University of Illinois - Notable Faculty and Alumni

Notable Faculty and Alumni

As of 2007, 21 alumni and faculty members are Nobel laureates and 20 have won a Pulitzer Prize. In particular, John Bardeen is the only person to have won two Nobel prizes in physics, having done so in 1956 and 1972 while on faculty at the University of Illinois. In 2003, two faculty members won Nobel prizes in different disciplines: Paul C. Lauterbur for physiology or medicine, and Anthony Leggett for physics. Most recently, in 2007, Don Wuebbles, Atul Jain, John Walsh and Michael Schlesinger, professors in the Department of Atmospheric Science, were awarded a share of the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions and collaboration with the IPCC.

Stanley Hart White, Professor of Landscape Architecture 1922–1959. Inventor of the Vertical Garden. E.B White's Brother

Fazlur Rahman Khan, considered to be the Einstein of structural engineering and the Greatest Structural Engineer of the of the 20th century

Alumni have created companies and products such as Netscape Communications, AMD, PayPal, Playboy, National Football League, Siebel Systems, Mortal Kombat, CDW, YouTube, THX, Oracle, Lotus, Mosaic, Safari, Firefox, W. W. Grainger, Delta Air Lines, BET, and Tesla Motors.

Alumni and faculty have invented the LED, JavaScript, the integrated circuit, the quantum well laser, the transistor, MRI, and the plasma screen, and are responsible for the structural design of such buildings as the Willis Tower, the John Hancock Center, and the Burj Khalifa.

Alumni founded the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Project Gutenberg, and have served in a wide variety of government and public interest roles. Rafael Correa, re-elected President of The Republic of Ecuador in April 2009 secured his M.S. and PhD degrees from the University's Economics Department in 1999 and 2001 respectively. Nathan C. Ricker attended U of I and in 1873 was the first person to graduate in the United States with a degree in Architecture. Mary L. Page, the first woman to obtain a degree in architecture, also graduated from U of I. Gerald R. Ferris, the Francis Eppes Professor of Management and professor of psychology at Florida State University, earned his PhD at UI-UC.

Alumni Andrew Stroth, sports marketing agent and president of Impact Talent Associates is most notable for negotiating endorsement deals for sports figures, including Donovan McNabb, Dwyane Wade, Michael Vick, Lovie Smith, and Brandon Marshall and serves as a business advisor and legal contact for athletes from teams such as the Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, and Miami Heat.