List of Cornell University alumni

Cornell's 2008 commencement ceremony at Schoellkopf Field

This list of Cornell University alumni includes notable graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Cornell University, an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. Cornell counted 245,027 living alumni as of August 2008.^[1] Its alumni constitute 25 recipients of National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation combined, 33 MacArthur Fellows, 34 Marshall Scholars and 31 Rhodes Scholars,^[1][2][3][4] 231 elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, 174 elected members of the National Academy of Engineering, 180 plus heads of higher learning institutions in the United States and around the world, and Cornell is the only university with three female winners of unshared Nobel Prizes among its graduates (Pearl S. Buck, Barbara McClintock, and Toni Morrison).^[5][6] Many alumni maintain university ties through Homecoming's reunion weekend, through Cornell Magazine,^[7] and through the Cornell Club of New York. In 2005, Cornell ranked #3 nationwide for gifts and bequests from alumni.^[1] Alumni are known as Cornellians. Cornellians are noted for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life.^[1][8]

Fictional alumni have been portrayed in several films, television shows, and books. Characters include Andy Bernard of The Office,^[9] Natalie Keener of Up in the Air,^[10] and Christina Pagniacci (portrayed by Cameron Diaz) in Any Given Sunday.^[11]

Nobel laureates

Steven Weinberg

Toni Morrison

Chemistry

• Eric Betzig (M.S. 1985; Ph.D. 1988, applied and engineering physics) – Chemistry, 2014; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
• Joachim Frank (postdoctoral fellow 1972)^[12] – Chemistry, 2017; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2006)
• William Moerner (Ph.D. 1982, experimental physics) – Chemistry, 2014; Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2008); member of the National Academy of Sciences (2007)

Physics

• Arthur Ashkin (Ph.D. 1952 nuclear physics) – Physics 2018; pioneer in Optical tweezers; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1984) and the National Academy of Sciences (1996), recipient of the Harvey Prize (2004)
• Sheldon Lee Glashow (B.A. 1954 physics) – Physics 1979; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1977)
• Russell Hulse (conducted the award-winning research at Cornell's affiliated Arecibo Observatory 1974^[13]) – Physics 1993
• John M. Kosterlitz (postdoctoral fellow 1973–1974) – Physics 2016; Fellow of the American Physical Society; recipient of the Maxwell Medal and Prize (1981) and the Lars Onsager Prize (2000), member of the National Academy of Sciences (2017)^[14]
• Douglas D. Osheroff (M.S. 1971 physics, Ph.D. 1973 physics) – Physics 1996; MacArthur Fellow (1981); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1987)
• Isidor Isaac Rabi (B.Chem. 1919; graduate study 1921–23, transferred) – Physics 1944; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1940)
• David J. Thouless (Ph.D. 1958) – Physics 2016; Fellow of the Royal Society, of the American Physical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1995); recipient of the Maxwell Medal and Prize (1973), the Wolf Prize in Physics (1990), the Paul Dirac Medal (1993), and the Lars Onsager Prize (2000)
• Steven Weinberg (B.A. 1954 physics) – physics 1979, National Medal of Science (1991); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1972)

Peace, literature, or economics

• Pearl S. Buck (M.A. 1925 English literature) – Literature 1938
• Robert F. Engle (M.S. 1966 physics, Ph.D. 1969 economics) – Economics 2003; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2005)
• Robert Fogel (B.A. 1948 history, minor in economics) – Economics 1993; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1973)
• Toni Morrison (M.A. 1955 English) – A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1997–2003) – Literature 1993; National Humanities Medal (2000), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1988)
• John Mott (B.S. 1888 philosophy) – Peace 1946

Physiology or medicine

• George Wells Beadle (Ph.D. 1930 genetics) – Physiology or Medicine 1958; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1944), Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1950)
• Robert W. Holley (Ph.D. 1947 organic chemistry; professor and department chair in biochemistry, 1948–68) – Physiology or Medicine 1968; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1968), Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1965)
• Barbara McClintock (B.S. 1923 botany, M.A. 1925 botany, Ph.D. 1927 cytology; instructor in Botany, 1927–31; A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1965–74) – Physiology or Medicine 1983; National Medal of Science (1970); MacArthur Fellow (1981); Wolf Prize in Medicine (1981); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1944), Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1981)
• Hermann Joseph Muller (graduate study 1911–12) – Physiology or Medicine 1946; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1931)
• Jack W. Szostak (Ph.D. 1977 biochemistry) – Physiology or Medicine 2009; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1998), Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2006)

Government

Heads of state

Mario García Menocal

Lee Teng-Hui

• Jamshid Amuzegar (B.S. 1945 engineering, Ph.D. 1951) – Prime Minister of Iran, 1977–78
• Václav Klaus (1969, no degree) – President of the Czech Republic (2003–2013), Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (1992–1997)^[15]
• Mario García Menocal (B.S. 1888 engineering) – President of Cuba, 1913–21
• Lee Teng-hui (Ph.D. 1968 agricultural economics) – President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), 1988–2000
• Tsai Ing-wen (LL.M. 1980) – President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (2016), chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan and former Vice Premier

U.S. Supreme Court Justices

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg (B.A. 1954 government) – U.S. Supreme Court associate justice

U.S. Cabinet and cabinet-level ranks

Janet Reno

Paul Wolfowitz

• Sandy Berger (B.A. 1967 government) – National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton, 1997–2001
• Samuel W. Bodman (B.S. 1961 chemical engineering) – Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 2001–2003, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (2004–2005), Secretary of Energy, 2005–2009; member of the National Academy of Engineering (2006)
• Jim Bridenstine (M.B.A) – Administrator of NASA 2018–
• Lincoln D. Faurer (attended, did not graduate) – director, National Security Agency 1981–85
• W. Scott Gould (A.B.) – United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs (April 9, 2009 – May 17, 2013)
• Stephen Hadley (B.A. 1969 government) – National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, 2005–2009
• Seth Harris (B.S. ILR 1983) – Deputy Secretary of Labor (2009–2014) and Acting Secretary of Labor (January 22, 2013 – July 23, 2013)
• Eugene K. Jones (M.A. 1908 social science) – member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, executive secretary of the National Urban League; founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
• C. Everett Koop (M.D. 1941) – Surgeon General of the United States under president Ronald Reagan, 1982–89; recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1991)
• Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (undergrad 1909–10, 1912–13, dropped out) – Secretary of the Treasury, 1934–45
• Edmund Muskie (LL.B. 1939) – Governor of Maine, 1955–59; Senator from Maine, 1959–80; vice presidential candidate, 1968; Secretary of State, 1980–81
• James Peake (M.D. 1972) – former Surgeon General of the United States Army, 2000–2004; United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 2007–2009
• Samuel Pierce (B.A. 1947, J.D. 1949; trustee, 1972–77, 1978–82) – Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Ronald Reagan, 1981–89
• Thomas C. Reed (B.S. 1956 mechanical engineering) – Secretary of the Air Force under Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, 1976–77
• Janet Reno (B.A. 1960 chemistry; professor) – Attorney General under Bill Clinton, 1993–2001
• William P. Rogers (LL.B. 1937) – Attorney General, 1957–61, Secretary of State (1969–73), Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, 1973
• Louis Wade Sullivan (Medical College Resident) – Secretary of Health and Human Services under George H. W. Bush, 1989–93; founder, dean and president of Morehouse School of Medicine
• Nancy Sutley (B.A.) – Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality under Barack Obama (2009–2014)
• John P. White (B.S. 1959 ILR) – United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (1995–1997)
• Paul Wolfowitz (B.A. 1965 mathematics and chemistry) – Deputy Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush, 2001–05, president of the World Bank, 2005–2007

U.S. Governors

Joseph B. Foraker

• John Alden Dix (attended 1879–1882) – 38th Governor of New York, 1911–1912
• Joseph B. Foraker (B.A. 1869) – Governor of Ohio (1886–90); Senator of Ohio (1897–1909); one of eight members of Cornell's first graduating class^[16]
• James Benton Grant (attended 1873–1874) – Governor of Colorado, 1883–1885
• Herbert James Hagerman (1890) – 17th Governor of the New Mexico Territory (1906–1907)
• Philip H. Hoff (J.D. 1951) – Governor of Vermont (1963–69); first Democrat to serve in that position since the Civil War^[17]
• Goodwin Knight (graduate study 1919–20) – Governor of California, 1953–1959
• John T. Morrison (LL.B. degree 1890) – sixth Governor of Idaho, 1903–1905^[18]
• Edmund Muskie (LL.B. 1939) – Governor of Maine, 1955–59; Senator from Maine, 1959–80; vice presidential candidate, 1968; Secretary of State, 1980–81
• Chuck Robb (undergrad 1957–58, transferred) – Senator from Virginia, 1989–2001; Governor of Virginia, 1982–1986
• Horace White (1887) – member of New York State Senate, 1896–1908; Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1909–1910; 37th Governor of New York

U.S. Congressmen

Gabrielle Giffords

• John G. Alexander (J.D. 1916) – Minnesota 3rd District, 1939–41
• Rob Andrews (J.D. 1982) – New Jersey 1st District, 1990–2014
• Andrew Biemiller (B.A. 1926) – Wisconsin, 1945–47, 1949–51
• Jim Bridenstine (M.B.A) – Oklahoma 1st District, 2013–2018; Administrator of NASA (2018-)
• Frederick Van Ness Bradley (1921) – Michigan, 1939–47
• Abraham Lincoln Brick (undergrad) – Indiana, 1899–1908
• Katherine Clark (J.D.) – Massachusetts, 2013–present
• Hansen Clarke (B.F.A.) – Michigan 13th District, 2010–2013
• Barber Conable (B.A. 1942 medieval history, LL.B. 1948) – New York 37th District, 1965–73; 35th District, 1973–83; 30th District, 1983–85; president of the World Bank, 1986–91
• Maurice Connolly (1897) – Iowa, 1913–15
• Thomas Joseph Downey (B.S. 1970) – New York 2nd District, 1975–93
• Bob Filner (B.A. 1963 chemistry, Ph.D. 1973 history of science) – California 50th District, 1993–2003, 51st District, 2003–2012; San Diego mayor, 2012-present
• Chris Gibson (MPA 1995, M.A. 1996, Ph.D. 1998) – New York 20th District (2011–2013), 19th District (2013–)
• Gabrielle Giffords (M.R.P. 1996) – Arizona, 8th District, 2007–2012
• Norman Judd Gould (M.E. 1899) – New York, 1915–23
• Gilbert Gude (B.S. 1948) – Maryland 8th District, 1967–77
• Edwin Arthur Hall – New York, 1939–53
• Nan Hayworth (M.D. 1985) – New York 19th district, 2011–2013
• Joseph Clifford Hendrix (studies 1870–73; trustee) – New York, 1893–95
• Lewis Henry (1909) – New York, 1922–23
• Frank Horton (L.L.B. 1947) – New York 36th District (1963–73), 34th District (1973–83), 29th District, 1983–93
• Charles Samuel Joelson (B.A. 1937, L.L.B. 1939) – New Jersey, 1961–69
• Clarence Evans Kilburn (1916) – New York, 1940–65
• Mark Kirk (B.A. 1981 history) – Illinois 10th District, 2001–2011; Senator, 2011–2017
• Gary Alcide Lee (graduate study 1963) – New York, 1979–83
• Norman F. Lent (L.L.B. 1957) – New York 5th District (1971–73), 4th District, 1973–93
• Richard Dean McCarthy (graduate study) – New York, 1965–71
• Clement Woodnutt Miller (1946 industrial & labor relations) – California, 1959–62
• Robert J. Mrazek (B.A. 1967 government) – New York 3rd District, 1983–93
• James R. Olin (B.E.E. 1943) – Virginia, 1983–93
• Richard Ottinger (B.A. 1950) – New York (1965–71, 1975–85); founder and second staff member of the Peace Corps (1961–64); dean of Pace Law School, 1994–99
• James Parker (1887) – New York 29th District, 1913–33
• Edward Worthington Pattison (B.A. 1953, L.L.B. 1957) – New York, 1975–79
• John Raymond Pillion (L.L.B. 1927) – New York, 1953–65
• Alexander Pirnie (1924, J.D. 1926) – New York 34th District (1959–63), 32nd District, 1963–73
• Daniel A. Reed (1898) – New York 43rd District (1919–45, 1953–59), 45th District, 1945–53
• Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (B.A. 1933) – Wisconsin, 1955–83
• Howard Winfield Robison (1937, law 1939) – New York, 1958–75
• James A. Roe (School of Military Aeronautics 1917) – New York, 1945–47
• Kurt Schrader (B.A. 1973) – Oregon 5th District, 2009–present
• George Shiras III (1881) – Pennsylvania, 1903–05
• Henry P. Smith III (law 1936) – New York, 1965–75
• James H. Southard (law 1874) – Ohio, 1895–1907
• Sam Steiger (attended two years) – Arizona, 1946–47
• Elmer E. Studley (1894) – New York, 1933–35
• Frank Sundstrom (1924) – New Jersey 11th District, 1943–49
• Paul Harold Todd, Jr. (B.S. 1942) – Michigan (1965–67), CEO of Planned Parenthood, 1967–70
• William Edgar Tuttle, Jr. (undergrad 1887–89) – New Jersey, 1911–15
• George Ernest Waldo (undergrad 1868–70) – New York, 1905–09
• John De Witt Warner (1872) – New York, 1891–95
• John S. Wold (M.S. 1939) – Wyoming, 1969–71

Diplomats

Alan Keyes

• Parker W. Borg (MPA 1965) – United States Ambassador to Mali (1981–1984) and United States Ambassador to Iceland (1993–1996)
• William Brownfield (1974) – U.S. Ambassador to Chile (2002–2004), Venezuela (2004–2007), and Colombia (2007–2010)
• Richard Burt (B.A. 1969) – United States Ambassador to Germany (1985–1989); chief negotiator of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (rank of Ambassador); Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (1983–1985)
• Dwight L. Bush, Sr. (B.A. 1979) – businessman; United States Ambassador to Morocco (2014– )
• Henry A. Byroade (M.S. 1940 civil engineering) – career diplomat serving as U.S. Ambassador to Egypt (1955–1956), South Africa (1956–1959), Afghanistan (1959–1962), Burma (1963–1968), Philippines (1969–1973), Pakistan (1973–1977)
• Timothy M. Carney (1975–1976 Southeast Asian studies) – United States Ambassador to Sudan (1995–1997), United States Ambassador to Haiti (1998–1999)
• Chan Heng Chee (M.A. 1967 government) – Singapore's Ambassador to the U.S. (1996–2012) and to Mexico (1989–1991)
• Arthur Hobson Dean (B.A. 1921, L.L.B. 1923) – international law expert, chief U.S. negotiator at Panmunjeom, assisted with negotiations for Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, delegate to the United Nations
• Eric S. Edelman (B.A. 1972 history) – United States Ambassador to Finland (1998–2001), United States Ambassador to Turkey (2003–2005)
• Glenn W. Ferguson (B.A. 1950 economics, MBA 1951) – United States Ambassador to Kenya, 1966–1969, academic administrator
• Robert Ford (M.A. 1940 history) – Canadian Ambassador to Colombia (1957–1959), Yugoslavia (1959–1961), Egypt and Sudan (1961–1964), the USSR (1964–1980) and Mongolia (1974–1980); a Companion of the Order of Canada
• Daniel Fried (B.A. 1974) – career diplomat; United States Ambassador to Poland (1997–2000)
• William vanden Heuvel (Bachelor and Law, editor-in-chief of Cornell Law Review) – U.S. Ambassador to the European office of the United Nations (1977–79) and United States Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations (1979–1981)
• John H. Holdridge (1948–1950 Chinese language) – United States Ambassador to Singapore (1975–1978), United States Ambassador to Indonesia (1982–1986)
• Jerome H. Holland (B.S. 1939, M.S. 1941) – First black member of the New York Stock Exchange; president of Delaware State University (1953–60) and Hampton University (1960–70); United States Ambassador to Sweden, 1970–73; chairman of the American Red Cross, 1979–85
• Makila James ('79) – United States Ambassador to Swaziland (2012–2016)
• Alan Keyes (undergrad 1968–69, transferred) – diplomat, U.S. Presidential candidate, 1996, 2000; U.S. Senate candidate from Maryland (1988, 1992) and Illinois (2004)
• Edwin Jackson Kyle (M.S. 1902) – United States Ambassador to Guatemala, 1945–48; namesake of Kyle Field
• Sol Linowitz (J.D. 1938, trustee, 1966–95) – diplomat, ambassador, chairman of Xerox, 1960–66; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, 1998
• Simon Mbilinyi (B.Sc.) – Tanzanian Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, 1985–1989; Minister of Finance (1995–1996)
• C. Steven McGann (1975–1978 graduate studies) – United States Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu (2008–2011)
• Francisco de Miguel (M.A. 1985) – Spanish career diplomat, Spain's Ambassador to Libya
• Cameron Munter (B.A. 1976) – United States Ambassador to Serbia (2007–2009), United States Ambassador to Pakistan (2010–2012)
• Michael Punke (J.D. 1989) – United States Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (2011- )
• G. Frederick Reinhardt (M.A. 1935) – career diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam (1955–1957), to the United Arab Republic and North Yemen (1960–1961) and to Italy (1961–1968)
• Hu Shih (B.A. 1914) – China's Ambassador to the U.S., 1938–42; philosopher; poet
• Moncrieff J. Spear (B.A. 1946) – former American diplomat
• Willard Straight (B.Arch. 1901) – diplomat, investment banker, publisher, World War I veteran, namesake of Willard Straight Hall
• Sao-Ke Alfred Sze (B.A. 1901) – China's Ambassador to the U.S. and later UK; founding member of World Bank; first Chinese student to attend Cornell
• Sandra Louise Vogelgesang – United States Ambassador to Nepal (1994–1997)

Judges and lawyers

Douglas H. Ginsburg

• Floyd Abrams (B.A. 1956) – co-counsel, The New York Times' "Pentagon Papers" case
• Ronnie Abrams (B.A. 1990) – Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2012–)
• Simon L. Adler (LL.B. 1889) – United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York and New York State lawmaker
• Barry T. Albin (J.D. 1976) – Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (2002–)
• Mary Donlon Alger (LL.B. 1920) – U.S. Customs Court Judge and first female editor-in-chief of the Cornell Law Quarterly and of a US law review
• Mark J. Bennett (J.D. 1979) – Attorney General of Hawaii, Federal Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Richard M. Berman (B.S. 1964) – Judge (1998–2012), Senior Judge (2012–) of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Boris Bittker (B.A. 1938) – prominent professor
• William F. Bleakley (LL.B. 1904) – New York Supreme Court Justice, first Westchester County Executive, 1936 Republican nominee for Governor of New York
• Frederic Block (LL.B. 1959) – Judge (1994–2005), Senior Judge (2005–) of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Robert Boochever (B.A. 1939, J.D. 1941) – Judge (1980–1986), Senior Judge (1986–2011) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Justice (1972–1980) and Chief Justice (1975–1978) of the Alaska Supreme Court
• Leonie Brinkema (J.D. 1976) – U.S. District Court Judge
• David Buckel (J.D. 1987) – U.S. LGBT rights lawyer and environmentalist
• Zachary W. Carter (B.A. 1972) – United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (1993–1999)
• George B. Clementson (LL.B. 1892) – author of The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, the first treatise on bicycle law
• Brian Cogan (J.D. 1979) – Federal judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (2006–)
• Christopher C. Conner (B.A. 1979) – Federal judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (2002–)
• Paul A. Crotty (LL.B. 1967) – Federal Judge, Southern District of New York
• Leonard C. Crouch (Ph.B. 1889) – New York Supreme Court Justice; New York Court of Appeals Judge
• William H. Cuddeback (B.A. 1874) – New York Court of Appeals Judge (1912–1919)
• Henry White Edgerton (A.B. 1910) – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1937–1963)
• Nancy Garlock Edmunds (B.A. 1969) – Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (1992–)
• Harry T. Edwards (B.A. 1962 industrial & labor relations) – Chief Judge Emeritus on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington, D.C.; professor of law at the New York University School of Law
• John T. Elfvin (B.E.E. 1942 electrical engineering) – Federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York (1974–1987)
• Dana Fabe (B.A. 1973) – Justice (1996–), Chief Justice (2000–2003, 2006–2009, 2012–2015) of Alaska Supreme Court
• Thomas E. Fairchild (B.A. 1934) – Judge (1966–1975), Chief Judge (1975–1981), Senior Judge (1981–2007) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Peter T. Farrell (B.A. 1922) – Queens County Court judge who presided over the trial of bank robber Willie Sutton^[19]
• Phillip S. Figa (J.D. 1976) – Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (2003–2008)
• Paul L. Friedman (B.A. 1965) – Judge (1994–2009), Senior Judge (2009–) of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• Charles Garside (LL.B. 1923) – New York City municipal judge, active in New York State Government
• Nina Gershon (B.A. 1962 English) – United States Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1976–1996), Judge (1996–2008) and Senior Judge (2008–) of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Douglas H. Ginsburg (B.A. 1970) – Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Michael Goldsmith (B.S. 1972, J.D. 1975) – leading Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) expert and ALS advocate
• William E. Grauer (B.A. 1971, J.D. 1974) – partner, Cooley LLP
• Peter W. Hall (J.D. 1977) – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2004–)
• Emily C. Hewitt (A.B. 1966) – Judge and Chief Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims
• Frank H. Hiscock (A.B. 1875) – Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1916–1926), chairman of Cornell Board of Trustees, and decided the Chester Gillette murder case.
• David N. Hurd (B.S. 1959) – Federal judge for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
• Edith Jones (B.A. 1971 economics) – Judge, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Peter Marx - Information Law attorney
• Barbara Milano Keenan (B.A. 1971) – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (2010–), Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia (1991–2010) and Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals (1985–1991)
• Gladys Kessler (B.A. 1959) – Federal judge (1994–2007), Senior Judge (2007–) for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• Theodore W. Kheel (B.A. 1935, law 1937) – attorney and labor mediator
• H. David Kotz (J.D. 1990) – Inspector General of the SEC
• John A. Kronstadt (B.A. 1973) – Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (2002–2011), Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California (2011–)
• Frederick Bernard Lacey (LL.B. 1948) – Federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
• Leonard Leo (B.A. 1986, J.D. 1989) – executive vice president of the Federalist Society
• Lloyd Francis MacMahon (B.A. 1936, LL.B. 1938) – Federal judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1959–1982)
• Andrew J. McDonald (B.A.) – Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, member of the Connecticut Senate (2003–2011)
• L. Londell McMillan (B.S. 1987 ILR) – entertainment attorney and publisher
• Sherman Moreland (LL.B. 1894) – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (1909–1917)
• Alison J. Nathan (B.A. 1994, J.D. 2000) – editor-in-chief of the Cornell Law Review; Federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2011–)
• Edward Nottingham (B.A. 1969) – United States federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
• Walter Chadwick Noyes (1888) – Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Edward R. O'Malley (LL.B. 1891) – former New York Attorney General and justice of the New York Supreme Court
• Anne M. Patterson (J.D. 1983) – Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (2011–)
• Marsha J. Pechman (B.A. 1973) – Federal judge (1999–2011), Chief Federal judge (2011–) of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
• Pamela Pepper (J.D. 1989) – Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (2014–)
• Philip Perry (J.D. 1990) – General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security
• Cuthbert W. Pound (1887; law professor) – member of New York State Senate (1894–1895); Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1932–1934)
• Sharon Prost (B.S. 1973) – Federal Judge (2001–2014), Chief Judge (2014–present) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Leonardo Quisumbing (LL.M.) – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (1998–2009)
• Aubrey Eugene Robinson, Jr. (B.A. 1943, LL.B. 1947) – Judge (1966–1982), Chief Judge (1982–1992) and Senior Judge (1992–2000) of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• Robin S. Rosenbaum (B.A. 1988) – Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida^[20]
• Max Rosenn (B.A. 1929) – Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Barbara Jacobs Rothstein (B.A. 1960) – Judge (February 20, 1980 – September 1, 2011), Chief Judge (1987–1994) of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (September 1, 2011–)
• Amy J. St. Eve (B.S. 1987, J.D. 1990) – Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2002–)
• Frederic Palen Schoonmaker (B.A. 1891) – Federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (1922–1945)
• Leah Ward Sears (B.S. 1976) – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia
• Sang-Hyun Song (J.S.D. 1970) – Judge (2003–2015) and president (2009–2015) of the International Criminal Court
• Jonathan R. Steinberg (B.A. 1960) – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (1990–2005)
• Harold Montelle Stephens (A.B. 1909) – Judge (1935–1948) and chief judge (1948–1955) on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• Joseph L. Tauro (LL.B. 1956) – Federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
• Elbert Tuttle (B.A. 1918, LL.B. 1923) – Chief judge, U.S. Court of Appeals; ruled on many fundamental 1954 civil-rights cases
• Richard C. Wesley (J.D. 1974) – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2003–)

Other government

Florence Kelley

Major General John Paxton Jr.

• Carol Aichele (B.A.) – Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania (2011–2015)
• Steve Aichele (B.A. 1970) – former Chief of Staff of Governor Tom Corbett
• Alan A. Altshuler (B.A.) – Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation (1971–1975); former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and of the Graduate School of Public Administration at New York University; fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
• Jane Amero (B.A. 1963) – member of Maine Senate (1992–2000)
• Irma Anderson (B.S. Nursing) – Mayor of the city of Richmond, California (2001–2006)
• Patrice M. Arent (J.D. 1981) – member of the Utah House of Representatives (January 1, 1997 – December 31, 2002, January 1, 2011–) and the Utah State Senate (January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2006)
• Byron M. Baer – member of the New Jersey General Assembly (1972–1993) and of the New Jersey Senate (1994–2005)
• Calvin Barton (1899) – Mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut (1921–1923)
• Ruth Bascom (Master's in Social Psychology) – first female mayor of Eugene, Oregon (1993–1996)
• Bob Bastian (Veterinary Medicine 1963) – member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1999–2008)
• George Bell, Jr. (LL.B., 1894), United States Army Major General who commanded the 33rd Infantry Division in World War I and later the United States VI Corps
• George A. Blauvelt (1890) – member of the New York State Assembly (1911, 1912) and of the New York State Senate (1913, 1914)
• Peter Bowman (B.S. 1960 electrical engineering) – member of the Maine Senate (2006–2010)
• William B. Broydrick – Wisconsin politician
• Robert Cardillo (B.A. 1983 government) – director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2014-)
• David Carlucci (B.S. 2002, ILR) – member of the New York Senate (January 1, 2011–)
• Nelson W. Cheney (B.A. 1899) – member of the New York State Assembly (1916–1929) and of the New York State Senate (1930–1938)
• Derek Chollet (B.A. 1993) – Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (2012–2014)
• Parley Parker Christensen – Utah and California politician, Esperantist
• Bruce C. Clarke – United States Army general
• Clem S. Clarke (two years, Geology) – oilman and Republican politician from Shreveport, Louisiana^[21]
• David S. Cohen (B.A. 1985) – deputy director of the CIA (2015–), Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing (2009–2011)
• Ernest E. Cole (B.S. 1895) – Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, 1940–1942
• Rhonda Cornum (Ph.D. 1980 biochemistry and nutrition) – former United States Army Brigadier general; former prisoner of war
• Edwin L. Crawford – first county executive of Broome County, New York
• Clifford W. Crouch (AAS 1965, dairy science) – member of the New York State Assembly
• Walter Cruickshank (B.A. Geological Sciences) – deputy director and then acting director of US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
• Charles d'Autremont (1868–1871) – Mayor of Duluth, Minnesota
• Samuel B. Dicker (1911) – 58th Mayor of Rochester, New York (1939–1955)
• Elizabeth B. Drewry (Ph.D. 1933) – archivist with the National Archives and director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
• Harriet Drummond (B.S. 1974) – member of the Alaska House of Representatives (2013– )
• María del Rosario Guerra de La Espriella (M.S. Agricultural Economy) – Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of the Government of Colombia (2006–2010) and Senator of Colombia (2014–)
• Robert Flanagan (J.D. 1974) – secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation (2003–2007) and member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1987–2003)
• John Ford – member of the New York State Senate (1896–1900)
• Stephen Friedman (B.A. 1959; trustee, 1993–) – chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (2005–); former assistant for economic policy to President George W. Bush (2002–04) and director of the United States National Economic Council, 2003–04; former chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, 1990–94
• Vincent J. Gentile (B.A.) – member of the New York State Senate (1997–2002) and of the New York City Council (2003–2017)
• Kim Gillan (Masters 1975) – member of the Montana House of Representatives (1996–2004) and of the Montana Senate (2004–2012)
• Armando Samper Gnecco (B.S. 1943 agricultural economy) – Minister of Agriculture of Colombia
• Richard N. Gottfried (B.A. 1968) – member of the New York State Assembly since 1971; more than 40 years
• Jesse Root Grant (undergrad 1874–77, dropped out) – son of U.S. President Ulysses S Grant
• Geoffrey Gratwick (post-doctoral fellowship) – physician and member of the Maine Senate (2012–)
• Mark J. Green (B.A. 1967) – government consumer-affairs activist, New York Public Advocate (1994–2001)
• Jo Handelsman (B.S. 1979) – associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (2014- )
• Howard Hart – Central Intelligence Agency officer
• Isaac Herzog – Israeli politician
• John Hillen (MBA) – 15th Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs (2005–2007)
• Dennis Hollingsworth (Dairy Science) – member of California State Legislature (2000–2010)
• Clinton T. Horton (B.A. 1898, LL.B. 1899) – member of the New York State Assembly (1912–1914) and of the New York State Senate (1915–1916), a Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1922–1935)
• Edward M. House (undergrad 1877–80, dropped out) – Foreign policy advisor for Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Alyson Huber (B.S.) – member of the California State Assembly (2008–2012); judge of the Superior Court of Sacramento County in California (2012–)
• Tony Hwang (B.S.) – member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (2009–2015) and of the Connecticut Senate (2015–)
• Henry W. Jeffers (B.S. 1899) – chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee (1935–1937); inventor of the Rotolactor
• Phyllis Kahn (A.B. 1957 physics) – member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for more than 40 years (1973–)
• Florence Kelley (B.A. 1882) – political and social reformer
• Donald Kerr (B.S. 1963) – assistant director of the F.B.I.; former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai (Ph.D. 1950) – Governor of Bihar (1979–85, 1993–98), West Bengal (1998–1999), and Haryana (2004–2009), India
• Stephen D. Krasner (B.A. 1963) – Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department, professor of political science at Stanford University
• Celso Lafer (Ph.D. 1970) – Foreign Minister (1992–1992, 2001–2002) and Commerce Minister (1999–1999) of Brazil
• Gail Lavielle (B.A. English) – member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (2011–)
• Chih-Kung Lee (M.S. 1985, Ph.D. 1987) – Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China (2016–)
• Harold O. Levy (B.A. 1974, J.D. 1977) – Chancellor of New York City Schools 2000–2002
• David R. Macdonald (B.S. 1952) – United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Enforcement, Operations, and Tariff Affairs) (1974–1976), Under Secretary of the Navy (1976–1977), Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (1981–1983)
• William Magee (bachelor's degree 1961, agricultural economics) – Democratic Member of the New York State Assembly
• Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol (LL.M. 2002, J.S.D. 2005) – Princess of Thailand^[22]
• Stanley Makowski (attended with a certificate from ILR) – Mayor of the City of Buffalo, New York (1973–1977)
• Kyle E. McSlarrow – Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy
• Dan Meuser – Secretary of Revenue of Pennsylvania (2011–2015)
• Daneek Miller – member of the New York City Council from the 27th District (January 1, 2014–)
• Wheeler Milmoe (A.B. 1917) – member of the New York State Assembly 1934–1952 and New York State Senate (1953–1958)
• Yatarō Mishima (M.A) – 8th Governor of the Bank of Japan (1913–1919)
• E. Blackburn Moore – member (1933–1967), Speaker (1950–1967) of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Sherman Moreland (B.Litt. 1892, LL.B. 1894) – member of the New York State Assembly (1903–1907) and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Becky Morgan (B.S. 1960) – California State Senator (1984–1993)
• Svante Myrick (A.B. 2009) – Mayor of Ithaca, New York (2012- ); former member of Ithaca Common Council for the 4th Ward
• Benjamin Nichols (B.S. 1946, M.S. 1949) – Cornell professor of electrical and computer engineering and Socialist mayor of Ithaca (1989–1995)
• Kenneth Nichols (B.S., M.S. civil engineering) – United States Army Major General and an engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1968)^[23]
• Michael F. Nozzolio (Bachelor's ILR, Master's in Public Administration and Agricultural Economics) – former member of the New York State Assembly (1983–1992) and the New York State Senate (1993–)
• Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello (Ph.D. 1994) – former Nigerian Senator (2007–2011); daughter of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
• William O'Brien (attended 2 years, mechanical engineering) – member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1963–1967), 11th Minnesota State Auditor (1969–1971)
• Napsiah Omar (B.S. Nutrition and Education) – a Malaysian educator and politician
• Bill O'Neill – member of the New Mexico Legislature (2009–)
• Shih-wei Pan (M.A. Ph.D. ILR) – former Minister of Labor of the Republic of China
• John M. Paxton, Jr. (B.S. 1973, M.Eng. 1974) – major general, United States Marine Corps, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
• Ralph Perlman (Bachelor's) – Louisiana state budget director, 1967–1988^[24]
• Charles Gilbert Peterson – Mayor of Lockport, New York; contractor
• Fred B. Pitcher (B.S. 1888) – New York State Senator (1919–1922)
• Lim Chuan Poh (MBA 1993) – Singaporean civil servant and former army general who served as Chief of Army (1998–2000) and Chief of Defence Force (2000–2003) of the Singapore Armed Forces
• Juan Carlos Esguerra Portocarrero (LL.M. 1973) – Minister of National Defence of Colombia (1995–1997) and Justice and Law of Colombia (2011–2012); Ambassador of Colombia to the United States (1997–1998)
• Roberto Prats (B.A. 1990 public political analysis and economics) – Senator of Puerto Rico
• Samuel Rabin – member of the New York State Assembly (1945–1954); New York Supreme Court Justice
• Charlie Rodríguez (B.A. 1976 in Government and History) – 11th president of the Senate of Puerto Rico (1997–2000)
• Martin Romualdez (B.A. 1985 government) – member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines (2007–)
• Anna E. Roosevelt (did not graduate) – daughter of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
• Joseph D. Scholtz (B.A. 1912) – Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky (1937–1941)
• Martha Schrader (B.A.) – member of the Oregon Senate (2009–2011); Clackamas County, Oregon Commissioner (2003–2009, 2012–)
• José Serra (M.A., Ph.D. Economics) – Brazilian politician who served as a Brazil Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning and Minister of Health, Mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state
• Raj Shah (B.A. 2006 government) – principal deputy press secretary at The White House
• Miriam Shearing (B.A. philosophy) – Justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada (1993–2005)
• Joseph Simons (A.B. 1980 economics and history) – chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (2018–)
• Samuel S. Slater (B.L. and LL.B. 1894) – member of the New York State Assembly (1899–1900) and of the New York State Senate (1901–1902)
• Gayle Slossberg (B.S. 1987) – Connecticut State Senator (2005–)
• William T. Smith (1938) – member of the New York State Senate (1963–1986)
• Robert Sopuck (M.S. 1975) – member of Canadian Parliament (2010–)
• Ellen Spiegel (B.S. 1984, consumer economics and public policy) – member of the Nevada Assembly (2008–)
• Karen Spilka (B.A.) – Massachusetts State Senator (2005–); member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (2001–2005)
• David A. Stafford (B.A. 1917) – brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps^[25]
• Thomas J. Surpless (1900) – member of the New York State Assembly (1906–1909)
• Gaye Symington (M.B.A. 1983) – member (1996–2009), Speaker (January 5, 2005 – January 8, 2009) of the Vermont House of Representatives
• Huang Ta-chou (Ph.D. 1971 agriculture) – mayor of Taipei (1990–1994)
• Mamintal A.J. Tamano (LL.M. 1958) – Filipino statesman; former Senator of the Philippines
• Rick Taylor (Master's 1998 ILR) – member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (2007–2010)
• Martín Travieso (Law 1903) – member of the Puerto Rico Senate (1917–1921), Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico (1921–1923), 4th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico (1944–1948)
• James S. Truman (Ph.B. 1896, LL.B. 1898) – member of the New York State Senate (1925–1928)
• Ting-kuei Tsay (Ph.D. 1982) – vice-chairman of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration, 2002–2004^[26]
• Wu Tsung-tsong (M.S. 1983, Ph.D. 1987) – minister without portfolio, Executive Yuan, Republic of China (2016–)
• William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire (Ph.D.) – scholar and Liberal Democrat peer
• Andrew C. Weber – Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs; Obama administration
• Roy P. Wilcox (LL.B. 1897) – Wisconsin politician
• Henry D. Williams – member of the New York State Assembly (1918) and of the New York State Senate (1925 – 1930)
• Mitchell Van Yahres (B.S. 1949) – Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia (1970–1972) and member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1981–2005)
• Frank L. Young (B.A. 1888) – member of the New York State Assembly (1909–1912) and a Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1922–1930)

Business

Founders

Willis Carrier

Sanford Weill

David Duffield

• Richard Baker (B.S. 1988, hotel administration) – founder, president, and CEO of NRDC Equity Partners and Hudson's Bay Company, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Gilt Groupe, Lord & Taylor, The Bay, Home Outfitters, Zellers, and Fields
• Aldo Bensadoun (attended, transferred) – billionaire founder and executive chairman of the ALDO Group
• Amit Bhatia (B.S. 2001) – founder of Swordfish Investments; vice chairman of Queen's Park Rangers
• Harry E. Bovay, Jr. (1936 civil engineering) – founder and president of Bovay Engineers, Inc.^[27] and Mid-South Telecommunications Company;^[28][29] member of the National Academy of Engineering (1978)^[30][31]
• Wendell Brown (B.S. 1982) – co-founder of Teleo, eVoice, LiveOps, and Nularis
• Daniel Cane (B.S. 1997) – co-founder of Blackboard Inc.
• Willis Carrier (M.E. 1901) – founder of Carrier Corporation; inventor of air conditioning
• Steve Conine (B.S. 1995) – billionaire co-founder of Wayfair^[32]
• Joseph Coors (B.Chem. 1939, chemical engineering 1940) – co-founder of The Heritage Foundation
• Mac Cummings (B.A. 2001) – co-founder of Terakeet Corporation; director of Internet Finance
• Tom Dinwoodie (B.S. 1978, civil and environmental engineering) – Cleantech entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of SunPower Corporation Systems (formerly PowerLight Corporation)
• Ira Drukier – hotelier and philanthropist
• David Duffield (B.E.E. 1962, M.B.A. 1964) – billionaire co-founder of PeopleSoft and Workday
• David Edgerton (B.A. 1947, hotel administration) – co-founder of Burger King Corporation
• David Einhorn (B.A. 1991) – founder and president of Greenlight Capital; billionaire hedge fund manager
• Chuck Feeney (B.S. 1956 hotel administration) – co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group; founder and director of Atlantic Philanthropies; founder of General Atlantic; billionaire philanthropist who has given away more than $8 billion
• Russell W. Galbut (B.S. 1974 hotel administration) – co-founder of Crescent Heights, a real estate development company^[33]
• Frank Gannett (B.A. 1898) – founder of Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher; namesake of Gannett Health Center
• Stephen Gilfus (B.S. 1997) – co-founder of Blackboard Inc.
• Paul Graham (B.A.) – co-founder of Viaweb, sold for $46.6 million to Yahoo! and became Yahoo! Stores; Lisp programmer, author
• Leroy Grumman (B.S. 1916 mechanical engineering) – founder of Grumman Aerospace Corporation; recipient of the Medal for Merit (1948)
• Myra Hart (B.A. 1962, M.B.A. 1981, trustee, 1999–) – one of four co-founders of Staples, Inc.; professor at Harvard Business School
• Jeff Hawkins (B.S. 1979 electrical engineering) – founder of Palm, Inc. and Handspring; inventor of the Palm Pilot; member of the National Academy of Engineering (2003)
• Christopher Hemmeter (B.S. 1962, hotel administration) – founder and chairman of Hemmeter Companies
• Irwin M. Jacobs (B.E.E. 1956) – billionaire, co-founder and chairman of Qualcomm; UCSD and MIT engineering professor, pioneer of CDMA wireless technology, philanthropist; recipient of numerous awards including National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1994), Marconi Prize (2011), IEEE Medal of Honor (2013); member of the National Academy of Engineering (1982)
• Stephen A. Jarislowsky (B.S. 1946 mechanical engineering) – billionaire businessman and philanthropist; founder, chairman, and CEO of Jarislowsky Fraser Limited
• H. Richard Johnson (B.S. 1946 electrical engineering) – co-founder, president, and CEO of Watkins-Johnson Company; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1973)^[34]
• Seth Klarman (B.A. 1979) – founder and chairman of the Baupost Group; hedge fund manager, billionaire
• Jules Kroll (B.A. 1963) – founder of Kroll Inc. and the modern investigations, intelligence, and security industry; responsible for tracking the assets of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and Saddam Hussein
• David Litman (1979, 1982) – founder and CEO of Hotels.com
• Yossi Maiman – founder and owner of the Merhav Group, shareholder of the East Mediterranean Gas Company, and former chairman, chief executive officer and president of the Ampal-American Israel Corporation^[35]
• James McLamore (B.A. 1947, hotel administration) – co-founder of Burger King Corporation
• Gary Mendell (B.S. 1979 hotel administration) – founder, chairman, and CEO of HEI Hotels & Resorts
• Robert Warren Miller (B.S. 1955, hotel administration) – billionaire co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group
• Howard Milstein (B.A. 1973) – billionaire real estate developer, financier, and philanthropist; chairman, president and chief executive officer of New York Private Bank & Trust
• Jeff Morgan (B.S. City and Regional Planning) – founder of Global Heritage Fund
• Rohan Murty (B.S. Computer Science) – founder of Murty Classical Library of India
• Drew Nieporent (B.S. 1977 hotel administration) – founder of Myriad Restaurant Group
• Franklin W. Olin (B.C.E. 1886) – founder of Olin Corporation; gave gift to build Olin Hall in memory of his son Franklin W. Olin, Jr.
• John M. Olin (B.S. 1913 chemistry) – founder of John M. Olin Foundation, president, Olin Corporation; namesake of Olin Library
• Spencer Truman Olin (B.S. 1921 mechanical engineering) – industrialist and philanthropist; an executive of the Olin Corporation; Republican Party leader
• Peter Busch Orthwein (B.S. 1968, MBA 1969) – co-founder and chairman of Thor Industries
• Nathaniel A. Owings – founding partner of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)
• Harris Rosen (B.S. 1961 hotel administration) – founder of Rosen Hotels and Resorts; major donor of Rosen College of Hospitality Management (which was renamed due to his major donation)
• Rob Ryan (B.A. 1969) – founder and chairman of Ascend Communications
• William Sanders (B.S. 1964) – founder of LaSalle Partners (later merged to form Jones Lang LaSalle); founder and chairman of Security Capital Group Incorporated; former chairman of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT)
• Niraj Shah (born 1973/74) (B.S. 1995) – billionaire CEO and co-founder of Wayfair^[32][36]
• Leonard Schleifer (B.S. 1970) – founder and CEO of Regeneron; billionaire
• Seth M. Siegel (B.S. 1974, J. D. 1978) – founder of The Beanstalk Group
• Robert F. Smith (B.S. chemical engineering) – billionaire investor; founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners; ranked by Forbes in 2015 as 268th richest man in America, and the second wealthiest African-American
• Elmer Ambrose Sperry – founder of Sperry Corporation, known for his invention of Gyrostabilizer and the Gyrocompass; recipient of John Fritz Medal (1927) and Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute (1929), member of the National Academy of Sciences (1925)
• Clarence W. Spicer (engineering student) – founder of what is now Dana Holding Corporation; engineer, inventor, known for invention of Universal joint; inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame
• Jake Swirbul (attended) – co-founder of Grumman Aerospace Corporation
• Michael Tien (B.S. 1972 electrical engineering) – founder and chairman of the apparel retail company G2000
• Robert V. Tishman (1937) – founder of Tishman Speyer Properties
• Robert I. Toll (B.A. 1963) – billionaire, co-founder of Toll Brothers
• Deena Varshavskaya – founder and CEO of Wanelo
• Jay Walker (B.S. 1977 industrial relations) – founder of Priceline.com; founder and chairman of Walker Digital, billionaire on Forbes list of the world's billionaires ($1.6 billion in 2000)
• Colston Warne (bachelor's 1920, master's 1921 economics) – co-founder of the Consumers Union and its Consumer Reports monthly magazine and served as its president for 43 years;^[37] professor of economics at Amherst College (1930–1969)
• Sanford I. Weill (B.A. 1955 government) – billionaire, former chairman and CEO of Citigroup; founder of Shearson Loeb Rhoades, sold for $930 million to American Express; namesake of Weill Cornell Medical College
• David F. Welch (Ph.D. 1985 electrical engineering) – co-founder, president of Infinera Corp; member of the National Academy of Engineering (2016)
• Justin DuPratt White (1890) – co-founder of White & Case law firm; trustee of the Cornell University Board of Trustees (1928–1939)
• Robin Wolaner (B.S. 1975 industrial and labor relations) – founder of Parenting Magazine
• John Zimmer (B.S. 2006 hotel administration) – co-founder and COO of Zimride; co-founder and president of Lyft

Chairpersons, CEOs, and executives

Ratan Tata

• Michael D. Barnello (B.S. 1987 hotel administration) – president (2008–) and CEO (2009–) of LaSalle Hotel Properties^[38][39]
• Carl Bass (B.A. 1983 mathematics) – former CEO and president of Autodesk (2006–2017)
• Al Bernardin (1952) – creator of the McDonald's Quarter Pounder;^[40] former vice president of Product Development for McDonald's
• Mark Bertolini (MBA 1984) – CEO and president of Aetna
• Jeffrey Bleustein (B.S. 1960, B.M.E 1961) – chairman and former CEO of Harley Davidson
• Val A. Browning (B.S. 1917) – president of Browning Arms Company, American soldier in WWI
• Howard J. Bruschi (B.S. and M.S. electrical engineering) – retired senior vice president and chief technology officer at Westinghouse Electric Company;^[41] member of the National Academy of Engineering (2008)
• Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. (undergrad 1906–09, dropped out) – president (1940–48) and chairman (1948–62) of DuPont
• Abby Joseph Cohen (B.A. 1973 economics and computer science, trustee) – partner and Senior Investment Strategist of Goldman Sachs; president of Global Markets Institute (GMI), Goldman Sachs
• Jennie Chua (B.S. 1971, hotel administration) – CEO of Capitaland Residential, former CEO of Raffles Holdings
• Heather Cho (B.S. 1999, hotel) – former VP of Korean Air, fired after Nut Rage incident
• Adolph Coors II (B.A. 1907) – second president of Coors Brewing Company
• Pete Coors (B.S. 1969 industrial engineering) – executive of Coors Brewing Company; Senatorial candidate, 2004
• Luciano Coutinho (Ph.D. economics) – president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES)
• Michael J. Dandorph (Master of Health Administration 1995) – president of the Rush system and of Rush University Medical Center (2016–)^[42][43]
• Eric Daniels (B.A. 1973) – former CEO of Lloyds Banking Group
• Alonzo G. Decker, Jr. (B.S. 1929 electrical engineering) – former president, CEO and chairman of the board of Black & Decker; known for developing power tools for use in home, including the first cordless electric drill
• Kenneth T. Derr (B.S. 1959 mechanical engineering, M.B.A. 1960, trustee) – chairman and CEO of Chevron, 1989–99
• Dave Dombrowski (undergrad 1974–75, transferred) – president, CEO, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers
• E. Linn Draper Jr. (Ph.D. 1970) – former chairman, president, and chief executive officer of American Electric Power Company; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1992)^[44][45]
• Jennifer Dulski (B.A., MBA) – president and chief operating officer of Change.org
• Reggie Fils-Aimé (B.S. 1983 applied economics) – president and COO of Nintendo of America (2006–)
• Stephen Friedman (B.A. 1959; trustee, 1993–) – chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, 1990–94; chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (2005–09); former Assistant for Economic Policy to President George W. Bush (2002–04); director of the United States National Economic Council, 2003–04
• Kenneth G. Fuller (B.S. 1999 hotel administration) – CFO and executive vice president of LaSalle Hotel Properties^[46]
• Robert F. Gilkeson (B.S. 1939 electrical engineering) – president (1965–1970), president and CEO (1970–1971), CEO and chairman (1971–1982) of PECO Energy Company;^[47][48] member of the National Academy of Engineering (1978)
• Pawan Kumar Goenka – managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, an Indian multinational automobile manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; chairman of SsangYong Motor Company in Korea
• Martin Goland (B.S. 1940 mechanical engineering) – president of Southwest Research Institute (1959–1997); member of the National Academy of Engineering (1967)^[49]
• Harvey Golub (attended 1956–1958) – president (1991–1993), chairman and CEO (1993–2001) of American Express; chairman of the board at the Campbell Soup Company (2004–2009); chairman of the American International Group (AIG) (2009–2010); chairman of the board of Advisors of Miller Buckfire (2011–)
• Byron Grote (Ph.D. 1981 quantitative analysis) – chief financial officer of BP
• Steven H. Gunby (B.A.) – president and CEO of FTI Consulting (2014–)^[50][51]
• Raj Gupta (M.S. 1969 operations research) – CEO and president of Rohm and Haas^[52]
• Robert Harrison (B.A. 1976 government) – CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative and chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees; Rhodes Scholar
• Dan Hesse (MBA 1977) – CEO of Sprint Nextel
• Matthew Hiltzik (B.S. 1994, ILR) – president and CEO of Hiltzik Strategies, a strategic consulting and communications firm
• D. Brainerd Holmes (B.S. 1943 electrical engineering) – best known for directing NASA's manned spaceflight program from September 1961 to June 1963; president of Raytheon (1976–1986) and chairman of Beechcraft; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1977)
• F. Kenneth Iverson (1946, aeronautical engineering) – president of Nucor Steel (1967–1998); inductee into the American Metal Market Steel Hall^[53] and the American National Business Hall of Fame; recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1991) and member of the National Academy of Engineering (1994)
• Frederick G. Jaicks (B.S. 1940 mechanical engineering) – chairman and CEO of Inland Steel Company;^[54][55] member of the National Academy of Engineering (1979)
• Walter C. Johnsen (B.S 1973, Master of Engineering (chemical) 1974) – chairman and CEO of Acme United Corporation
• Robert D. Kennedy (B.S. 1954 mechanical engineering) – chairman, president and CEO of Union Carbide (1986–1995)
• Shaygan Kheradpir (bachelor's, master's and doctorate 1979–1987 electrical engineering) – CEO of Juniper Networks
• Jeff Jacobson (M.S. ILR) – CEO of Xerox Corporation (2017–)
• Ken Jautz (B.A.) – executive vice president of CNN; former foreign correspondent for the Associated Press; former CNN bureau chief in Germany
• Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. (B.A. 1922 chemistry) – president of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and namesake of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on campus
• Herbert Fisk Johnson III (5 Cornell degrees 1979–86) – billionaire, CEO of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell
• Samuel Curtis Johnson, Jr. (B.A. 1950 economics) – billionaire, chairman of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and co-namesake of the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management
• S. Curtis Johnson (B.S. 1977) – billionaire, former chairman of Diversey
• Helen Johnson-Leipold (B.A. 1978 psychology) – billionaire businesswoman; chairman of Johnson Financial Group, chairman and CEO of Johnson Outdoors
• Winnie Johnson-Marquart (B.S. 1981) – billionaire, president of the Johnson Family Foundation
• Thomas W. Jones (B.A. 1969, M.R.P. 1972, trustee) – principal of TWJ Capital LLC
• Paul L. Joskow (B.A. 1968) – president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 2008, economist
• Charles F. Knight (1957, MBA 1959) – chairman of Emerson Electric Company
• James F. Lardner (B.S. 1946 mechanical engineering)^[56][57] – vice president in manufacturing systems and technologies at Deere & Company; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1985)^[58]
• Douglas Leone (B.S. 1979 mechanical engineering) – venture capitalist and a partner at Sequoia Capital; billionaire
• Oscar G. Mayer, Jr. (1934) – chairman of Oscar Mayer
• Timothy Mayopoulos (B.A. 1980) – president and CEO of Fannie Mae (2012–)
• Lowell McAdam (M.E. 1976) – chairman and CEO of Verizon
• Walter J. McCarthy, Jr. (mechanical engineering 1949)^[59] – chairman and CEO of Detroit Edison Company; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1984); the ship MV Walter J. McCarthy Jr. was renamed in his honor
• Mary Meeker (MBA 1986 finance) – venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst
• Peter C. Meinig (B.M.E 1962) – chairman and CEO of HM International, LLC
• Edward H. Meyer (B.A. 1948 economics) – president (1968–2006), chairman and CEO (1970–2006) of Grey Global Group; a philanthropist who and his wife Sandra donated $75 million to Cornell University to establish a new cancer center in 2015^[60]
• Jon R. Moeller (B.S. 1986, MBA 1988) – CFO of Procter & Gamble
• James C. Morgan (B.M.E., M.B.A) – CEO (1977–2003), chairman (1987–2009) of Applied Materials; recipient of IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal (2010), Semiconductor Industry Association's Robert N. Noyce Award (2006); National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1996)^[61]
• Thomas Murphy (B.S. 1945) – former chairman and CEO of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.; Television Hall of Fame, NATPE Lifetime Achievement Award (1996)
• Lubna Olayan (B.S. 1977) – CEO of the Olayan Financing Company, the holding entity for the Olayan Group's operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East
• Salil Parekh (M.E.) – CEO and managing director of Infosys (2018–)
• William D. Perez (B.A. 1969 government) – CEO of Wm. Wrigley, Jr. Company, CEO of Nike, Inc., 2004–06
• Sandi Peterson (B.A.) – Group Worldwide Chairman for Johnson & Johnson
• Joseph N. Pew, Jr. (M.E. 1908) – vice president (1912–1947) and chairman (1947–1963) of Sun Oil Company; founder of The Pew Charitable Trusts; namesake of Pew Engineering Quad
• James Pitaro (B.S. 1991) – president of ESPN
• Georges Plassat – chairman and chief executive officer of Carrefour (2012–2017)
• Lewis Platt (B.S. 1964 mechanical engineering) – CEO of Hewlett-Packard (1992–99); chairman of Boeing, 2003–05
• Michael B. Polk (B.S. IEOR) – CEO of Newell Brands (2011–)
• Robert Purcell – chairman of Cornell University Board of Trustees (1968–1978)
• Justin Rattner (B.S. 1970 electrical engineering, M.S. 1972 computer science) – chief technology officer of Intel, ABC News Person of the Week for his work on the ASCI Red system (fastest computer in the world, 1996–2000), R&D Magazine's "Scientist of the Year", 1989
• Bruce S. Raynor (B.S. 1972 industrial & labor relations) – president of UNITE HERE
• Kevin Reilly (B.A. 1984) – president of NBC Entertainment, 2004–present
• Irene Rosenfeld (B.S. 1975, M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1980) – CEO and chairwoman of Kraft Foods
• Frank Rosenfelt (LL.B. 1950) – former CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studio
• Jon Rubinstein (B.S. 1978, M.Eng. 1979) – CEO of Palm, Inc., Apple SVP 1997–2006; member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Demir Sabancı (MBA 1999) – Turkish entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist
• Joe Saddi (MBA 1983) – chairman of Booz & Company
• Vicki Saporta (class of 1974) – president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (1995–)
• Robert Selander (B.S. 1972) – president and CEO of MasterCard (1997–2010)
• Nancy M. Schlichting (M.B.A.) – president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System (2003–2017)^[62][63][64]
• Daniel Schwartz (B.S. 2001 applied economics and management) – CEO of Restaurant Brands International (Burger King Corporation)
• Michael R. Sfat (B.S. 1943, M.S. 1947 chemical engineering) – president of Bio-Technical Resources;^[65][66][67] member of the National Academy of Engineering (1994)
• Steven Sinofsky (B.A. 1987) – president of Windows and Windows Live Engineering at Microsoft
• J. Allen Smith (B.A. 1980, sociology, Master of Professional Studies(MPS) 1986) – president and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (2013–)^[68]
• Charles W. Sorenson (M.D. 1977) – president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare (2009–2016)^[69][70]
• Charles E. Sporck (B.M.E. 1950) – microelectronics pioneer; co-founded the Semiconductor Industry Association; CEO and president of National Semiconductor (1967–1991)
• Warren Staley (M.B.A. 1967) – chairman and CEO of Cargill, America's largest private company; member of president's Export Council under George W. Bush
• Kyung-Bae Suh (M.B.A. 1987) – billionaire, chairman, CEO and owner of AmorePacific Corporation
• Larry Tanenbaum (B.S. 1968) – chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
• Ratan Tata (B.Arch. 1962) – billionaire, chairman of Tata Group, India's wealthiest business group, 1991–2012
• Myron Charles Taylor (LL.B. 1894) – chairman and CEO of U.S. Steel (1932–38); namesake of Taylor Hall; Medal for Merit recipient
• Walter C. Teagle (B.S. 1899, trustee, 1924–54) – president and chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil); namesake of Teagle Hall
• Ted Teng (B.S. 1979, hotel administration) – president and CEO of The Leading Hotels of the World (2008–)^[71]
• Andrew Tisch (B.S. 1971, hotel administration) – chairman of Loews Corporation
• James S. Tisch (B.A. 1975) – CEO of Loews Corporation
• Fred Tomczyk (B.S. 1977) – CEO of TD Ameritrade; former president and chief executive officer of London Life Insurance Company
• Arnold Tremere – executive director, government official (Canadian International Grains Institute)
• Rick Tsai (Ph.D. 1981) – CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
• Richard F. Tucker (B.S. 1950 chemical engineering) – vice chairman of Mobil Corporation, president and CEO of Mobil Oil Corporation;^[72][73][74] member of the National Academy of Engineering (1987)
• Harold Uris (B.S. 1925, trustee 1967–1972) – real estate investor and builder; namesake of Uris Hall
• Sophie Vandebroek (Ph.D.) – chief technology officer of Xerox and president of Xerox Innovation Group (2006–)
• Barry Weiss – chairman and CEO of Island Def Jam and Universal Motown Republic
• Stephen H. Weiss (class of 1957) – an American investment banker, philanthropist, and former chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees (1989–1997)
• Tim Wentworth (B.S. ILR) – CEO and president of Express Scripts (2016–)
• Mark Whitacre (Ph.D. nutritional biochemistry) – COO of Cypress Systems
• Lynton Wilson (M.A. economics) – president and CEO of Redpath Industries Ltd. (1981–1988); vice-chairman of the Bank of Nova Scotia; at various times president, COO, CEO, and chairman of the board of BCE Inc. (1990–2000); president and CEO of BCE Inc. (1992–1993); chairman of Nortel Networks (2000–2005); chairman of CAE Inc.; chancellor of McMaster University (2007–2013); Officer of the Order of Canada; recipient of honorary degrees from six Canadian universities
• Dennis Woodside (B.S. 1991) – CEO of Motorola Mobility; president of Google America
• Lisa Yang (B.S. 1974) – retired investment banker and benefactor of Cornell University's K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, who donated 10 million dollars to fund the institute in 2015^[75]
• Teddy Zee (B.S. 1979) – Film Producer/Media & Technology Executive
• Robert D. Ziff (J.D. 1992) – billionaire co-CEO of Ziff Brothers Investments
• Stephen Zinser – American-born, London-based hedge fund manager who co-founded the European Credit Management, a financial firm based in London, and served as its CEO

Natural sciences and related fields

Mathematics, statistics and operations research

William F. Friedman

• John B. Bell (M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1979) – mathematician and the head of the Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; recipient of the Sidney Fernbach Award (2005) and SIAM/ACM prize (2003), member of the National Academy of Sciences (2012) and fellow of SIAM (2009)
• James O. Berger (Ph.D. 1974) – statistician, professor of statistics at Duke University and director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute since 2002; Fellow of the American Statistical Association and member of the National Academy of Sciences (2002); recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the COPSS Presidents' Award (1985) and the R. A. Fisher Lectureship
• Robert E. Bixby (Ph.D. 1972) – Noah Harding Professor Emeritus of Computational and Applied Mathematics at Rice University; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1997)
• Maury D. Bramson (Ph.D. 1977 mathematics) – mathematician at University of Minnesota; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2017)^[76]
• Lawrence D. Brown (Ph.D. 1964; professor) – statistician, Miers Busch Professor of Statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; member of National Academy of Sciences (1990) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; president of Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1992–1993)
• T. Tony Cai (Ph.D. 1996) – statistician; Dorothy Silberberg Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2006); recipient of COPSS Presidents' Award (2008)
• George F. Carrier (M.A. 1939, Ph.D. 1944) – mathematician, known for the modeling of fluid mechanics, Combustion, and Tsunamis, T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor of Applied Mathematics Emeritus at Harvard University, recipient of the National Medal of Science (1990), Otto Laporte Award (1976), Theodore von Karman Medal (1977), Timoshenko Medal (1978), Fluid Dynamics Prize (APS) (1984); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1967) and of the National Academy of Engineering (1974)
• Chia-Kun Chu (M.M.E. 1950) – applied mathematician, Fu Foundation Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics at Columbia University
• Julian Cole (B.S. engineering) – applied mathematician who was on faculty at Caltech, UCLA and RPI and served as department chair at UCLA; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1976) and of the National Academy of Engineering (1976); fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Physical Society
• Gérard Cornuéjols (Ph.D. 1978) – IBM University Professor of Operations Research at the Carnegie Mellon University and former editor-in-chief of Mathematics of Operations Research; recipient of Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (1977)， the Fulkerson Prize (2000), the George B. Dantzig Prize (2009) and the John von Neumann Theory Prize (2011), member of the National Academy of Engineering (2016)
• Elbert Frank Cox (Ph.D. 1925 mathematics) – first black person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics; professor and department head at Howard University
• Brenda J. Dietrich (Ph.D. 1986) – member of the National Academy of Engineering (2014); IBM Fellow and Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)^[77]
• Benson Farb (B.A.) – mathematician at the University of Chicago and a fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2012)
• William F. Friedman (B.S. 1914 genetics) – cryptologist, member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame
• Stephen Gelbart (B.A. 1967, professor) – American-Israeli mathematician; Nicki and J. Ira Harris Professorship at the Weizmann Institute of Science, president of the Israel Mathematical Union (1994–1996), fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2013)
• Arthur Geoffrion (B.M.E. 1960, M.I.E. 1961) – James A. Collins Chair in Management Emeritus at University of California, Los Angeles, president (1997) and Fellow (2002) of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1998)^[78]
• Robert Ghrist (M.A. 1994, Ph.D. 1995) – mathematician known for his work on topological methods in applied mathematics; the Andrea Mitchell Penn Integrating Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (2008–)
• Donald Goldfarb (B.Ch.E. 1963) – Alexander and Hermine Avanessians Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University (1982–); John von Neumann Theory Prize recipient (2017)
• Roger Horn (B.A. 1963) – co-developed the Bateman-Horn conjecture and wrote the standard-issue Matrix Analysis textbook with Charles Royal Johnson
• Alston Scott Householder (M.A. 1927) – mathematician and inventor of the Householder transformation and of Householder's method; president of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Donald L. Iglehart (B.A. 1956) – professor of engineering-economic systems & operations research, emeritus at Stanford University; recipient of John von Neumann Theory Prize (2002), member of the National Academy of Engineering (1999)
• Iain M. Johnstone (Ph.D. 1981) – statistician, Stanford University Statistics Professor and president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, recipient of the Guy Medal (silver 2010, bronze 1995) and COPSS Presidents' Award (1995), member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences (2005)
• Harry Kesten (Ph.D. 1958) – mathematician best known for his work in probability, most notably on random walks and percolation theory; recipient of the Brouwer Medal (1981), the George Pólya Prize (1994) and the Steele Prize (2001), member of the National Academy of Sciences (1983) and of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and fellow of the American Mathematical Society
• Nancy Kopell (A.B. 1960) – studies dynamics of the nervous system; MacArthur Fellow (1990), Guggenheim Fellowship (1984); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1996) and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Jon Lee (B.A. 1981, Ph.D. 1986) – mathematician and operations researcher, the G. Lawton and Louise G. Johnson Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan
• Lee Lorch (B.A. 1935) – mathematician, contributed to fields of summability theory and Fourier analysis; early civil rights activist
• William L. Maxwell (B.M.E. 1957, Ph.D. 1961) – Andrew Schultz Jr. Professor Emeritus of Industrial Engineering at Cornell University; member of the National Academy of Engineering (1998) and fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (2002)^[79]
• Colm Mulcahy (Ph.D. 1985) – mathematician, columnist and book author; serves on the Advisory Council of the Museum of Mathematics in New York City; vice-president of Gathering 4 Gardner
• Henry Louis Rietz (Ph.D. 1902) – mathematician, actuarial scientist, and statistician who served as the president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and of the Mathematical Association of America
• Gerald Sacks (Ph.D. 1961, assistant and associate professor 1962–67) – mathematical logician; holds a joint appointment at Harvard University as a Professor of Mathematical Logic and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor emeritus; known for his contributions in recursion theory
• Neil Sloane (Ph.D. 1967) – mathematician; creator and maintainer of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences; AT&T Fellow (1998), IEEE Fellow, American Mathematical Society Fellow; member of the National Academy of Engineering; recipient of Lester R. Ford Award (1978), the Chauvenet Prize (1979), the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2005), the Mathematical Association of America's David P. Robbins award (2008)
• Robert J. Vanderbei (Ph.D. 1981 applied mathematics) – mathematician and Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University; fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2013)
• Samuel S. Wagstaff, Jr. (Ph.D. 1970) – mathematician and computer scientist known for the Wagstaff prime; professor of computer science and mathematics at Purdue University
• Grace Wahba (B.A. 1956) – statistician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2000), fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics
• Lawrence M. Wein (B.S. 1979) – Jeffrey S. Skoll Professor of Management Science at Stanford University; member of the National Academy of Engineering (2009)^[80]
• Ward Whitt (Ph.D. 1969 operations research) – Wai T. Chang Professor of IEOR at Columbia University; was on the faculty of Stanford University and Yale University; member of the National Academy of Engineering, recipient of John von Neumann Theory Prize (2001) and Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (2003)
• Norbert Wiener (graduate study 1910–1911, transferred) – mathematician; founder of the study of cybernetics; recipient of Bôcher Memorial Prize (1933) and National Medal of Science (1963)
• John Wesley Young (A.M. 1901, Ph.D. 1904)) – professor, head (1911–1919) and chair (1923–1925) of the Mathematics Department at Dartmouth College, president of the Mathematical Association of America (1929–1930); known for axioms of projective geometry and the Veblen–Young theorem

Astronomy, astrophysics and space physics

Steve Squyres

• Lars Bildsten (Ph.D. 1991) – sixth director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); member of the National Academy of Sciences (2018)
• Joseph A. Burns (Ph.D. 1966, professor) – planetary scientist; fellow of the AGU and the AAAS
• Christopher Chyba (Ph.D. 1991) – professor of astrophysical sciences and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; MacArthur Fellow (2001)
• William Coblentz (M.S. 1901, Ph.D. 1903) – physicist notable for his contributions to infrared radiometry and spectroscopy; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1930)
• Anita Cochran (B.S. 1976) – astronomer/planetary scientist who has worked on comet missions and served as chair of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences
• Bruce T. Draine (M.S. 1975, Ph.D. 1978) – astrophysicist at Princeton University who also served as chair of the Princeton's Department of Astrophysical Sciences from 1996 to 1998; recipient of Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (2004); member of the National Academy of Sciences (2007)
• Frank Drake (B.A. 1952 engineering physics; professor of astronomy, 1964–84) – SETI researcher and president (1984–2000), known for the Drake equation; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1972)
• Lennard A. Fisk (A.B. 1965 physics) – Thomas M. Donahue Distinguished University Professor of Space Science at the University of Michigan;^[98] member of the National Academy of Sciences (2003)
• William E. Gordon (Ph.D. 1953 EE; faculty member, 1953–1965) – "father of the Arecibo Observatory"; physicist and astronomer; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1968) and National Academy of Engineering (1975); Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1986); recipient of Arctowski Medal from the National Academy of Sciences; dean of science and engineering, dean of natural sciences, and provost and vice president of Rice University
• Peter Goldreich (B.S. 1960, Ph.D. 1963) – astrophysicist, Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physics at Caltech; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1972) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; numerous awards and honors including Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1993), National Medal of Science (1995), Grande Médaille (2006), and Shaw Prize (2007); Asteroid 3805 Goldreich is named after him
• Carl E. Heiles (B.S. engineering physics) – professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, known for Hénon–Heiles Equation; member of the National Academy of Sciences (1990)
• Renu Malhotra (Ph.D. 1988 physics) – Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents’ Professor at the University of Arizona; Harold C. Urey Prize recipient (1997), member of the National Academy of Sciences (2015) and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015), Asteroid 6698 named “Malhotra”
• Jean-Luc Margot (Ph.D. 1999, faculty member 2004–2008) – professor and chair of earth, planetary, and space sciences, and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles; Harold C. Urey Prize recipient (2004), Asteroid 9531 Jean-Luc named in his honor
• Isabel Martin Lewis (A.B. 1903, A.M. 1905) – eclipse expert, popularizer of astronomy; first woman hired by the United States Naval Observatory
• Gerry Neugebauer (B.A. 1954 physics) – astronomer, one of the founders of the infrared astronomy, co-discoverer of the Becklin-Neugebauer Object; Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Physics, Emeritus at Caltech; director of the Palomar Observatory (1980–1994); member of National Academy of Sciences (1973), the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, California Scientist of the Year (1986); recipient of the Rumford Prize (1986), Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1996), the Herschel Medal (1998), the Bruce Medal (2010)
• Marcia Neugebauer (B.A. 1954 physics) – space physicist, Senior Research Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), known for direct measurements of the solar wind; president of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and editor-in-chief of its journal Reviews of Geophysics; fellow of American Geophysical Union, recipient of Arctowski Medal (2010)
• Stanton J. Peale (M.S. 1962, Ph.D. 1965) – astrophysicist, planetary scientist; recipient of Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1979), James Craig Watson Medal (1982) and Brouwer Award (1992), member of the National Academy of Sciences (2009)
• Judith Pipher (Ph.D. 1971) – astrophysicist and observational astronomer known for her contributions in infrared astronomy for the development of infrared detector arrays in space telescopes; an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame (2007)
• Vera Rubin (M.A. 1951) – astronomer known for contributions to the study of dark matter; member of the National Academy of Sciences; recipient of numerous of awards and honorary D.Sc. degrees for her achievements, including the National Medal of Science
• Paul L. Schechter (B.A. 1968) – astrophysicist and observational cosmologist, known for Schechter Luminosity Function and Press–Schechter formalism; William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics at MIT; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2003)
• Gerald Schubert (B.E.P and M.A.E. 1961, engineering physics and aeronautical engineering) – geophysicist and professor emeritus of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences at UCLA; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2002), fellow of the American Geophysical Union (1975) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001)
• Irwin I. Shapiro (B.A. Mathematics) – astrophysicist, known for Shapiro time delay and 3832 Shapiro; Timken University Professor at Harvard University, director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (1982–2004); member of the National Academy of Sciences (1974) and Guggenheim Fellow; recipient of numerous awards including Albert Einstein Medal from the Albert Einstein Society (1994)
• Steven Soter (Ph.D. 1971) – astrophysicist; recipient of 2014 Primetime Emmy Award (for writing Cosmos)
• Steven Squyres (B.A. 1978 geology, Ph.D. 1981 Planetary Science; Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy) – astronomer, principal science investigator for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, recipient of Harold C. Urey Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, Carl Sagan Memorial Award, the Wernher von Braun Award from National Space Society, the Space Science Award from American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• David J. Stevenson (M.S. 1972, Ph.D. 1976) – Marvin L. Goldberger Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech; fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2004); recipient of H. C. Urey Prize (1984)
• Jill Tarter (B.E.P 1965) – astronomer, former director of the Center for SETI Research

NASA astronauts

Mae Jemison

• Ellen S. Baker (M.D. 1978) – Lead Astronaut for Medical Issues, Johnson Space Center
• Daniel T. Barry (B.S.E.E. 1975) – astronaut, contestant on CBS reality program Survivor: Exile Island
• Jay C. Buckey, Jr. (B.S.E.E. 1977, M.D. 1981) – astronaut
• Martin J. Fettman (B.S. 1976 animal nutrition, M.S. 1980 nutrition, D.V.M 1980; Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecturer 1994) – payload specialist
• Mae Jemison (M.D. 1981; A.D. White Professor-at-Large 1999–2005) – first African-American woman to travel in space; member of National Women's Hall of Fame; chemical engineer, physician, teacher
• G. David Low (B.S.M.E. 1980) – astronaut
• Edward T. Lu (B.S.E.E. 1984) – astronaut and physicist
• Donald A. Thomas (M.S. 1980 materials science, Ph.D. 1982 materials science) – astronaut

Social sciences

Economics

Alan B. Krueger

• Alice Amsden (B.A. 1965) – Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1999–2012)
• Luc Anselin (M.A. 1979, Ph.D. 1980) – one of the principal developers of the field of spatial econometrics; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2008) and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011)
• Hugh E. Conway – labor economist, college professor, and construction industry expert
• Maureen L. Cropper (M.A. 1972, Ph.D. 1973 economics) – distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland, College Park;^[287][288] member of the National Academy of Sciences (2008)
• Austin Frakt (B.S. 1994) – health care economist; founder of The Incidental Economist
• Robert Gilpin (M.S. 1954) – scholar of international political economy, professor emeritus of Politics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Claudia Goldin (B.A. magna cum laude 1968) – economist; member of the National Academy of Sciences (2006)
• Sanjeev Goyal (M.A. 1989, Ph.D. 1990 economics) – professor of economics, University of Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy
• Ricardo Hausmann (Ph.D. 1981) – former Venezuelan Minister and ex-Chairman of the IMF – World Bank Development Committee
• Charles Henry Hull (1886) – economist and historian; former dean of the College of Arts of Cornell University^[289][290]
• Paul L. Joskow (B.A. 1968) – economist, distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association, fellow of the Econometric Society and Industrial Organization Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, Emeritus at MIT, past department chair of MIT Department of Economics; current president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 2008
• Ehud Kalai (M.S. 1971, Ph.D. 1972) – game theorist, mathematical economist, and James J. O’Connor Distinguished Professor of Decision and Game Sciences at Northwestern University; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society
• Edwin W. Kemmerer (Ph.D. 1903) – economist at Princeton University who served as president of the American Economic Association (1926), known internationally as "The Money Doctor"; fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1934)
• Frank H. Knight (Ph.D. 1916) – influential scholar-economist, one of the original leaders of the "Chicago School" of economic theory
• Alan Krueger (B.S. 1983) – labor economist and former chief economist for the US Department of Labor; chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, 2011-2013
• John Williams Mellor (B.Sc. 1950; M.Sc. 1951; Ph.D.)
• Sendhil Mullainathan (B.A. 1993) – behavioral economist at Harvard, co-founder of MIT Poverty Action Lab, MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" recipient (2002)
• Edwin Griswold Nourse (1906) – agricultural economist; first chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers (1946–49); president of the American Economic Association (1942) and vice president of the Brookings Institution; Guggenheim Fellows; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1934)
• George Rea (1915) – first paid president of the New York Curb Exchange^[291]
• Thorstein Veblen (graduate study 1891–92, transferred) – economist, author of The Theory of the Leisure Class

Government

John Mearsheimer

• Benedict Anderson (Ph.D. 1967) – Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor Emeritus of International Studies, Government & Asian Studies at Cornell University; best known for his book Imagined Communities
• Gordon G. Chang (B.A. 1973, J.D. 1976) – author of The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown : North Korea Takes On the World; one of the original set of Student Trustees
• George Friedman (Ph.D. 1976) – director of the political analysis and forecasting think tank Stratfor; author of The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century (2009)
• Everett Carll Ladd (Ph.D.) – political scientist; director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut
• John Mearsheimer (Ph.D. 1980) – international relations theorist and Professor of Political Science at University of Chicago; known for his book on offensive realism, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics and his New York Times best-seller The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Suzanne Mettler (Ph.D. 1994) - American political scientist and author
• Stephen Skowronek (Ph.D. 1979) – Pelatiah Perit Professor of political and social science at Yale
• William Irwin Thompson (Ph.D. 1966; professor) – cultural historian, social critic, poet, philosopher of science
• James Weinstein (B.A. 1949 government) – author and publisher of In These Times

Humanities

Literature

E.B. White

• Diane Ackerman (M.F.A. 1973 poetry, M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1978) – author, poet, and naturalist
• Gerald Taiaiake Alfred (M.S. 1992, Ph.D. 1994) – scholar, author, and adviser to indigenous nations
• Melissa Bank (M.F.A. 1998) – best-selling author; The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a bestseller in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and The Wonder Spot, a novel, have been translated into over thirty languages
• Morris Bishop (B.A. 1913, M.A. 1914, Ph.D. 1926; Professor of Romance Literature) – biographer, author, humorist, wrote the preeminent history of the university, A History of Cornell
• Harold Bloom (B.A. 1951) – literary and cultural scholar-critic; Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University; MacArthur Fellow (1985)
• Susan Brownmiller (B.A. 1956) – feminist author and activist
• Louis Bromfield (1914–1916 agriculture) – Pulitzer Prize winner for best novel for Early Autumn (1927) and pioneer of innovative scientific farming concepts
• Pearl S. Buck (M.F.A. 1924) – author, novelist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938
• NoViolet Bulawayo (M.F.A. 2010) – Zimbabwean author of We Need New Names
• Murray Burnett (B.A. 1931) – author of the play Everybody Comes to Rick's, which was turned into the film Casablanca
• George Lincoln Burr (B.A. 1881; John Stambaugh Professor of History 1888–?) – U.S. historian, diplomat, author, and educator
• Fiona Cheong (B.A. English; M.F.A. Creative Writing) – author of The Scent of the Gods, nominated for a National Book Award (1991)
• George Cockcroft (B.A. 1954) – author, The Dice Man; uses the pen name Luke Rhinehart
• Junot Díaz (M.F.A. 1995) – critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning short-story writer; MacArthur Fellowship (2012)
• Alice Dunbar-Nelson (attended 1907–1908) – poet, journalist, political activist, Harlem Renaissance influence
• Jane Duran – Cuban-born poet, recipient of the Forward Poetry Prize (1995) and the Cholmondeley Award (2005)
• Barry Eisler (J.D. 1989) – author, novelist
• Sarah Elbert (B.A 1965, M.A 1966, Ph.D 1974) – scholar
• Richard Fariña (B.A. 1962 English) – author, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me; folk singer
• Jessie Redmon Fauset (B.A. 1905) – author from the Harlem Renaissance
• Alice Fulton (M.F.A. 1982; Ann S. Bowers Distinguished Professor of English) – poet, author, feminist, MacArthur Fellow (1991)
• William H. Gass (Ph.D. 1954 philosophy) – author, essayist
• C. S. Giscombe – poet and professor of English at University of California, Berkeley; recipient of American Book Award for Prairie Style (2008)
• Martin Hägglund (Ph.D. 2009 comparative literature) – literary theorist, philosopher
• Lynne Hanley (B.A. English) – literary critic
• E. D. Hirsch (B.A., 1950) – literary critic and educational theorist
• Laura Howes (B.A. English) – scholar of Middle English literature
• Minfong Ho (B.A. Economics) – Chinese-American author
• Laura Z. Hobson – author, Gentleman's Agreement
• Clifford Irving (B.A. 1951) – author of the Howard Hughes biography hoax
• Michelle Knudsen (B.A. 1995 English) – New York Times best-selling American author of 47 books for young readers
• Anne LaBastille (B.A. 1955, Ph.D. 1969) – author and award-winning conservationist
• Jean Lee Latham (B.A., M.A.) – writer specialized in biographies for children or young adults and Newbery Medal recipient (1956) for her book Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• Victor LaValle (B.A. English) – author
• Philipp Meyer (B.A. English) – fiction writer and author of American Rust and The Son
• James H. Morey (M.A. 1987, Ph.D. 1990) – Medievalist and professor of English at Emory University
• Lorrie Moore (M.F.A. 1982) – prize-winning short-story writer and novelist
• Manuel Muñoz (M.F.A. 1998) – award-winning author and professor of creative writing
• Ira B. Nadel (Ph.D. 1970) – prize-winning biographer and literary critic
• George Jean Nathan (1904) – author, critic
• Iddo Netanyahu (did not graduate) – Israeli physician, author and playwright; younger brother of Benjamin Netanyahu
• Nicholas Nicastro (B.A. 1985 English, M.A. 1991 archaeology, Ph.D. 2003 psychology) – historical novelist
• Téa Obreht (MFA 2009) – novelist, The Tiger's Wife
• Stewart O'Nan (MFA 1992) – novelist, Drue Heinz Literature Prize-winning author for In the Walled City in 1993, author of Snow Angels
• Julie Orringer (B.A. 1994 English) – short-story writer and novelist
• Thomas Perry (B.A. 1969) – novelist, Edgar Award winner
• Darryl Ponicsan (M.A. 1965) – writer best known as the author of the 1971 novel The Last Detail
• Seksan Prasertkul (M.A., Ph.D. 1989 political science) – Thai author, National Artist of Thailand (literature)
• Michael Punke (J.D. 1989) – author of The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, adapted as the film The Revenant
• Thomas Pynchon (B.A. 1959 English) – author, Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49; MacArthur Fellow (1988)
• Kenneth Roberts (B.A. 1908) – novelist, Northwest Passage
• Laura Riding (attended 1918–21) – poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, leader in modernism
• Matt Ruff (B.A. 1988) – author, Fool on the Hill
• Joanna Russ (B.A. 1957 English; professor) – feminist author, The Female Man
• Ira Sadoff (B.S. 1966 ILR) – poet, novelist, critic, True Faith 2012, Grazing 1999, Barter 2003
• Kirkpatrick Sale (B.A. 1958 history) – independent scholar and author
• Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (undergrad) – critical theorist, literature professor
• Elsie Singmaster – author, Swords of Steel
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Ph.D. 1967 comparative literature) – post-colonialist theorist, Can the Subaltern Speak?; winner of Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy; university professor at Columbia University
• William Stokoe (B.A. 1941, Ph.D. 1946 English) – pioneered research on American Sign Language; co-authored A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles (1965), the first attempt to systematically represent and characterize ASL phonology, Stokoe notation creator
• William Strunk Jr. (Ph.D. 1896; professor) – author of The Elements of Style
• Hendrik Willem van Loon (1905; Professor of History 1915–17) – author of the first book to be awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children's literature
• William T. Vollmann (B.A., Comparative Literature, 1977) – novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist.
• Kurt Vonnegut (undergrad 1941–1944) – author, Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions
• Lauren Weisberger (B.A. 1999 English) – author, The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing
• E. B. White (B.A. 1921) – author, Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little; co-author of The Elements of Style

Media

Journalism

Keith Olbermann

Kate Snow

• Eric Alterman (B.A. 1982 history and government) – author and columnist
• Jim Axelrod (B.A. 1985 history) – national correspondent and reporter for CBS News
• Margaret Bourke-White (B.A. 1927) – photojournalist
• Jane Brody (1962, Biochemistry) — NY Times health and nutrition journalist^[306]
• Rodney A. Brooks (B.S. 1975 – Personal Finance Editor, USA Today
• Julius Chambers (B.A. 1870) – author, editor, journalist, travel writer, and activist against psychiatric abuse^[307]
• C.J. Chivers (B.A. 1987) – foreign correspondent with The New York Times; winner of Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting as part of a team of New York Times reporters and photographers (2009) and winner of Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing (2017)
• Charles Collingwood (B.A. 1939) – broadcast journalist and foreign correspondent
• Ann Coulter (B.A. 1984 history) – book author and columnist
• S.E. Cupp (B.A. 2000 art history) – co-host of MSNBC's The Cycle
• Michael Dirda (M.A. 1974, Ph.D. 1977, comparative literature) – Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for The Washington Post
• Edward Jay Epstein (B.A., M.A.) – investigative journalist; former political science professor at Harvard, UCLA, and MIT
• Jessica Ettinger (B.S. 1997) – news anchor with CBS 1010 WINS New York; anchor of Today Show Radio, SiriusXM/NBC
• Jeffrey Gettleman (B.A. 1994) – foreign correspondent, The New York Times; Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (2012)
• Wendy M. Grossman (B.A. 1975) – journalist, blogger
• Philip Gourevitch (B.A. 1986) – former editor of The Paris Review; 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award winner
• Carolyn Gusoff (B.A. 1984) – reporter and anchor with WNBC in New York City
• Sally Jacobsen (M.A. Economics) – journalist and foreign correspondent; first woman to serve as international editor of the Associated Press^[308]
• Andy Kessler (B.S. 1980) – "Inside View" columnist, Wall Street Journal opinion page; author
• Aditi Kinkhabwala (B.A. American Studies) – sports reporter for NFL Network
• Austin H. Kiplinger (B.A. 1939) – journalist; editor of The Kiplinger Letter; founder of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine; winner of the Peabody Award
• John S. Knight – major newspaper publisher and editor, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Steven Lagerfeld (B.A. 1977) – editor of The Wilson Quarterly
• Carl Leubsdorf (B.A. 1959 government) – journalist and columnist
• Eric Lichtblau (B.A. 1987 English and political science) – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for national reporting with The New York Times
• Roger Lowenstein (B.A. 1973) – financial journalist and author of When Genius Failed (2000)
• Farhad Manjoo (2000) – journalist and author, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times
• James C. McKinley, Jr. (B.A. 1984) – foreign correspondent, The New York Times
• Anne Morrissy Merick (1955) - Journalist who broke barriers against women^[309]
• Philip Merrill (B.A. 1955 government, trustee) – owner and publisher of The Capital Daily Newspaper in Annapolis, MD and Washingtonian magazine; international statesman; adviser to U.S. presidents
• Jeremy O'Grady (MA Political Science) – founding editor of The Week news digest magazine, and one of its original owners; now its editor-in-chief
• Keith Olbermann (B.S. 1979 communication) – sportscaster, news anchor and political commentator; hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC
• Bill Pidto (1987) – a host of NHL Live on NHL Network and former anchor at ESPN, 1993–2008
• John Andrew Rea (B.A. 1869) – editor of The Olympian, Minneapolis Tribune, Bismarck Tribune and the Dakota edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
• Dave Ross – talk show host on KIRO-FM
• Dick Schaap (B.S. 1955) – sports newscaster on ABC and ESPN, two Emmy Awards, author and co-author of 33 books
• Jeremy Schaap (1991) – author, sports journalist, recipient of eight Emmy Awards
• Kate Snow (B.S. 1991 communication) – journalist, correspondent, NBC News
• Andrew Ross Sorkin (B.S. 1999 communication) – journalist, co-anchor of Squawk Box, author of Too Big to Fail
• Gerald Stone (1957 political science) – American-born Australian television and radio journalist, television executive, and author
• Howard Taubman (B.A. 1929) – Chief Music Critic and Chief Theater Critic for The New York Times in the 1950s and 1960s
• William T. Vollmann (B.A. 1981 comparative literature) – journalist, author of numerous books on war, including a seven volume treatise on violence
• Whit Watson (B.A., English, 1993) – announcer on Golf Channel, formerly at ESPN and Sun Sports; winner of four Emmy Awards; former Sports Director at WVBR
• Pete van Wieren – sportscaster and sport reporter, best known for 33-year career calling play-by-play for Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves
• Sheryl WuDunn (B.A. 1981 European history) – journalist at The New York Times, co-winner in 1990 of the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage on the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989, winner of the George Polk Award in 1989, and winner of the Overseas Press Club in 1990
• Robert Zelnick (B.S.) – award-winning journalist; winner of two Emmy Awards and two Gavel Awards; formerly ABC News correspondent for more than 20 years, and professor of journalism at the Boston University College of Communication

Film, radio, television and theatre

Christopher Reeve

Frank Morgan

• Ted Berkman (1933) – screenwriter, authored Bedtime for Bonzo
• Josh Bernstein (B.A. 1993 anthropology and psychology) – host of Digging for the Truth on the History Channel
• Murray Burnett, co–wrote the play Everybody Comes to Rick's which was adapted into the film Casablanca
• Steve Carver (B.A.) – film director and producer
• Arun Chaudhary (B.A. 1997) – White House official videographer^[310]
• Dane Clark (bachelors 1930s) – actor, Moonrise
• Jordan Clarke (B.A. 1973 philosophy, M.F.A. 1973 acting) – actor, starred in Guiding Light, winner of a Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
• Gordon Davidson (1956) – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director and Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play-winning stage and film director; fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Maria Dizzia (theater) – actress, nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
• Ellen Albertini Dow (B.A. 1935 theater, M.A. 1938 theater) – actress, Wedding Crashers and The Wedding Singer
• Dan Duryea (B.A. English) – actor
• Rick Elice (B.A.) – writer and former stage actor
• Zelda Fichandler – doyenne of regional theater
• Art Fleming – original Jeopardy! host, 1964–75
• David Folkenflik (B.A. 1991 arts and sciences) – media correspondent for NPR
• Steven Franken (B.A. 1950) – actor, best known for his role in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
• Robert N. Fried (M.S.) – film producer, screenwriter, studio executive and media entrepreneur; Academy Award recipient in 1992 for his short film, Session Man
• David F. Friedman (1942, electrical engineering) – filmmaker
• Allen Funt (B.A. 1934 fine arts) – producer, created Candid Camera
• Carla Gallo (B.A. theater) – actress notable for recurring roles in the television series Undeclared, Carnivàle, Bones, Californication
• Eric Garcia (transferred 1992) – writer, author of Matchstick Men
• Joel Gertner (1993–1996, dropped out) – former ECW personality
• Sam Gold (B.A. English 2000) – theater director and actor; 2015 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical winner for Fun Home
• Meta Golding (theatre arts and international relations) – Haitian-American actress
• Harold Gould (M.A. 1948 theater, Ph.D. 1953 dramatic speech and literature; professor of speech and drama) – stage, screen, and television actor
• Paul Eliot Green – playwright, known for Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, In Abraham's Bosom (1927)
• Kovid Gupta (M.B.A. 2015) – screenwriter, author, Kingdom of The Soap Queen: The Story of Balaji Telefilms
• Brian Hallisay (degree in Economics and History) – actor from the television show Privileged
• Howard Hawks (mechanical engineering) – film director, producer and writer of the classic Hollywood era; directed Scarface, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• Catherine Hicks (M.F.A. 1976?) – actress; played Annie Camden on 7th Heaven
• John Hostetter (M.A. acting) – actor, played John the stage manager on Murphy Brown for 62 episodes^[311]
• Frederick Johnson (B.A. 1978 English) – Emmy and WGA Award-winning television writer; credits include All My Children, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, As The World Turns, One Life to Live, Guiding Light
• Sidney Kingsley (B.A. 1928) – playwright, screenwriter, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1934 for the drama Men in White
• Mia Korf – actress, best known for originating the role of Blair Daimler Buchanan on One Life to Live
• Jamie Kovac (B.S. 2001, M.Eng. 2002) – "Fury" on American Gladiators^[312]
• Ellie Krieger (B.S. 1988) – nutritionist, chef, and TV food celebrity
• Arthur Laurents (B.A. 1937 English) – playwright, screenwriter, director, author, credits include West Side Story, Rope, and Gypsy
• Leonard "Lenny" Lipton – author, filmmaker and stereoscopic vision system inventor; founder of StereoGraphics
• Jane Lynch (M.F.A. 1984 theater) – actress, best known for Glee
• Bill Maher (B.A. 1978 English) – comedian and satirist, best known for hosting the television series Politically Incorrect and Real Time with Bill Maher
• Rob Marciano – journalist and meteorologist
• Louis Massiah (B.A. Astrophysics) – documentary filmmaker; MacArthur Fellow (1996), Tribeca Film Institute Fellow (1990, 1996), Fleisher Founder's Award (2009)
• Gardner McKay (attended for 2 years) – actor, artist, and author known for the lead role in the 1960s TV series Adventures in Paradise
• Carol Mendelsohn (B.A. 1973) – television producer; credits include C.S.I.
• Adolphe Menjou (B.S. engineering) – actor, known for his roles in The Sheik, The Three Musketeers, and Paths of Glory
• Ronald D. Moore (failed out 1985) – writer and producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica; two–time Hugo Award winner, nominated for an Emmy Award
• Frank Morgan (undergrad 1908–09, dropped out) – actor, played the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, Academy Award recipient
• Bill Nye (B.S. 1977 mechanical engineering, M.Eng. 1977, Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor 2001–06) – star of Bill Nye the Science Guy; science education advocate
• Adepero Oduye (1999) – actress in 12 Years a Slave and Pariah
• Keith Olbermann (B.S. 1979 communication arts) – sports commentator, MSNBC news anchor, co-host of Football Night in America of NBC
• Peter Ostrum (D.V.M. 1984) – played Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
• Evan Parke (1990) – Jamaican-born American actor best known for his role as Hayes in King Kong
• Ethan Phillips (MFA) – actor and playwright
• Richard Price (B.S. 1971) – author, The Wanderers and six other novels; Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for The Color of Money and Clockers
• Keith Raywood (B.A. Architecture, 1980) – Emmy Award-winning production designer
• Christopher Reeve (B.A. 1974 theater arts and English) – actor, best known for starring in Superman and its sequels
• Jason Reich (B.S. Communication 1998) – Emmy Award-winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• Christopher Rich (M.A. Theater Arts) – played Miller Redfield on Murphy Brown
• Daniel K. Riskin (Ph.D.) – Canadian evolutionary biologist and television personality, known for co-hosting the Canadian television series Daily Planet
• Casey Robinson – producer, director and screenwriter
• Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum (B.A.) – director
• William Sadler (M.F.A. 1974) – actor, known for films including The Shawshank Redemption
• Gene Saks (B.A. 1943)^[313] – stage and film director, an inductee of the American Theater Hall of Fame; seven-time nominee and three-time winner of Tony Award; four-time nominee of Drama Desk Award
• Andrea Savage (B.A. Political Science and Spanish, minor in Law Studies) – Actress, Dog Bites Man
• Robert Frederic Schenkkan, Jr. (M.F.A 1977) – award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and actor; the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1992) for his work The Kentucky Cycle, and the Tony Award for Best Play (2014) for his drama All the Way earned
• Bert Schneider – film and television producer, Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for producing Hearts and Minds (1975)
• Vivian Schiller (B.A. Russian) – former CEO of NPR
• Thelma Schoonmaker (B.A. 1961) – film editor, received the Academy Award for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed
• David Seidler (1959) – screenwriter, won 83rd Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Kings Speech (2010)^[314]
• Robert Smigel (undergrad 1978–80, transferred) – puppeteer behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog; first head writer of Late Night with Conan O'Brien; author of "TV Funhouse" animations on Saturday Night Live
• Jimmy Smits (M.F.A. 1982) – actor
• Sarah Spain – ESPN sports journalist
• Tim Squyres (B.A. 1981) – Academy Award-nominated film editor, best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Yale Summers (Bachelor's Business with honors, 1955) – actor and governing member of the Screen Actors Guild^[315]
• Ken Sunshine (1970) – publicist
• Jennifer Tipton (B.A. 1958) – award-winning theatre and dance lighting designer; MacArthur Fellowship (2008)
• Franchot Tone (B.A. 1927) – actor, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Mutiny on the Bounty
• Ming Tsai (hotel administration) – celebrity chef of Ming's Quest, a cooking show featured on the Fine Living Network, and Simply Ming on American Public Television
• Jerry Wasserman (Ph.D. English Literature) – film and television actor; also Professor and head of the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of British Columbia
• Andrew Weinberg (B.A. 1998) – television writer and co-winner of Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (2007)
• David Wild – writer and critic in the music and television industries, nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on America: A Tribute to Heroes
• Sheri Wilner – playwright
• Mary Woronov (did not graduate) – actress, member of Andy Warhol's The Factory
• Paula Vogel (1976, M.A, 2016, PhD) – playwright, known for Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive (1998)

Education