List of Iowa State University alumni

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

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Henry A. Wallace, U.S. Vice President (1941-1945), Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940), and Secretary of Commerce (1945-1946)

Academia

Don E. Albrecht (born 1952), rural sociologist
Aureliano Brandolini (1927–2008), Department of Botany and Agronomy class of 1955, Italian agronomist and development cooperation scholar
William R. Brinkley, Biology PhD 1964, Dean Emeritus of Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
Robert D. Bullard, Sociology PhD 1976, "father of environmental justice" and Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University
Margaret Burchinal (born 1951), quantitative psychologist and statistician known for her research on child care
Nathaniel Oglesby Calloway (1907–1979), B.S 1930 and Chemistry PhD 1933, first African-American to receive a PhD in chemistry from Iowa State University Professor at the University of Illinois Medical School, medical director of Provident Hospital in Chicago until 1949, and then founded the Medical Associates Clinic of Chicago
David P. Campbell, B.S. and M.S., creator of Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, an interest inventory used in career assessment, ISU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007
Michael M. Crow (born 1955), Political Science B.A. 1977, president, Arizona State University since 2002
Niels Ebbesen Hansen (1866–1950), M.S., 1895, Head of the Horticultural Department at South Dakota State University
JoAnne L. Hewett (born 1960), Physics and Mathematics B.S. 1982, theoretical particle physicist on the faculty of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Daniel G. Horvitz (1921–2008), survey statistician, best known for the eponymous Horvitz-Thompson estimator
Harold Hume (1875–1965), B.S. 1899 and M.S. 1901, noted citrus fruit horticulturalist and president of the University of Florida
Bhanu Pratap Jena (born 1955), PhD 1988, a cell biologist and professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, discovered porosome
Leonard Klinck (1877–1969), Agriculture M.S., 1905, second president of the University of British Columbia (1919–1940)
Charles Boynton Knapp (born 1946), B.S. 1968, president of the University of Georgia (1987–1997)
Samuel Massie (1919–2005), Chemistry PhD 1942, science educator, worked on the Manhattan Project, first African American to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy
Rose Mwonya, Kenyan academic
James L. Oblinger (born 1945), Food Technology M.S. 1970 and Food Technology PhD 1972, Chancellor at North Carolina State University 2005–2009, received the ISU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006
Frederick Douglas Patterson (1901–1988), 1927 M.S. and Veterinary Medicine PhD 1923, former president of Tuskegee Institute and founder of the United Negro College Fund
Francis de los Reyes III, Glenn E. and Phyllis J. Futrell Distinguished Professor and Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor at North Carolina State University
Donald W. Roberts, Utah State University Research Professor Emeritus and Cornell University Roy A. Young Scientist Emeritus Chair, see § Donald W. Roberts below
Emil Steinberger (1928–2008), endocrinologist and founding president of the American Society of Andrology
Subra Suresh (born 1956), Mechanical Engineering M.S. 1979, former president of Carnegie Mellon University, the former director of National Science Foundation, and the former Dean of Engineering at M.I.T.
My T. Thai, computer science engineer and professor at University of Florida
Edward M. Walsh (born 1939), M.S. 1963 and PhD 1964, founder of the University of Limerick
Earl G. Yarbrough (born 1946), Industrial Education PhD 1976, former president of Savannah State University (2007–2011)

Arts

Literature

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

Design

Oshoke Pamela Abalu (born 1978), co-founder of The Love and Magic Company and former Chief Architect at MetLife
Jeremy Caniglia (born 1970), Fine Arts B.F.A. 1993, illustrator of book covers for fantasy and horror genres
Leon Quincy Jackson (1926/1927–1995), architect, professor, and an early African American architect in Oklahoma and Tennessee; attended classes but did not graduate
Joey Kirkpatrick (born 1952), glass artist, sculptor, wire artist, and educator
Michael Mabry (born 1955), attended for only one year, graphic designer and illustrator
Conde McCullough (1887–1946), civil engineering graduate in 1910, noted bridge engineer and architect
Richard Schultz (born 1926), furniture designer

Performing arts

Mallory Snyder (attended but did not graduate), Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, actress, MTV's The Real World: Paris
Chris Soules, Agriculture B.S., actor, contestant on season 10 of ABC's The Bachelorette and Season 19 of The Bachelor
Carol Wilson B.A., operatic soprano

Business

Stephanie A. Burns (born 1955), Organic Chemistry PhD 1982, chairman, president and CEO, Dow Corning, winner of 2011 International Palladium Medal
Vance D. Coffman (born 1944), Aerospace Engineering B.S. 1967, retired chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin, member of National Academy of Engineering
Edward C. Droste, CEO and founder of Provident Management Corporation, co-founder of Hooters restaurants
Charles W. "Chuck" Durham, founder of global architecture and engineering firm HDR, Inc. and noted philanthropist
Roswell Garst, established one of the world’s leading seed corn companies; hosted Nikita Khrushchev on his farm in 1959
Antti Herlin, fourth chairman of the board of KONE Corporation; richest man in Finland
Porter Jarvis (1902–1991), president, then chairman of Swift & Company, 1955–1967
Murray Joslin, pioneer on nuclear energy, vice-president of Commonwealth Edison
Jerry Junkins, chairman and CEO of Texas Instruments
Shawne Kleckner, founder and owner of The Right Stuf International
Eric Koppelman, CEO of Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches and longtime executive leader in organic/natural foods industry
Dennis Muilenburg, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Boeing Company
Bruce Roth, inventor of Lipitor; vice president of chemistry, Pfizer
Todd Snyder, founder of Todd Snyder clothing company and co-founder of Tailgate Clothing Company
Russell Stover, founder of Russell Stover Candies (attended year and a half but did not graduate)
Sehat Sutardja, co-founder and CEO of Marvell Technology Group
Thornton Wilson, former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Boeing Company

Government and politics

United States

U.S. Vice Presidents

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

U.S. Cabinet

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994), Agriculture Economics M.S. 1927, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1953-1961), 13th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Lauro Cavazos (born 1927), Economics PhD 1954, U.S. Secretary of Education (1988-1990)
Henry C. Wallace (1866–1924), B.A. Diary Science 1892, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1921-1924), father of U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace

U.S. Governors

Robert D. Blue, Governor of Iowa (1945-1949), Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (1943-1945), Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1941-1943)
Garrey Carruthers (born 1939), Economics PhD 1968, Governor of New Mexico (1987–1991); president and CEO of Cimarron Health Plan
James Benton Grant (1848-1911), attended and then transferred to Cornell, Governor of Colorado (1883-1885)
Bourke B. Hickenlooper (1896–1971), Industrial Science B.A. 1919, Governor of Iowa (1943–1945) and longtime U.S. Senator (1945–1969)
Frank D. Jackson (1854-1938), Governor of Iowa (1894-1896), and Iowa Secretary of State (1885-1891)
John Edward Jones (1840–1896), class of 1865, eighth Governor of Nevada (1895-1896)
Kim Reynolds (born 1959), degree concentrations in Political Science, Business Management, and Communications B.L.S. 2016, Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (2011-2017), the 43rd Governor of Iowa (2017–present)

U.S. Senators

Joni Ernst (born 1970), Psychology B.A. 1992, United States Senator from Iowa since 2015, Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Iowa Army National Guard (1993–2015)
Tom Harkin (born 1939), Government and Economics B.A. 1962, United States Senator from Iowa (1985–2015), United States Representative from Iowa's 5th congressional district (1975-1985), and author of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
Herbert E. Hitchcock (1867-1958), attended but didn't graduate, United States senator from South Dakota (1936-1938)

U.S. Representatives

Berkley Bedell (1921–2019), attended for two years but did not graduate, United States Representative from Iowa's 6th congressional district (1975–1987)
Bruce Braley (born 1957), B.A. 1980, United States Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district (2007–2015)
T. Cooper Evans (1924-2005), B.S. & M.S., United States Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district (1981-1987)
Randy Feenstra (born 1969), MPA, United States Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district (2021–present)
Tom Latham (born 1948), attended but did not graduate, United States Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district (1995–2015)
Dave Loebsack (born 1952), B.S 1974 and M.A. 1976, United States Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district (2007-2021)

U.S. Ambassadors

Charles Manatt (1936–2011), Rural Sociology B.A. 1958, U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (1999-2001) and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1981-1985)
Dan Mozena (born 1949), History and Government B.S. 1970, U.S. Ambassador to Angola (2007-2010), and U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh (2011-2015)
James Pettit (born 1956), B.A. International Studies, U.S. Ambassador to Moldova (2015-2018)

State of Iowa officials

Maurice E. Baringer (1921-2011), B.A. & M.A. Animal Husbandry (1949), Treasurer of Iowa (1969-1983), Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1967-1969)
Dale M. Cochran (1928-2018), B.A. Agriculture 1950, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture (1987-1999), Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1975-1979), member of the Iowa House (1965-1987)
Dayton Countryman (1918-2011), B.S. Forestry 1940, Attorney General of Iowa (1955–57)
E. Thurman Gaskill (born 1935), Commissioner of both Iowa's Department of Economic Development and its Department of Natural Resources, president of Iowa Corn Growers Association, president of National Corn Growers Association, chairman of the United States Feed Grains Council
William C. Hayward (1847-1917), did not graduate, Iowa Secretary of State (1907-1913)
Clem F. Kimball (1868-1928), B.A. Mechanical Engineering, Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (1925-1928)
Jeff Kurtz (born 1954), did not graduate, Iowa state representative (2019–2021)
Mary Mosiman (born 1962), B.S. Accounting 1999, Iowa State Auditor (2013-2019)
Bill Northey (born 1959), Agricultural Business B.A. 1981, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture (2007-2018)
Kraig Paulsen (born 1964), Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (2011-2015)
Sally Pederson (born 1951), class of 1973, former Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (1999-2007)
Elaine Szymoniak (1920–2009), Family Environment M.A. 1977, Iowa State Senator (1988–2000)
Andrew Varley (1934-2018), B.S. Agricultural Economics (1957), Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (1973-1975)
Jo Ann Zimmerman (1936-2019), took graduate classes but did not receive a degree, first female Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (1987-1991) and member of the Iowa House of Representatives (1983-1987

Other U.S. officials

Katharine Abraham (born 1954), B.S. Economics 1976, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1993–2001), member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama (2011-2013)
James Clark Jr. (1918-2006), B.A. Animal Husbandry (1941), President of the Maryland State Senate (1979-1983)
Harvey Gantt (born 1943), transferred to Clemson University, becoming the first black student to be admitted, Mayor of Charlotte, NC (1983-1987)
Gwynn Garnett (1909–1995), B.S. 1934, administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service 1955–1959, author of the first draft of what would become the Food for Peace program
Bayard T. Hainer (1860-1933), B.S. 1884, justice of the Territorial Oklahoma Supreme Court (1898-1907)
Spencer Haven (1868–1938), B.S. 1890, Attorney General of Wisconsin (1918–1919)
Willet M. Hays (1859-1928), M.A. Agriculture 1885, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Agriculture (1904-1913)
Jon Lindgren (born 1938), B.S. 1960, Mayor of Fargo, North Dakota, 1978–1994 and pioneering LGBT supporter
Thomas Harris MacDonald (1881–1957), Civil Engineering B.S. 1904, led the development of the Interstate Highway System
Elwood Mead (1858–1936), Civil Engineering PhD 1883, commissioner of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation during construction of the Hoover Dam, namesake of Lake Mead
Lenora Moragne (1931–2020), B.S. 1953, nutritionist
Trudy Huskamp Peterson, B.S. 1967, Archivist of the United States (1993–1995)
Robert W. Sennewald, B.A. 1951, Commanding General, United States Army Forces Command (1984-1986)
Scott Stanzel, B.A. 1995, deputy press secretary at the White House in the George W. Bush administration
Steven VanRoekel, Management of Information Systems B.A. 1994, second Federal Chief Information Officer of the United States

International

Heads of state and government

Parviz Davoodi (born 1952), Economics PhD 1981, first Vice President of Iran
John Garang (1945–2005), Economics PhD 1981, former commander of SPLA and former Vice President of Sudan
Lee Teng-hui (1923–2023), Agricultural Economics M.S. 1953, former President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

Cabinet ministers

Luis Ernesto Derbez (born 1947), Economics PhD 1980, current academic rector for the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2003–2006) and Secretary of Economics (2000–2002)
Isa Kalantari (born 1952), PhD Agricultural Physiology, Vice President for the Environment of Iran (2017-2021), Minister of Agriculture (1988-2001)
Sawsan Ali Sharifi (born 1956), Animal Science M.S. 1981 and PhD 1983, former Iraqi Minister of Agriculture in 2004
Yoo Sang-im (born 1959), Minister of Science and ICT of South Korea (2024–)

Other figures

Chen Min-jen, Nuclear Engineering PhD 1983, member of the Legislative Yuan (2005-2008)
Fred Grimwade (1933-1989), President of the Victorian Legislative Council (1979-1985)
Jalaluddin Rakhmat (1949–2021), Communications and Psychology 1981, Member of the People's Representative Council (2014–2019)
Anthony Worth, Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire

Activists

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947), General Science B.S 1880, leader of women's suffrage movement and founder of the League of Women Voters
Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), General Science B.S 1958, Native American rights leader and author
Alex Hershaft (born 1934), animal rights activist and Holocaust survivor
Ada Simond (1903-1989), Home Economics and Child Development M.S 1936, public health activist and historian

Journalism

Terry A. Anderson, B.A. 1974, former Middle East Bureau Chief, the Associated Press
Sally Jacobsen, B.A., journalist and foreign correspondent, first woman to serve as international editor of the Associated Press
Arendo Joustra, attended Graduate School, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, 1979–1980 – Dutch, writer and editor in chief of Elsevier
Robert E. Kowalski, B.A. 1966, M.S. 1977, bestselling medical author
John Madson, 1951 (wildlife biology), freelance writer (outdoor sports periodicals); became independent scholar of tallgrass prairie ecology
Sean McLaughlin, B.A. journalism, former Today Show weather anchor
Christine Romans, B.A. 1993, CNN Chief Business Correspondent
Hugh Sidey, B.S., journalist for Life and Time magazines

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists

Robert L. Bartley (1937–2003), B.A. 1959, recipient of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing; editor of The Wall Street Journal opinion page, vice-president of Dow Jones & Company
Jennifer Jacobs, journalist, senior White House correspondent for Bloomberg News
Tom Knudson, Journalism B.A. 1980, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in 1985 and 1992
Ted Kooser (born 1939), B.S. 1962, U.S. Poet Laureate (in 2004–2006) and recipient of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Lauren K. Soth (1911–1998), Agriculture Journalism B.A. 1932 and Agriculture Economics M.S. 1938, recipient of the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing

Science and technology

Aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering

Clayton Anderson (born 1959), M.S. 1983, NASA astronaut; first Iowa State alum in space
Steve Bales (born 1942), Aerospace Engineering B.S. 1964, director, Space Operations Management Office at NASA; known for the Apollo 11 landing
Clarence Chamberlin (attended but did not graduate), aviation pioneer
Sadanand Joshi, Ph.D. 1980, president of Joshi Technologies International, Inc. (JTI), petroleum engineer, contributed in developing horizontal well technology to produce crude oil and natural gas
Firouz Naderi (born 1946), Mechanical Engineering B.S. 1969, Iranian-American, served 36 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has an asteroid named after him, "5515 Naderi"

Agriculture sciences, plant sciences, and food science

Griffith Buck (1915–1991), B.S. 1948, M.S. 1949, Ph.D. 1953, professor of horticulture; developed nearly 100 new varieties of roses
George Washington Carver (1860s–1943), B.S. 1894, M.S. 1896, botanist and inventor, first African-American student and first African-American faculty member at ISU
Michael Grimes, MS 1922, PhD 1923, Irish scientist and first professor of microbiology at University College Cork
David Allen Laird, soil scientist
Charlotte Maria King (1864-1937), botanist, mycologist and agronomist
Edward F. Knipling (1909–2000), Entomology Ph.D. 1947, noted entomologist, World Food Prize winner for his work on developing the sterile insect technique
Rose Marie Pangborn (1932–1990), Food M.S. 1955, food scientist, food technologist, pioneer in the field of sensory analysis of food attributes, and professor at University of California, Davis
Donald W. Roberts, Utah State University Research Professor Emeritus and Cornell University Roy A. Young Scientist Emeritus Chair, helped to form the subdiscipline of biological pest control, known for studying Metarhizium
James A. Slater (1920–2008), Ph.D. 1950, noted entomologist, specialist in the study of heteroptera, and professor at the University of Connecticut
G. Malcolm Trout, B.S. 1923, M.S. 1924, noted food scientist and creator of homogenized milk

Chemistry and biochemistry

Julian Banzon (1908–1988), Biochemistry Ph.D. 1940, biochemist, National Scientist of the Philippines
Lawrence F. Dahl, Ph.D. 1956, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Lionel Dahmer, Ph.D. 1966, research chemist and author who was the father of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
Velmer A. Fassel, Ph.D. 1947, chemist, creator of inductively coupled plasma for mass spectrometry
Lyle Goodhue, B.S. 1928, M.S. 1929, Ph.D. 1934,inventor, research chemist and entomologist
Darleane C. Hoffman, B.S. 1948, nuclear chemist, part of the team that discovered Seaborgium, faculty senior scientist in the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, professor in the graduate school at University of California, Berkeley

Computer engineering

Dale A. Anderson, M.S. 1959, Ph.D. 1964, pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics
John Vincent Atanasoff (1903–1995), ISU Math M.S. 1926 (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), inventor of the first electronic digital computer
Clifford E. Berry (1918–1963), B.S. 1939, MS 1941, Ph.D. 1948 (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), co-developer of the first electronic digital computer
Bob O. Evans, B.S. 1951, computer pioneer and National Medal of Technology recipient
John Gustafson, M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1982, computer scientist and businessman, chiefly known for his work in high performance computing (HPC) such as the invention of Gustafson's law of parallel computing, introducing the first commercial computer cluster
Tom M. Whitney, BS 1961, MS 1962, Ph.D. 1964, co-inventor of the first handheld calculator able to perform trigonometry, and former executive vice-president of engineering at Apple Inc.

Mathematics

Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid, mathematician, probability and Markov chain theorist
Arthur E. Bryson, Jr., "father of modern optimal control theory"
Gertrude Cox, B.S. 1929, statistician, president of American Statistical Association in 1956, first woman elected into International Statistical Institute
Wayne Fuller, B.S. 1955, M.S. 1957, Ph.D. 1959, statistician
Sarah Nusser, master's 1987, Ph.D. 1990, statistician and vice president for research at Iowa State
Hadley Wickham, Ph.D. 2008, New Zealand statistician, elected fellow of American Statistical Association in 2015, known for ggplot2 and tidy data

Medical sciences

Mary Carrington, M.S., Ph.D., director of the basic science program at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Nancy Cox, BS 1970, virologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006 U.S. Federal Employee of the Year; one of the 2006 Time 100
Mark Mattson, BS 1979, prominent neuroscientist
Emil Steinberger, M.D. 1955, endocrinologist, founding president of the American Society of Andrology

Sports

Baseball

Mike Busch, former Major League Baseball player
Mike Myers, Major League Baseball player
Jim Walewander, former Major League Baseball player

Basketball

Zaid Abdul-Aziz (born Donald A. Smith), NBA player
Victor Alexander (born 1969), former NBA player
Chris Babb (born 1990), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Omaha Biliew, college basketball player from 2023-24
Will Blalock (born 1983), NBA player
Deonte Burton (born 1994), NBA player
Bridget Carleton, current player with the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA and the Townsville Fire in the Australian WNBL
Kelvin Cato, former NBA player
Will Clyburn, professional basketball player, 2016 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League, 2019 EuroLeague Final Four MVP
Marcus Fizer, former NBA player
Diante Garrett (born 1988), player for Ironi Ness Ziona of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Jeff Grayer, former NBA player
Tyrese Haliburton (born 2000), NBA player
Fred Hoiberg, former NBA player and former NBA head coach, Chicago Bulls
Jeff Hornacek (born 1963), former NBA all-star and former NBA head coach
Talen Horton-Tucker, NBA player, currently with the Chicago Bulls
Ashley Joens, Cyclones player; two-time recipient of the Cheryl Miller Award as the top small forward in NCAA Division I women's basketball
Wes Johnson (played two years for Iowa State prior to transferring to Syracuse ), NBA player
DeAndre Kane, basketball player in the Israeli Premier League and EuroLeague
Loren Meyer, retired professional basketball player
Monté Morris, 2017 First-team All-Big 12, 51st pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Denver Nuggets
Abdel Nader, NBA player
Georges Niang, NBA player
Marial Shayok (born 1995), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Paul Shirley, NBA player
Barry Stevens, NBA player
Jamaal Tinsley, NBA player
Jackson Vroman, NBA player
Royce White, former NBA and NBL Canada player
Lindell Wigginton (born 1998), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Dedric Willoughby (1974–2023), NBA player

Football

George Amundson, NFL player
Chris Anthony, wide receiver for the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League
David Archer, NFL player
Chris Ash, Head Coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team
Tony Baker,
Joe Beauchamp, NFL player
Matt Blair, NFL player
Carl Brettschneider, NFL player
Stan Campbell, NFL player
Jordan Carstens, NFL player
John Cooper, football captain and MVP and later head football coach at Ohio State
Pat Curran, NFL player
Troy Davis, NFL player
Jim Doran, former NFL player for the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, MVP NFL 1953 Championship game, played on 51, 53 and 57 Championship teams, 1960 Pro Bowler
Tim Dobbins, NFL player
Dennis Gibson, NFL player
Kelly Goodburn, NFL player
Breece Hall, NFL player
Weylan Harding, Arena Football League head coach and former player
Reggie Hayward, NFL player
Ennis Haywood, NFL player
LaMarcus Hicks, NFL player
Ellis Hobbs, NFL player
Keith Krepfle, NFL player
Allen Lazard (Class of 2017), NFL player
David Montgomery, NFL player
J.J. Moses, NFL player
Kelechi Osemele, NFL player, Super Bowl XLVII champion
Charles Partridge, Defensive Line and Specialists Coach of the Wisconsin Badgers football team
Brock Purdy (Class of 2021), NFL currently the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, 2023 Pro Bowler, 2023 NFC champion
Tom Randall, NFL player
James Reed, NFL player
Bruce Reimers, NFL player
Darius Reynolds, Arena Football League player
Marcus Robertson, NFL player
Sage Rosenfels, NFL player
Oliver Ross, NFL player
Keith Sims, NFL player
Mike Stensrud, NFL player
Jack Trice, football player and pioneer for minorities in sports, died of injuries sustained in a football game
Tom Vaughn, NFL player
Seneca Wallace, NFL player
Chuck Walton, NFL & CFL player
Chris Washington, NFL player
Tom Watkins, NFL player
Don Webb, NFL player
Gene Williams, NFL player
Tony Yelk, NFL player

Mixed martial arts

Justin Eilers, collegiate football player; retired professional MMA fighter
Mike Van Arsdale, 1988 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Champion; current MMA coach

Olympics

Glen Brand, 3-time All-American wrestler; 1948 Summer Olympics gold medalist in freestyle wrestling
Dan Gable, lost only one collegiate wrestling match; 1972 Olympic gold medalist and 1971 World Wrestling Champion, became top wrestling coach in the country at the University of Iowa
Kevin Jackson, 1992 Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Champion, former mixed martial artist, former head coach for ISU Cyclone Wrestling
Nawal El Moutawakel, first African woman and first Muslim woman to earn Olympic gold
Ben Peterson, 2-time NCAA Champion wrestler at Iowa State; 1972 & 1976 Olympic gold and silver medalist respectively
Cael Sanderson, 4-time NCAA undefeated wrestling champion (159–0) and 2004 Summer Olympics gold medalist, head coach of the Penn State wrestling team
Jake Varner, 2012 Summer Olympics gold medalist

Track

Yobes Ondieki, 10000-meter world record-holder, 1993

Cross country

Guor Mading Maker, 2-time Olympic Marathoner and flag bearer for South Sudan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Lisa Uhl, four-time NCAA Division One champion, current NCAA record holder in the 10,000 meters
Edwin Kurgat 2019 NCAA Champion and Olympic qualifier

Wrestling

Nate Carr, Olympic bronze medalist
Darryl Peterson, NCAA All-American and former professional wrestler
Trevor Smith, professional mixed martial artist, formerly competed in UFC's Middleweight Division
Chris Taylor, Olympic bronze medalist and professional wrestler
Justin Wren (attended), originally had a wrestling scholarship but had an injury, formerly competed in Bellator MMA

Ultramarathon

Pete Kostelnick, 2015 1st Place Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, 23hr 27min 10sec

Notable faculty and staff

Nobel laureates

Leonid Hurwicz (2007, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics), for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory
Theodore Schultz (1979, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics), for "pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries"
Dan Shechtman (2011, Nobel Prize in Chemistry), for "the discovery of quasicrystals"
George Stigler (1982, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics), for his contribution on capture theory

Pulitzer Prize

Jane Smiley, recipient of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Government and politics

James Wilson (1835–1920), professor who later became United States Secretary of Agriculture, Dean of Agriculture and director of the agricultural experiment station 1890–1897

Arts

Literature

Charlotte H. Bruner, scholar and translator of African women's literature
Joseph Geha, award-winning author
Fern Kupfer, novelist

Visual arts

Christian Petersen, sculptor, whose works appear around campus
Priscilla Kepner Sage, textile artist

Science and technology

Agriculture sciences, plant sciences, and food science

Raymond Arritt, agricultural meteorology 1993–2018
Jay L. Lush, pioneer of modern animal breeding
Albert M. Ten Eyck, President of the American Society of Agronomy
J. (Hans) van Leeuwen, emeritus professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at ISU, and developer of MycoMeal fungal feed and purified alcohol

Chemistry and biochemistry

John B. Balinsky, biochemist, physiologist, chair of zoology
L. K. Doraiswamy, chemical engineer, proponent of Organic synthesis engineering and Padma Bhushan winner
Henry Gilman, known as the "father of organometallic chemistry"
Nellie May Naylor (1885–1992), influential chemistry professor at Iowa State University, one of the earliest female chemistry professors at ISU, teaching 1908–1955
Frank Spedding, noted Ames Laboratory chemist who developed the Ames Process as a part of the Manhatten Project. He also serves as the namesake of Spedding Prize

Computer science and engineering

John Vincent Atanasoff (1903–1995), ISU Math M.S. 1926 (see also Atanasoff–Berry Computer), inventor of the first electronic digital computer
Mary Clem (1905–1979), mathematician, human computer; led the computing lab at ISU
Carolina Cruz-Neira, a pioneer of virtual reality (VR) technology, former ISU faculty and 2002 co-founder of the Virtual Reality Applications Center

Military technology

James Millikin Bevans, U.S. Air Force major general
James Lorraine Geddes (1827–1887), Civil War general; acting University President 1875–77
Roy L. Kline, brigadier general, USMC

Mathematics

Wayne Arthur Fuller, statistician noted for his textbooks on econometrics and survey sampling
Oscar Kempthorne, statistician and geneticist, and Distinguished Professor of Science and Humanities at Iowa State University
Sarah Nusser, statistician and expert on Survey methodology, and Iowa State vice president for research
George W. Snedecor, statistician and pioneer of modern applied statistics in the U.S., namesake of Snedecor Award

Medicine

Elsa Murano, former Iowa State University assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Preventative Medicine; 23rd President of Texas A&M University

Physics

Allan Mackintosh, noted solid-state physicist, director of Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics

Sports

Basketball

Larry Eustachy, former men's basketball coach, 2000 NCAA National Coach of the Year
Tim Floyd, former men's basketball coach with 81–49 record and first coach with three consecutive 20-win seasons
Johnny Orr, most successful coach in Iowa State and Michigan men's basketball history

Football

Mack Brown, head coach at University of Texas (at Iowa State 1979–1982)
Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, former coach at University of Southern California (at Iowa State 1978)
Tom Herman, head coach at University of Texas (at Iowa State 2009–2011)
Johnny Majors, renowned football head coach (at Iowa State 1968–1972)

Martial arts

Yong Chin Pak, Grandmaster, instructs taekwondo, hapkido, and judo

Sociology

Presidents of Iowa State University

Main article: Presidents of Iowa State University

References

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Iowa State University

Located in: Ames, Iowa

Academics

Colleges	Business Engineering Human Sciences Liberal Arts & Sciences Veterinary Medicine

Athletics

Teams	Baseball (defunct) Men's basketball Women's basketball Cross country Football Golf Gymnastics Soccer (women's) Softball Swimming & diving Track & field Volleyball Wrestling
Venues	Ames/ISU Ice Arena Cap Timm Field Jack Trice Stadium Hilton Coliseum Veenker Memorial Golf Course
Rivalries	Iowa Cy-Hawk Trophy Cy-Hawk Series Iowa Big Four Big Four Classic Kansas State (football) Missouri (football) (defunct)
Culture	Cy the Cardinal Hall of Fame ISU Fights Marching Band

Campus

Research

Student life

People

Founded: 1858

Categories: