Dr. Roland W. Schmitt

Dr. Roland W. Schmitt is President Emeritus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
having been it's president from March 1988 to July 1993.  Previously, he spent 37 
years in General Electric, retiring in February 1988 as senior vice president for 
science and technology for GE and a member of GE's Corporate Executive Council.  
From 1978 to 1986 he directed GE's Research and Development Center in 
Schenectady, New York, one of the world's largest and most diversified industrial 
laboratories.  He is also a retired board member of General Signal Corporation.
Dr. Schmitt is Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Institute of 
Physics.  He is also Chairman of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, a 
member of the Presidents Council and a Fellow of the New York Academy of 
Science, Chairman of the Motorola Science Advisors, a member of the Oak Ridge 
National Laboratory Advisory Board, and Vice Chairman-Technology of the Center 
for Economic Growth of the New York State Capital Region.  Presently he is 
Chairman of a High Level Review Group reviewing NATO's Science Program.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Reveo, an entrepreneurial venture firm 
and of it's subsidiary, VREX.  He is also on the advisory board of ILINC, another 
entrepreneurial firm.
Dr. Schmitt was member of the National Science Board from 1982 til 1994 and 
served as it's chairman from 1984 to 1988.  He is past president and former member 
of the Board of Directors of the Industrial Institute, and he has been a member of 
the Executive Committee of the Council of Competitiveness.  He is a past member 
of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and served on it's council from 
1983 to 1989.  Dr. Schmitt is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of 
Engineering Sciences and a foreign associate of The Engineering Academy of 
Japan.  He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 
American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 
(IEEE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A Native of Seguin, Texas, Dr. Schmitt earned undergraduate degrees in physics 
and mathematics and a Master's degree from the University of Texas and his Ph.D. 
in physics from Rice University.
He holds honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (1985), 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1985), Union College (1985), Lehigh University 
(1986), The University of South Carolina (1988), the Universite de Technologie de 
Copiegne (1991), the College of St. Rose (1992), Russell Sage College (1993), 
Hartford Graduate Center (1995), Illinois Institute of Technology (1996) and 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1997).  He received Rice University's 
Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985, the Stony Brook Foundation's Award for 
Distinguished Contributions to Higher Education in 1985, RPI's Community Service 
Award in 1982 and the University at Albany Foundation's Academic Laureate 
Award for 1997.
Dr. Schmitt has received a number of awards during his career.  These include the 
IEEE's 1992 Founders Medal, the 1993 Hoover Award from a consortium of five 
major engineering societies, the 1993 Pake Award from the American Physical 
Society, the 1989 Arthur M. Bueche Award of the National Academy of 
Engineering.  In 1996 he was also elected an inaugural member of the New York 
State Capital Region's Business Hall of Fame, sponsored by Junior Achievement.