2017 Laureate
Founding President, Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA
Richard (Rick) K. Miller may be the most significant contributor to the reinvention of undergraduate engineering education in the 21st Century. A gentle but forceful voice for change, Miller gave up a deanship and tenure to be the first employee and founding president of the Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA in 1999. The college and Miller, who is its embodiment, have received the highest accolades of the engineering and education professions, including the 2013 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, and election to the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. Driven by Miller’s vision, Olin has become a model of project-based, design-centric education for engineering and non-engineering schools alike in the U.S. and abroad
Nominated by: Vincent Manno
