The MIT Corporation--the Institute's board of trustees--elected two life members and eight term members at its quarterly meeting on Friday, June 6, just before MIT's 131st Commencement exercises.
The results of the election, which included Dr. Paul E. Gray, were announced by Dr. Gray in his capacity as chairman of the Corporation.
The following were elected to life membership, effective July 1 (asterisks indicate Alumni Association nominees):
Paul E. Gray '54, chairman of the MIT Corporation, 1990-97, Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Gray, a native of Newark, NJ, came to MIT as a freshman in 1950. He earned the SB in 1954, the SM in 1955 and the ScD in 1960, all in electrical engineering. He was named an assistant professor of electrical engineering in 1960, an associate professor in 1964 and professor in 1967. He began his administrative career in 1965, serving over the next six years as associate dean, assistant provost, associate provost and dean of the School of Engineering.
In 1971, Dr. Gray was appointed to the new role of chancellor. Serving in that capacity until 1980, he succeeded Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner as the 14th president of MIT. In 1990, Dr. Gray was elected chairman of MIT's Corporation, succeeding Dr. David S. Saxon. He steps down as chairman on June 30 to return to teaching at MIT.
Dr. Gray has received numerous awards and honors, including the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Imperial Decoration of Japan, 1992; Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1961-63, and MIT's C.E. Tucker Award for Teaching. He received an MIT Bronze Beaver Award in 1978 and became a Founding Life Sustaining Member in 1979.
Dr. Gray serves as a director on the boards of Arthur D. Little, Inc.; the Boeing Co., Eastman Kodak Co., New England Investment Companies, L.P., and New England Life Insurance Co. He is also a Life Trustee at the Museum of Science.
George N. Hatsopoulos '49, founder, chairman of the board and President, Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, MA.
Dr. Hatsopoulos received the SB and SM degrees in mechanical engineering in 1950, the degree of Mechanical Engineer in 1954, and the ScD in 1956. He was a member of the mechanical engineering faculty from 1956-62 and continued his association with the department as a senior lecturer until 1990.
In 1956, Dr. Hatsopoulos founded Thermo Electron Corp., whose principal businesses include manufacturing of environmental and analytical instruments, alternative-energy power plants and biomedical products. Dr. Hatsopoulos holds patents on several thermionic processes and is the author of several texts and articles. He won a MIT Corporate Leadership Award in 1980 and has been a Corporation Member since 1992.
Elected to 5-year term memberships, effective July 1, 1997, were:
Gregory K. Arenson'70,* partner, Kaplan, Kilsheimer and Fox LLP, New York, NY.
Mr. Arenson received the SB in economics from MIT in 1971 and the JD degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1975. He has been a mediator in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York since 1993. Since 1989, he has been chair of the Committee on Discovery of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York Bar Association. Mr. Arenson co-edited Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 1993 Amendments, A Practical Guide, published by the New York State Bar Association in 1994. He has served on the MIT Alumni/ae Fund Board since 1989.
Osie Combs, Jr. '77, Rear Admiral (L), United States Navy, chief engineer, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Arlington, VA.
Rear Admiral Combs graduated from Prairie View A&M University in 1971 with a degree in electrical engineering. From 1974-77, he attended MIT, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering and a Naval Engineer professional degree (naval architecture). In 1983 he became assistant project manager for construction of Los Angeles (SSN 688) class submarines. Between 1985 and 1992, Rear Admiral Combs held several positions involving construction, design and development of the Seawold Attack Submarine Program in Groton, CT. He also had three sea assignments: USS Proteus (1983-85), USS Woodrow Wilson (1980) and USS Coral Sea (1971-74).
Norman E. Gaut '64, chief executive officer and chairman, PictureTel Corp., Andover, MA.
Dr. Gaut received the BA in physics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1959. He was trained as a meteorologist by the US Air Force, also at UCLA. He received the MS degree in 1964 and the PhD in 1967 in planetary geophysics from MIT. Dr. Gaut co-founded Environmental Research and Technology, Inc., and held the position of vice president from 1968-77 and president from 1977-85. In 1985, he joined PictureTel Corp. and held the position of president and CEO from 1986 until this year, when he became chairman and CEO.
Lissa A. Martinez '76,* consultant, San Antonio, TX.
Ms. Martinez received the SB degree in ocean engineering from MIT in 1976. In 1980, she received the SM degree from the Technology and Public Policy Program, awarded by the Department of Ocean Engineering at MIT.
Ms. Martinez worked as a general engineer at the US Maritime Administration's Office of Ship Construction from 1976-83. In 1984, she was selected as the first Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering. From 1985-88, she worked as a staff mechanical engineer for the US Coast Guard. Beginning in mid-1988, she established a private consulting practice specializing in maritime environmental protection and in maritime health and safety.
DuWayne J. Peterson, Jr. '55,* President, DuWayne Peterson Associates, Pasadena, CA.
Mr. Peterson received the SB in business and engineering administration from MIT in 1955 and the MBA from UCLA in 1963. He worked as vice president for systems development and data processing at Citibank from 1970-73. From 1973-77 he was staff vice president for management information systems at RCA Corp. In 1977 he joined Security Pacific Corp. as senior vice president and was named chairman of Security Pacific Automation Co. in 1984. In 1986 he became executive vice president of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., in New York, NY. In 1991 he retired from Merrill Lynch and returned to California. He has been a Corporation member since 1986, including a one-year term ex officio (1996-97), when he served as president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT.
Gerhard H. Schulmeyer '74, president and CEO, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, Munich, Germany.
Mr. Schulmeyer earned bachelor of science degrees from Ingenieur Schule in 1962 and the University of Frankfurt in 1967. He received the Master of Science degree from the Sloan Fellows Program at MIT in 1974. From 1980-89 he worked for Chicago-based Mo-torola Inc., becoming senior vice president and general manager in 1985. Mr. Schul-meyer joined ABB Asea Brown Boveri in 1989 as an executive vice president and director of the parent company, and as president and CEO of its Western Hemisphere subsidiary, ABB America. He joined Siemens Nixdorf in January 1994 and the company's board in July 1994, assuming his duties as president and CEO in October of that year.
Susan E. Whitehead, Esq., Wellesley Hills, MA.
Ms. Whitehead received the BS degree from Cornell University in 1976 and the JD degree from Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in 1982. Between 1990 and 1993, she maintained a private law practice, with a specialty in criminal defense litigation, in Boston. From 1986-87, she worked for the Brooklyn Law School in New York and as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn from 1982-85. Ms. Whitehead founded and directed an education program for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at its Research Station in Westchester County, NY, from 1976-78. She is currently a board member at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
Robert E. Wilhelm '62, director and senior vice president, Exxon Corp., Irving, TX.
Mr. Wilhelm received the SB in humanities and science from MIT in 1962 and the MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1964. He has spent his entire career at the Exxon Corp. Currently he is responsible for Exxon's worldwide marketing, refining and transportation of petroleum products; research in petroleum products and processes; accounting and financial controls; and Exxon's US petroleum and natural gas business. He is one of four members of the Exxon Management Committee. He was elected a senior vice president of Exxon in 1990 and a member of the board of directors in 1992.
The nominee from recent classes, who will also serve a five-year term, is Elisabeth A. Stock '90, a White House Fellow.
Ms. Stock received SB degrees in mechanical engineering and in humanities from MIT in 1990. In 1995, she received a master's degree in technology and policy and a master's degree in city planning, also from MIT.
Ms. Stock has been working at the White House since 1996. She manages the nationwide "Computers for Education" program. From 1994-96, she worked for the World Bank as a rural infrastructure specialist. From 1990-92, Ms. Stock served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, where she taught mathematics and developed an AIDS seminar. She holds a patent for an intravenous bag alarm system (1992), and has received numerous awards in both mechanical engineering design and playwriting.
Serving as an ex officio member of the Corporation in 1997-98, in his capacity as the incoming president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae, is Robert M. Metcalfe '68, executive correspondent, InfoWorld and Vice President/Technology, International Data Group (see accompanying story).
As of July 1, the Corporation will consist of 73 distinguished leaders in education, science, engineering and industry, 20 of whom are life members. An-other 26 are life members emeriti, participating in meetings but without a vote.
The officers of the Corporation are: the Chairman, Alexander V. d'Arbeloff '49, chairman; MIT President Charles M. Vest, president; MIT Vice President for Finance and Treaurer Glenn P. Strehle '58, treasurer; and Executive Assistant to the President and Director of Public Relations Services Kathryn A. Willmore, secretary. Other ex officio members include Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld; Herbert P. Wilkins, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; and Robert V. Antonucci, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 11, 1997.
