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List of Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni

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The alumni of Missouri University of Science and Technology, or Missouri S&T, include both graduates and non-graduates who have attended the university located in Rolla, Missouri. Missouri S&T was founded as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (MSM) in 1870, the first technological institution west of the Mississippi River.[1] In 1964, the school's name was changed to University of Missouri–Rolla (UMR) as part of the University of Missouri System, and the most recent name change to Missouri University of Science and Technology took effect in 2008 to "distinguish UMR from the other University of Missouri campuses", among other reasons.[2]

Missouri S&T logo
Hasselmann Alumni House at Missouri S&T

As of fall 2020, Missouri S&T had a total enrollment of 7,645 students (6,086 undergraduates and 1,559 graduate students).[3] The Miner Alumni Association of Missouri S&T serves over 65,000 graduates and former students.[4]

The Hasselmann Alumni House was dedicated in 2015 as the home for the Miner Alumni Association and as a venue for campus and community events. It is named for Karl Hasselmann, a 1925 graduate in mining engineering, who had a prominent career in the oil industry. The Havener Center, the multipurpose campus center for student life and activity, is named for entrepreneur Gary Havener, a 1962 graduate in mathematics.

The listed alumni span multiple fields and careers, particularly those concentrated in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, enrolled at Missouri S&T in 1995 majoring in computer science and mathematics, but transferred out during his junior year to accept a job with the New York-based company Dispatch Management Services after hacking into their computer network and alerting the company chairman of a hole in their software.[5] Many notable NASA astronauts and engineers are graduates from Missouri S&T, such as Sandra Magnus, who was aboard the last American Space Shuttle, and George Mueller, who helped enable the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Other S&T alumni have filled leadership positions within state and federal government, and some have become known in athletics and entertainment.

Business

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Jack Dorsey Transferred out, 1997; did not graduate Billionaire co-founder and CEO of Twitter (2006–2008, 2015–2021), and co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Square, Inc. (2009–present) [5][6]
Gary D. Forsee 1972 (B.S.) CEO of Sprint (2003–2007), president of the University of Missouri System (2008–2011) [7]
Thomas Holmes 1950 (B.S.) CEO of Ingersoll Rand (1980–1988) [8][9]
Dan Obrycki 1983 (B.S.) Co-founder of The Applied Finance Group [10][11]
Michael M. Sears 1976 (M.S.) Successfully launched the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program, CFO of Boeing (2002–2003), terminated in 2003 as a result of corruption allegations and sentenced to four months in prison [12][13]
Ellis Short 1983 (B.S.) Founder of Kildare Partners private equity fund (2013), owner of Skibo Castle (2003–present) and Sunderland A.F.C. (2009–2018) [14][15]
Gary White 1985 (B.S.), 1987 (M.S.) Co-founder and CEO of Water.org, founding member of the Global Water Challenge, named on the 2011 TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world [16][17]
Oz Yilmaz 1970 (B.S.) Chief technology officer of GeoTomo LLC (2002–present), elected as an international member to the National Academy of Engineering (2022) [18][19]
image of Jack Dorsey at a London cafe in November 2014, smiling with his mouth closed, and wearing a dark upper garment and jacket
Jack Dorsey
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Education

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Michel Barsoum 1980 (M.S.) Professor of materials science at Drexel University (1985–present), known for work with MAX phases [20]
Randall Berry 1993 (B.S.) Department chair (2019–present) and professor (2011–present) of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University [21]
Mack A. Breazeale 1954 (M.S.) Professor and senior scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University of Mississippi (1995–2009), professor of physics at the University of Tennessee (1962–1995) and at Michigan State University (1957–1962), known for work in ultrasonics and physical acoustics [22][23]
Delbert Day 1958 (B.S.) Curator's Professor Emeritus of Ceramic Engineering at Missouri S&T, co-invented glass microspheres for medical (radiation therapy) and dental applications, and co-invented Glasphalt, which recycles waste glass for use in asphalt paving [24][25]
Servet A. Duran 1943 (B.S.) Professor (1947–1986) and department chairman (1959–1970) of metallurgy at Washington State University [26]
Bruce L. Edwards 1977 (B.A.) Professor of English and Africana studies at Bowling Green State University (1981–2012), general editor of the four-volume reference set C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy [27][28]
Paul M. Feehan 1984 (M.S.) Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin (2000–2001), professor of mathematics at Rutgers University (2001–present) [29]
Harold Garner 1976 (B.S.) Executive director of the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech (2009–2012), known for research in plasma physics, biological engineering, and bioinformatics [30][31]
Roger Garrison 1967 (B.S.) Professor of economics at Auburn University (1981–present), adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute [32]
William Giannobile 1987 (B.S.) Dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (2020–present), professor of dentistry and biomedical engineering at University of Michigan (1998–2020) [33]
Gene Haertling 1954 (B.S.) Professor of ceramic engineering at Clemson University (1988–2000), developed and manufactured new lead zirconate titanate materials used in consumer electronics [34][35]
M. Frederick Hawthorne Transferred out, 1940s Curators' Distinguished Professor of chemistry and radiology at University of Missouri and director of its International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine (2008–present); a 2011 National Medal of Science recipient for his significant work involving boron [36][37]
John Johnson 1999 (B.S.) Professor of astronomy at Harvard University (2013–present), known for exoplanet research [38]
John Kieffer 1967 (B.S.) Professor of mathematics (1970–1986) at University of Missouri–Rolla, professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Minnesota (1986–2011), known for work in information theory [39][40]
Kim Young-gil 1969 (M.S.) President of Handong Global University (1995–2014) [41]
David F. Larcker 1972 (B.S.), 1974 (M.S.) Professor at Stanford University in the Stanford Graduate School of Business (2005–present) [42]
Glenn Lipscomb 1981 (B.S.) Department chair of chemical engineering at the University of Toledo (2004–2019) [43]
Dana S. Nau 1974 (B.S.) Professor of computer science and systems research at the University of Maryland, College Park (1994–present), discovered game tree pathology and developed simple hierarchical ordered planner (SHOP) HTN planning systems [44]
Shrihari Sridhar 2004 (M.S.) Senior associate dean at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University (2023–present), known for work on marketing strategy [45]
André Taylor 1995 (B.S.) Associate professor of chemical engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering (2018–present), known for developing new materials for energy conversion [46]
Scott R. White 1985 (B.S.) Faculty and professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1990–2018), known for his innovations of self-healing materials [47][48]
image of Mack Breazeale from 1997, smiling in a white shirt, red tie, and dark suit coat
Mack A. Breazeale
image of John Johnson wearing a light short-sleeved shirt and looking to his left
John Johnson
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Entertainment and athletics

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Marv Breuer 1935 (B.S.) Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees (1939–1943) and a reliever in the 1941 and 1942 World Series [49][50]
Aaron Buerge 1997 (B.S.) Television personality known for starring in Season 2 of The Bachelor [51][52]
Charlie Copley circa 1914 NFL tackle and end for the Akron Pros (1920–1922) and Milwaukee Badgers (1922), head coach of the Gilberton Cadamounts (1923) [53]
David Elsenrath 1985 (B.S.) Head football coach for the Adams State Grizzlies (1997–1999) [54][55]
Forrestal Hickman 2015 (B.S.) Offensive lineman who has played in the NFL as a free agent for the San Diego Chargers (2015) and has played as a signed athlete in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes (2016) and the IFL for the Colorado Crush (2017) and the Sioux Falls Storm (2018–2020) [56][57]
A. J. Mandani 2010 Professional Indonesian Basketball League player for CLS Knights Indonesia (2020–present), previously on the MPBL's Caloocan Katipuneros (2018–2019), TBL's TGE team (2018), ABL's Singapore Slingers (2017), and several PBA teams (2012–2016) [58][59]
Bill Preston circa 1915 NFL tackle for the Akron Pros (1920), 1920 NFL champion [60]
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer 1985 (B.S.) 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event champion [61]
Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco 1993 (B.S.) Peruvian playwright and screenwriter [62][63]
Brad Scott Transferred out, 1976 Head football coach for the University of South Carolina (1994–1998), assistant football coach for Clemson University (1999–2011) [64][65]
Tyrone Smith 2006 (B.A.) Long jumper representing Bermuda, 3-time Olympian, reached the finals in the 2012 Summer Olympics, champion in the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games and the 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics [66][67]
Harry Stella Transferred out, 1936 Tackle for the Army Cadets football team at the United States Military Academy (1936–1939), 1939 First-team All-American, retired at the rank of colonel [68]
Dick Thornton circa 1930 Quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (1933) [69]
Tershawn Wharton 2019 Defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs (2020–2024) and the Carolina Panthers (2025–present) [70]
image of Greg Raymer seated at the 2008 World Series of Poker, wearing a green shirt with player patches applied and its long sleeves folded up to his elbows, with a black lanyard and badge around his neck
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer
image of Tyone Smith from 2012, wearing a white uniform with blue long sleeves and a dark zipper down the front center
Tyrone Smith
Tershawn Wharton is in his Kansas City Chiefs uniform with the football in hand
Tershawn Wharton
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Government

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Jay Ashcroft 1996 (B.S.), 1998 (M.S.) Missouri secretary of state (2017–2025) [71][72]
Azli Yusof 1990 (B.S.) Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Shah Alam (2022–present) [73]
John Black circa 1974 (B.S.), circa 1976 (M.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2019–present) [74]
Héctor Boza 1911 (B.S.) First vice president of Peru (1950–1956), president of the Senate (1950–1952, 1954–1956) [75]
Bob Bromley 1981 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2019–present) [76]
Justin Brown 2002 (B.A.) Member of the Missouri Senate (2019–present) [77]
Ed Emery 1972 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri Senate (2013–2021), member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2003–2011) [78]
Pietro Fiocchi 1988 (B.S.) Member of the European Parliament on the Brothers of Italy list (2019–present) [79]
Nicole Galloway 2004 (B.S.) Missouri state auditor (2015–2023), Democratic nominee for governor of Missouri in the 2020 election [80][81]
Jim Guest 1962 (B.S.), 1970 (M.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2003–2011) [82]
M. K. A. Hameed 1962 (M.S.) Member of the Legislative Assembly of India in the Kerala Legislative Assembly (1967–1970) [83][84]
Hasni Mohammad circa 1981 (B.S.) 18th Menteri Besar of Johor (2020–2022), member of the Johor State Legislative Assembly (2008–present), and member of the Johor State Executive Council (2013–2018) in Malaysia [85]
Willard Jenkins 1959 (B.S.) Member of the Iowa House of Representatives (1997–2007) [86]
William C. Linton 1964 (M.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1986–2002) [87][88]
Don Mayhew 1991 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2019–present) [89]
Jeff Melcher 1983 (B.S.) Member of the Kansas Senate (2013–2017) [90]
Thomas Franklin Fairfax Millard Transferred out, 1882 First American political adviser to the Chinese Republic, founder of the China Weekly Review, author of seven influential books on the Far East [91][92]
Aruna Miller 1989 (B.S.) Lieutenant governor of Maryland (2023–present), member of the Maryland House of Delegates (2011–2019) [93][94][95]
Rocky Miller 1988 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2013–2021) [96]
Arthur P. Murphy circa 1893 U.S. representative from Missouri (1905–1907, 1909–1911) [97]
Stephanie O'Sullivan 1982 (B.S.) Principal deputy director of National Intelligence (2011–2017), associate deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2009–2011) [98]
William R. Painter circa 1882 (grad. prof. degree) 28th lieutenant governor of Missouri (1913–1917); Missouri state senator (1923–1930), the first four years during which he was president pro tempore [99][100]
Michael Person 1978 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2020–2023) [101]
Mathew Pitsch 1985 (B.S.), 1986 (M.S.) Arkansas state senator (2019–2023), member of the Arkansas House of Representatives (2015–2019, majority leader 2017–2019) [102][103]
Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi 1983 (M.S.), 1985 (Ph.D.) Minister of Commerce and acting Minister of Media of Saudi Arabia (2020–present) [104]
Boonmark Sirinaovakul 1983 (M.S.) Member of the Thailand House of Representatives representing Ratchaburi province (1995–2000), former president of Stamford International University [105]
John Voss 1985 (B.S.) Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (2022–present) [106][107]
Yao Leeh-ter 1987 (M.S.) Acting Minister of Education of Taiwan (2018–2019), president of National Taipei University of Technology (2011–2018) [108][109]
Jay Ashcroft is dressed in a suit and smiling
Jay Ashcroft
Black-and-white headshot of Héctor Boza
Héctor Boza
image of Nicole Galloway, smiling at the camera, wearing a collarless magenta top and dark coat, with U.S. and Missouri flags to each side in the background
Nicole Galloway
Portrait of Maryland Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller
Aruna Miller
image of Stephanie O'Sullivan, smiling at the camera, wearing a collared purple top and dark coat, with U.S. and DOJ flags to each side in the background
Stephanie O'Sullivan
Headshot image of Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi in 2019
Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi
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Military and uniformed services

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Joe N. Ballard 1972 (M.S.) Lieutenant general, U.S. Army, chief of Engineers and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1996–2000) [110][111]
Stephen M. Bliss 1971 (M.S.) Brigadier general, U.S. Army, president of the Army and Navy Academy (2002–2014) [112][113]
Edward S. Fris 1943 (B.S.) Lieutenant general, U.S. Marine Corps, commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (1974–1975), pioneer in the development of the Marine Air Command and Control System (MACCS) [114]
Emerson C. Itschner 1959 (D.Eng.) Lieutenant general, U.S. Army, chief of Engineers (1956–1961), professor of military science and military tactics at Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (1934–1936) [115]
Lisa Jaster 2004 (M.S.) Major, U.S. Army, one of only three women to graduate from the U.S. Army Ranger School and the first female Army Reserve officer to become a Ranger School graduate [116]
Walter Philip Leber 1940 (B.S.) Lieutenant general, U.S. Army, 15th governor of the Panama Canal Zone (1967–1971) [117]
Glenn J. Lesniak 1979 (M.S.) Major general, U.S. Army Reserve, deputy chief of the U.S. Army Reserve at the Pentagon (2014–2015) [118]
Mark Quander 2000 (M.S.) Major general, U.S. Army, commanding general of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (2023–present), commandant of cadets of the United States Military Academy (2021–2023), commandant of the United States Army Engineer School (2019–2021) [119][120]
Brett Sylvia 1999 (M.S.) Major general, U.S. Army, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell (2023–present), vice director for strategy, plans, and policy of the Joint Staff (2021–2023), deputy commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division (2019–2021) [121]
George Allison Whiteman Enlisted in WWII, 1939 Second lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, first American pilot killed in aerial combat in World War II while serving under American forces; Whiteman Air Force Base is named after him [122]
Image of Joe Ballard, wearing his formal army uniform, with U.S. and lieutenant general (three white stars against red) flags to each side in the background
LTG Joe N. Ballard
Image of Stephen M. Bliss in uniform in 1993
BG Stephen M. Bliss
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NASA

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Thomas Akers 1973 (B.S.), 1975 (M.S.) Veteran of four Shuttle flights including flights on Discovery and Endeavour, retired Air Force colonel [123][124]
Farouk El-Baz 1961 (M.S.), 1964 (Ph.D.) Supervisor of Lunar Science Planning and secretary of the Landing Site Selection Committee for the NASA Apollo program (1967–1972) [125]
Ronald Greeley 1966 (Ph.D.) Director of the NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (1998–2000), chair and principal investigator of multiple NASA committees and programs, professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at Arizona State University (1977–2011) [126][127]
Janet L. Kavandi 1982 (M.S.) Veteran of three Shuttle flights, deputy chief of the Astronaut Office (2005–2008), center director of the NASA Glenn Research Center (2016–2019) [128]
Sandra Magnus 1986 (B.S.), 1990 (M.S.) Veteran of three Shuttle flights including STS-135, the final mission of the American Space Shuttle program, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2012–2018) [129]
George Mueller 1939 (B.S.) Led NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight (1963–1969), which oversaw the Apollo program and began development of Skylab and the Space Shuttle program [130][131]
image of Janet Kavandi in 2001, posing in her orange NASA uniform with helmet in front of her, and U.S. flag and an upright Space Shuttle model to each side of her in the background
Janet L. Kavandi
black-and-white image of George Mueller, smiling to the viewer's left in a light shirt, dark tie and suit coat, and wearing dark plastic eyeglasses
George Mueller
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Religion

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Walter Mitchell Transferred out, 1895 Bishop of Arizona in The Episcopal Church (1926–1946) [132]
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Science and research

More information Name, Class year ...
Name Class year Notability References
Robert Banks circa 1942 (B.S.) Chemist who co-invented crystalline polypropylene and high-density polyethylene, inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001 [133]
Terry Bollinger 1977 (B.S.), 1980 (M.S.) Computer scientist who was influential in preventing free and open-source software from being banned in U.S. DoD systems [134][135]
Charles C. Copeland 1962 (B.S.) Engineer known for pioneering energy-conserving innovations for infrastructure projects in New York City [136]
Clyde Cowan 1940 (B.S.) Co-discoverer of the neutrino by the Cowan–Reines neutrino experiment, whose contributions earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995, captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces [137]
Danny Lee Fread 1961 (B.S.), 1969 (M.S.), 1971 (Ph.D.) Hydraulic engineer best known for his computer-based mathematical simulation programs for rainfall and runoff to forecast the flow of flooding rivers and dam failures [138]
George W. Hellmuth 1891 Architect who designed several notable buildings including the Sanitol Building, the International Fur Exchange Building, and the Steelcote Manufacturing Company Paint Factory [139][140]
Daniel C. Jackling 1892 (B.S.) Pioneered the exploitation of low-grade porphyry copper through new methods such as open-pit mining that created the Bingham Canyon Mine, the largest man-made excavation in the world, founded the Utah Copper Company which is now Kennecott Utah Copper [141]
Mervin Kelly 1914 (B.S.) President of Bell Laboratories (1951–1959) [142]
Shi Changxu 1948 (M.S.) Materials scientist who was an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Third World Academy of Sciences; the asteroid 28468 Shichangxu is named after him [143]
black-and-white side view of Clyde Cowan, seated with his right arm outstretched toward one of several equipment panels before him
Clyde Cowan
Mervin Kelly, wearing a dark suit and bow tie, standing behind a desk
Mervin Kelly
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