858 – American steel manufacturer and an early honorary member
Albert H. Millet – 1867 – Designed and built the southern railroad in Ecuador, the custom house of Ecuador at Guayaquil, the waterworks of Guayaquil, and many other public works, as well as constructions of all kinds on the Isthmus of Panama.
Leffert L. Buck – 1868 – American civil engineer and Union army veteran responsible for bridge construction projects including the Verrugas Viaduct on the Oroya Railroad in Peru, the steel suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge, the Williamsburg Bridge, one of New York City most notable landmarks, with Henry Hornbostel. At 1,600 feet, it was the longest bridge in the world when completed in 1903 and a key factor in opening Brooklyn up as a working-class neighborhood for Manhattan. The bridge is well known for its vast reach and massive symmetry, and the Pont De Rennes bridge (former Platt Street bridge) that spans the Genesee River in Rochester at the High Falls. A dormitory in the Quadrangle complex at Rensselaer is named in his honor.
Othniel Foster Nichols – 1868 – Builder of the Manhattan Bridge
Julio Larrinaga – 1869 – Noted Puerto Rican engineer and erecting engineer of the Arenas Bridge
John Hampden Randolph – 1870 – Confederate Civil War veteran and son of John Hampden and Emily Randolph, builders of Nottoway Plantation. Professor of mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University and inventor of Randolph Pea Vine Hay Rake, a popular machine with contemporary sugar planters.
Henry Rowland – 1870 – US physicist, known for diffraction grating
Henry Grant Morse – 1871 – Founder of The New York Ship Building Corporation
Charles G. Roebling – 1871 – Designed and invented an 80-ton wire rope machine and founded the town of Roebling, New Jersey where the John A. Roebling’s Sons company steel mill was built.
John F. Alden – 1872 – Noted bridge designer known for the successful construction of the Driving Park Avenue Bridge in Rochester which others had twice attempted and failed. He also built the bridge over the Columbia River at Paseo, Washington, two large viaducts at Los Angeles, California, the upper suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, several bridges for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and other bridges throughout the country. The structural steel work which he did for the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 is also noteworthy.
William Hubert Burr – 1872 – Engineer involved with the Catskill Aqueduct and Isthmian Canal Commission
Lyman E. Cooley – 1874 – Appointed by President Grover Cleveland to the Deep Waterways Commission to negotiate an agreement between the U.S. and Canada regarding the creation of a waterway to allow ocean-going traffic between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. Proposed the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
Palmer C. Ricketts – 1875 – Honorary member and 11th president of Rensselaer.
William J. Keep – Honorary member. Worked with molten metals and various alloys for stoves and heaters
Souichiro Matsmoto – 1876 – Japanese student sent to Rensselaer after the Meiji Revolution for an engineering education. Matsmoto later made significant contributions to civil engineering in Japan and later served as president of the Imperial Railways of Japan.
Kaname Haraguchi – 1878 – Japanese student sent to Rensselaer after the Meiji Revolution for an engineering education. After returning to Japan he became chief engineer in Tokyo and designed many iron bridges there.
Don Carlos Young – 1879 – Son of Brigham Young, American architect and the Church Architect for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Feramorz Little Young – 1879 – Son of Brigham Young and Lucy Decker. Railroad engineer and Mormon missionary to Mexico.
Robert Rufus Bridgers – 1879 – Railroad engineer and son of Robert Rufus Bridgers Confederate politician during the American Civil War.
Ernesto Joaquin Balbin – 1882 – Chief of the Cuban Lighthouse board and erection supervisor for the Colorados Reef Lighthouse on the Colorados Archipelago.
John M. Lockhart – 1887 – Son of one of the founders of Standard Oil, Lockhart lived his life as a Pittsburgh financier, steel maker, and benefactor with a passion for anonymity. He donated under the pseudonym “Builder”.
Eduardo Justo Chibás – 1888 – Prominent Cuban engineer and father of Eduardo Chibás
Edwin S. Jarrett – 1889 – Founding officer of The Foundation Company, America’s premier soils and foundation engineering firm of the early 20th Century. They designed and constructed the foundations for most of the tallest buildings in Manhattan (Trinity, Woolworth, Whitehall, Singer, Banker’s Trust, and Municipal Buildings).
Harry H. Rousseau – 1891 – Civil Engineer and Rear Admiral in the US Navy. Member of Isthmian Canal Commission.
Shortridge Hardesty – Honorary member and designer of the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge in Charleston, SC. First chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Column Research Council (Structural Stability Research Council since 1976). 1940 Recipient of the Norman Medal, the highest honor granted by the ASCE for a technical paper.
William O. Hotchkiss – Honorary member and 13th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Matthew A. Hunter – 1908 – Honorary member, metallurgist and inventor of the Hunter process for producing titanium metal.
Lester C. Higbee – 1912 – Brigadier General in the New York State National Guard and Commander to the upstate New York State Guard during WWII.
John Inglis – American Football and Baseball player, one of the first basketball players to dunk a ball in competition.
Henry G. Taylor – 1913 – Rear Admiral US Navy during WWII.
Archibald D. Hunter – 1930 – Commodore in the US Navy.
Clayton O. Dohrenwend – 1931 – Former Rensselaer graduate school head and vice president and provost.
Albert J. Fay – 1932 – Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Horace B. Jones – 1932 – Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Hugh M. Archer – 1937 – Founder and former chairman, Spiratex Inc. (a custom plastic extrusion company), patent holder, active in civic and professional organizations including international president of Rotary Club. U.S. Navy veteran assigned to the Manhattan Project. The Archer Center for Student Leadership Development at RPI bears his name.
Rudolph (Rudy) C. Bergfield – 1949 – Star college lacrosse player, founding donor of The RSE Foundation and the RPI/RSE Scholarships
William A. Davis -1950- American Society of Professional Engineers named him Engineer of the Year in 1969 for his part in the Khazzan Undersea Oil Storage tanker project in Dubai. (He shared the award with the Apollo Moon Project and the Boeing 747.) He earned 750 patents during his career with Chicago Bridge & Iron.
John F. Schenck – 1961 – Physician and co-inventor of the first clinically viable high-field MRI scanner at General Electric and member of the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame.
James M. Tien – 1966 – University of Miami Ombudsperson, Dean of University of Miami College of Engineering
Lombard John Pozzi – 1967 – Renowned architect and preservationist of Rhode Island.
William Zuendt – 1968 – President (Retired)of Wells Fargo & Company and the chief architect of its transition into high-technology banking
Don Nigbor – 1970 – Co-Founder of Benchmark Electronics.
Robert J. McCain – Honorary Member, House live-in chef, advisor and friend His contributions to RSE and RSE Members cannot be measured: He was a friend, a parent and a character.
