List of Iowa State University alumni

This list includes notable alumni, non-matriculating, faculty, and staff of what is now Iowa State University (ISU).

Academia

Don E. Albrecht (born 1952), rural sociologist

Aureliano Brandolini (1927–2008), Department of Botany and Agronomy class of 1955, Italian agronomist and development cooperation scholar

William R. Brinkley, Biology PhD 1964, Dean Emeritus of Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine

Robert D. Bullard, Sociology PhD 1976, "father of environmental justice" and Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University

Margaret Burchinal (born 1951), quantitative psychologist and statistician known for her research on child care

Nathaniel Oglesby Calloway (1907–1979), B.S 1930 and Chemistry PhD 1933, first African-American to receive a PhD in chemistry from Iowa State University Professor at the University of Illinois Medical School, medical director of Provident Hospital in Chicago until 1949, and then founded the Medical Associates Clinic of Chicago

David P. Campbell, B.S. and M.S., creator of Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, an interest inventory used in career assessment, ISU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007

Michael M. Crow (born 1955), Political Science B.A. 1977, president, Arizona State University since 2002

Niels Ebbesen Hansen (1866–1950), M.S., 1895, Head of the Horticultural Department at South Dakota State University

JoAnne L. Hewett (born 1960), Physics and Mathematics B.S. 1982, theoretical particle physicist on the faculty of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Daniel G. Horvitz (1921–2008), survey statistician, best known for the eponymous Horvitz-Thompson estimator

Harold Hume (1875–1965), B.S. 1899 and M.S. 1901, noted citrus fruit horticulturalist and president of the University of Florida

Bhanu Pratap Jena (born 1955), PhD 1988, a cell biologist and professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, discovered porosome

Leonard Klinck (1877–1969), Agriculture M.S., 1905, second president of the University of British Columbia (1919–1940)

Charles Boynton Knapp (born 1946), B.S. 1968, president of the University of Georgia (1987–1997)

Samuel Massie (1919–2005), Chemistry PhD 1942, science educator, worked on the Manhattan Project, first African-American to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy

Rose Mwonya, Kenyan academic

James L. Oblinger (born 1945), Food Technology M.S. 1970 and Food Technology PhD 1972, Chancellor at North Carolina State University 2005–2009, received the ISU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006

Frederick Douglas Patterson (1901–1988), 1927 M.S. and Veterinary Medicine PhD 1923, former president of Tuskegee Institute and founder of the United Negro College Fund

Francis de los Reyes III, Glenn E. and Phyllis J. Futrell Distinguished Professor and Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor at North Carolina State University

Donald W. Roberts, Utah State University Research Professor Emeritus and Cornell University Roy A. Young Scientist Emeritus Chair, see § Donald W. Roberts below

Emil Steinberger (1928–2008), endocrinologist and founding president of the American Society of Andrology

Subra Suresh (born 1956), Mechanical Engineering M.S. 1979, former president of Carnegie Mellon University, the former director of National Science Foundation, and the former Dean of Engineering at M.I.T.

My T. Thai, computer science engineer and professor at University of Florida

Edward M. Walsh (born 1939), M.S. 1963 and PhD 1964, founder of the University of Limerick

Don Weinkauf, Chemical Engineering B.S. 1986, Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of St. Thomas (since 2008), and former Chair of the Department of Engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Earl G. Yarbrough (born 1946), Industrial Education PhD 1976, former president of Savannah State University (2007–2011)

Arts

Literature

Jill Dopf Viles, writer known for researching and having Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy and Partial lipodystrophy

Design

Performing arts

Business

Government and politics

United States

U.S. vice presidents

Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965), Animal Husbandry B.A. 1910, Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), United States Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), United States Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946), founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred, a producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture

U.S. cabinet

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994), Agriculture Economics M.S. 1927, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1953–1961), 13th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Lauro Cavazos (born 1927), Economics PhD 1954, U.S. Secretary of Education (1988–1990)

Henry C. Wallace (1866–1924), B.A. Diary Science 1892, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1921–1924), father of U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace

U.S. governors

Robert D. Blue, governor of Iowa (1945–1949), lieutenant governor of Iowa (1943–1945), speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1941–1943)

Garrey Carruthers (born 1939), Economics PhD 1968, governor of New Mexico (1987–1991); president and CEO of Cimarron Health Plan

James Benton Grant (1848–1911), attended and then transferred to Cornell, governor of Colorado (1883–1885)

Bourke B. Hickenlooper (1896–1971), Industrial Science B.A. 1919, Governor of Iowa (1943–1945) and longtime U.S. Senator (1945–1969)

Frank D. Jackson (1854–1938), governor of Iowa (1894–1896), and Iowa secretary of state (1885–1891)

John Edward Jones (1840–1896), class of 1865, eighth governor of Nevada (1895–1896)

Kim Reynolds (born 1959), degree concentrations in Political Science, Business Management, and Communications B.L.S. 2016, lieutenant governor of Iowa (2011–2017), 43rd governor of Iowa (2017–present)

U.S. senators

Joni Ernst (born 1970), Psychology B.A. 1992, United States senator from Iowa since 2015, lieutenant colonel (retired) Iowa Army National Guard (1993–2015)

Tom Harkin (born 1939), Government and Economics B.A. 1962, United States senator from Iowa (1985–2015), United States representative from Iowa's 5th congressional district (1975–1985), and author of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

Herbert E. Hitchcock (1867–1958), attended but did not graduate, United States senator from South Dakota (1936–1938)

U.S. representatives

Berkley Bedell (1921–2019), attended for two years but did not graduate, United States representative from Iowa's 6th congressional district (1975–1987)

Bruce Braley (born 1957), B.A. 1980, United States representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district (2007–2015)

T. Cooper Evans (1924–2005), B.S. & M.S., United States representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district (1981–1987)

Randy Feenstra (born 1969), MPA, United States representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district (2021–present)

Tom Latham (born 1948), attended but did not graduate, United States representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district (1995–2015)

Dave Loebsack (born 1952), B.S 1974 and M.A. 1976, United States representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district (2007–2021)

U.S. ambassadors

Charles Manatt (1936–2011), Rural Sociology B.A. 1958, U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic (1999–2001) and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1981–1985)

Dan Mozena (born 1949), History and Government B.S. 1970, U.S. ambassador to Angola (2007–2010), and U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh (2011–2015)

James Pettit (born 1956), B.A. International Studies, U.S. Ambassador to Moldova (2015–2018)

State of Iowa officials

Maurice E. Baringer (1921–2011), B.A. & M.A. Animal Husbandry (1949), treasurer of Iowa (1969–1983), speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1967–1969)

Dale M. Cochran (1928–2018), B.A. Agriculture 1950, Iowa secretary of Agriculture (1987–1999), speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1975–1979), member of the Iowa House (1965–1987)

Dayton Countryman (1918–2011), B.S. Forestry 1940, attorney general of Iowa (1955–57)

E. Thurman Gaskill (born 1935), Commissioner of both Iowa's Department of Economic Development and its Department of Natural Resources, president of Iowa Corn Growers Association, president of National Corn Growers Association, chairman of the United States Feed Grains Council

William C. Hayward (1847–1917), did not graduate, Iowa secretary of state (1907–1913)

Clem F. Kimball (1868–1928), B.A. Mechanical Engineering, lieutenant governor of Iowa (1925–1928)

Jeff Kurtz (born 1954), did not graduate, Iowa state representative (2019–2021)

Mary Mosiman (born 1962), B.S. Accounting 1999, Iowa state auditor (2013–2019)

Bill Northey (born 1959), Agricultural Business B.A. 1981, Iowa secretary of Agriculture (2007–2018)

Timothy Orr, MG, Education M.S. 1991, Adjutant General, State of Iowa

Kraig Paulsen (born 1964), speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (2011–2015)

Sally Pederson (born 1951), class of 1973, former lieutenant governor of Iowa (1999–2007)

Elaine Szymoniak (1920–2009), Family Environment M.A. 1977, Iowa state senator (1988–2000)

Andrew Varley (1934–2018), B.S. Agricultural Economics (1957), speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1973–1975)

Jo Ann Zimmerman (1936–2019), took graduate classes but did not receive a degree, first female lieutenant governor of Iowa (1987–1991) and member of the Iowa House of Representatives (1983–1987

Other U.S. officials

Katharine Abraham (born 1954), B.S. Economics 1976, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1993–2001), member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama (2011–2013)

James Clark Jr. (1918–2006), B.A. Animal Husbandry (1941), president of the Maryland State Senate (1979–1983)

Harvey Gantt (born 1943), transferred to Clemson University, becoming the first black student to be admitted, mayor of Charlotte, NC (1983–1987)

Gwynn Garnett (1909–1995), B.S. 1934, administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service 1955–1959, author of the first draft of what would become the Food for Peace program

Bayard T. Hainer (1860–1933), B.S. 1884, justice of the Territorial Oklahoma Supreme Court (1898–1907)

Spencer Haven (1868–1938), B.S. 1890, attorney general of Wisconsin (1918–1919)

Willet M. Hays (1859–1928), M.A. Agriculture 1885, U.S. assistant secretary of Agriculture (1904–1913)

Jon Lindgren (born 1938), B.S. 1960, mayor of Fargo, North Dakota, 1978–1994 and pioneering LGBT supporter

Thomas Harris MacDonald (1881–1957), Civil Engineering B.S. 1904, led the development of the Interstate Highway System

Elwood Mead (1858–1936), Civil Engineering PhD 1883, commissioner of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation during construction of the Hoover Dam, namesake of Lake Mead

Lenora Moragne (1931–2020), B.S. 1953, nutritionist

Patrick A. Murphy (born 1958), B.A. 1982, Adjutant General of New York

Trudy Huskamp Peterson, B.S. 1967, Archivist of the United States (1993–1995)

Robert W. Sennewald, B.A. 1951, commanding general, United States Army Forces Command (1984–1986)

Scott Stanzel, B.A. 1995, deputy press secretary at the White House in the George W. Bush administration

Steven VanRoekel, Management of Information Systems B.A. 1994, second Federal Chief Information Officer of the United States

International

Heads of state and government

Parviz Davoodi (born 1952), Economics PhD 1981, first vice president of Iran

John Garang (1945–2005), Economics PhD 1981, former commander of SPLA and former vice president of Sudan

Lee Teng-hui (1923–2023), Agricultural Economics M.S. 1953, former president of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

Cabinet ministers

Luis Ernesto Derbez (born 1947), Economics PhD 1980, current academic rector for the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2003–2006) and Secretary of Economics (2000–2002)

Isa Kalantari (born 1952), PhD Agricultural Physiology, Vice President for the Environment of Iran (2017–2021), Minister of Agriculture (1988–2001)

Sawsan Ali Sharifi (born 1956), Animal Science M.S. 1981 and PhD 1983, former Iraqi Minister of Agriculture in 2004

Yoo Sang-im (born 1959), Minister of Science and ICT of South Korea (2024–)

Other figures

Chen Min-jen, Nuclear Engineering PhD 1983, member of the Legislative Yuan (2005–2008)

Fred Grimwade (1933–1989), president of the Victorian Legislative Council (1979–1985)

Jalaluddin Rakhmat (1949–2021), Communications and Psychology 1981, member of the People's Representative Council (2014–2019)

Anthony Worth, Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire

Activists

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947), General Science B.S 1880, leader of women's suffrage movement and founder of the League of Women Voters

Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), General Science B.S 1958, Native American rights leader and author

Alex Hershaft (born 1934), animal rights activist and Holocaust survivor

Ada Simond (1903–1989), Home Economics and Child Development M.S 1936, public health activist and historian

Kwon Pyong (born 1988), Chinese rights activist who fled to South Korea on a jet ski

Journalism

Terry A. Anderson, B.A. 1974, former Middle East Bureau chief, the Associated Press

Sally Jacobsen, B.A., journalist and foreign correspondent, first woman to serve as international editor of the Associated Press

Jeff Joniak, B.A. 1984, announcer for Chicago Bears radio broadcasts

Arendo Joustra, attended Graduate School, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, 1979–1980, Dutch, writer and editor in chief of Elsevier

Robert E. Kowalski, B.A. 1966, M.S. 1977, bestselling medical author

John Madson, 1951 (wildlife biology), freelance writer (outdoor sports periodicals); became independent scholar of tallgrass prairie ecology

Sean McLaughlin, B.A. journalism, former Today Show weather anchor

Christine Romans, B.A. 1993, CNN chief business correspondent

Hugh Sidey, B.S., journalist for Life and Time magazines

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists

Robert L. Bartley (1937–2003), B.A. 1959, recipient of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing; editor of The Wall Street Journal opinion page, vice president of Dow Jones & Company

Jennifer Jacobs, journalist, senior White House correspondent for Bloomberg News

Tom Knudson, Journalism B.A. 1980, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in 1985 and 1992

Ted Kooser (born 1939), B.S. 1962, U.S. Poet Laureate (in 2004–2006) and recipient of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Lauren K. Soth (1911–1998), Agriculture Journalism B.A. 1932 and Agriculture Economics M.S. 1938, recipient of the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing

Science and technology

Aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering

Clayton Anderson (born 1959), M.S. 1983, NASA astronaut; first Iowa State alum in space

Steve Bales (born 1942), Aerospace Engineering B.S. 1964, director, Space Operations Management Office at NASA; known for the Apollo 11 landing

Clarence Chamberlin (attended but did not graduate), aviation pioneer

Sadanand Joshi, Ph.D. 1980, president of Joshi Technologies International, Inc. (JTI), petroleum engineer, contributed in developing horizontal well technology to produce crude oil and natural gas

Firouz Naderi (born 1946), Mechanical Engineering B.S. 1969, Iranian-American, served 36 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has an asteroid named after him, "5515 Naderi"

Agriculture sciences, plant sciences, and food science

Griffith Buck (1915–1991), B.S. 1948, M.S. 1949, Ph.D. 1953, professor of horticulture; developed nearly 100 new varieties of roses

George Washington Carver (1860s–1943), B.S. 1894, M.S. 1896, botanist and inventor, first African-American student and first African-American faculty member at ISU

Michael Grimes, MS 1922, PhD 1923, Irish scientist and first professor of microbiology at University College Cork

David Allen Laird, soil scientist

Charlotte Maria King (1864–1937), botanist, mycologist and agronomist

Edward F. Knipling (1909–2000), Entomology Ph.D. 1947, noted entomologist, World Food Prize winner for his work on developing the sterile insect technique

Rose Marie Pangborn (1932–1990), Food M.S. 1955, food scientist, food technologist, pioneer in the field of sensory analysis of food attributes, and professor at University of California, Davis

Donald W. Roberts, Utah State University Research Professor Emeritus and Cornell University Roy A. Young Scientist Emeritus Chair, helped to form the subdiscipline of biological pest control, known for studying Metarhizium

James A. Slater (1920–2008), Ph.D. 1950, noted entomologist, specialist in the study of heteroptera, and professor at the University of Connecticut

G. Malcolm Trout, B.S. 1923, M.S. 1924, noted food scientist and creator of homogenized milk

Chemistry and biochemistry

Julian Banzon (1908–1988), Biochemistry Ph.D. 1940, biochemist, National Scientist of the Philippines

Lawrence F. Dahl, Ph.D. 1956, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

Lionel Dahmer, Ph.D. 1966, research chemist and author who was the father of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer

Velmer A. Fassel, Ph.D. 1947, chemist, creator of inductively coupled plasma for mass spectrometry

Lyle Goodhue, B.S. 1928, M.S. 1929, Ph.D. 1934, inventor, research chemist and entomologist

Darleane C. Hoffman, B.S. 1948, nuclear chemist, part of the team that discovered Seaborgium, faculty senior scientist in the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, professor in the graduate school at University of California, Berkeley

Computer engineering

Dale A. Anderson, M.S. 1959, Ph.D. 1964, pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics

John Vincent Atanasoff (1903–1995), ISU Math M.S. 1926 (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), inventor of the first electronic digital computer

Clifford E. Berry (1918–1963), B.S. 1939, MS 1941, Ph.D. 1948 (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), co-developer of the first electronic digital computer

Bob O. Evans, B.S. 1951, computer pioneer and National Medal of Technology recipient

John Gustafson, M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1982, computer scientist and businessman, chiefly known for his work in high performance computing (HPC) such as the invention of Gustafson's law of parallel computing, introducing the first commercial computer cluster

Tom M. Whitney, BS 1961, MS 1962, Ph.D. 1964, co-inventor of the first handheld calculator able to perform trigonometry, and former executive vice president of engineering at Apple Inc.