This list of University of Utah people includes notable alumni, non-graduate former students, faculty, staff, and former university presidents. The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a flagship public space-grant research university. The school is notable for having been one of the first four nodes of the ARPANET and the first node outside of California, as well as forming the first computer graphics research group.[1][2]
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The University of Utah offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and more than 92 graduate degree programs, and includes three professional graduate schools: the University of Utah School of Medicine, the David Eccles School of Business, and the S.J. Quinney College of Law.[3] The enrollment for 2016 was 23,789 undergraduate and 8,071 graduate students, with 1,505 full-time faculty members and 5,230 staff.[4]
Law and government
- Ross "Rocky" Anderson – Mayor, Salt Lake City (2000–2008)
- Norman H. Bangerter – Governor of Utah (1985–1993)
- Ralph Becker – Mayor, Salt Lake City (2008–2016)
- Bob Bennett – U.S. Senator, R-UT (1993–2011)
- Wallace F. Bennett – U.S. Senator, R-UT (1951–1974)
- Robert Braithwaite – Utah Fifth Circuit Court Judge (1987–2003)
- Marsha K. Caddle - Barbados' Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment
- Anson Vasco Call II – first Mayor of Afton, Wyoming; served nine terms; graduated with the first class in 1875
- Adam M. Duncan – founder of the Utah branches of the ACLU and the NAACP
- William T. Fairbourn – Major General in the Marine Corps
- Karl A. Fox – senior staff economist in the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers (1953–1955), Fellow of the American Statistical Association
- Ray D. Free – Major General in the U.S. Army Reserve and a member of the Utah House of Representatives
- E. Jake Garn – former U.S. Senator, R-UT (1974–1993), and Astronaut
- Larry Echo Hawk – Idaho Attorney General (1991–1995), head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (2009–2012)
- Jon Huntsman Jr. – Governor of Utah (2005–2009), United States Ambassador to Russia
- Dale A. Kimball – judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
- Edward L. Kimball – law professor at the University of Montana, University of Wisconsin, and Brigham Young University
- David S. King – U.S. Representative, D-UT (1959–1967)
- William H. King – U.S. Senator, D-UT (1917–1941)
- George W. Latimer – original member of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, member of the Utah Supreme Court, and represented Lt. William Calley Jr. during his court martial for the My Lai incident.
- Myron E. Leavitt – Lieutenant Governor of Nevada; Justice, Nevada Supreme Court
- Mark Maryboy – politician from San Juan County, Utah; former Navajo Nation Council Delegate
- Scott M. Matheson – Governor of Utah (1977–1985)
- Herbert B. Maw – Governor of Utah (1941–1949)
- Oscar W. McConkie Jr. – attorney for the LDS Church; former president of the Utah State Senate
- Frank Moss – U.S. Senator, D-UT (1959–1977)
- Cal Rampton – Governor of Utah (1965–1977)
- Joseph Lafayette Rawlins – U.S. Senator, R-UT (1897–1903)
- Karl Rove – chief political strategist and adviser to George W. Bush; attended but never graduated
- Judy Shelton – economic advisor to Donald Trump
- Laura Smith - member of the Montana House of Representatives
- I. Daniel Stewart – Utah Supreme Court justice
- Ted Stewart – judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
- David N. Sundwall – Executive Director, Utah Department of Health and former Assistant Surgeon General
- Elbert D. Thomas – U.S. Senator from Utah (1933–1951)
- Clark Waddoups – judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
- Olene Walker – Governor of Utah (2003–2005)
- Heber Manning Wells – Governor of Utah (1896–1905)
- Bob Wright – Utah lawyer, Republican gubernatorial candidate in 1980, biographer of David O. McKay
- Michael Zimmerman – former Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court
- Patrick Reimherr - Lawyer, Political Advisor to Ben McAdams and Tom Perez
Life and physical sciences
Computer science
- Robert Adamson – computer scientist; developed Gener/OL, one of the first interpreted programming languages
- Alan Ashton – computer scientist; co-founder of WordPerfect and Thanksgiving Point
- Brian A. Barsky – professor at the University of California, Berkeley, working in computer graphics, geometric modeling, optometry, and vision science
- David M. Beazley – author of Python Essential Reference, the SWIG software tool for creating Python C extensions, and the PLY parsing tool; fellow of the Python Software Foundation and two-time awardee of the IEEE Gordon Bell Prize
- Jim Blinn – computer scientist; MacArthur Fellow; known for his work on Carl Sagan's Cosmos documentary and inventing the first method for representing surface textures in graphical images[6]
- Edwin Catmull – co-founder of Pixar
- Jim Clark – computer scientist; entrepreneur; founder of several technology companies, including Silicon Graphics, Inc., Netscape Communications Corporation, myCFO, and Healtheon
- Frank Crow – computer scientist; developed anti-aliasing methods for computer graphics
- Alan L. Davis – computer architect, associate director of the University of Utah School of Computing
- Alyosha Efros – computer vision researcher and winner of the ACM Prize in Computing
- David Evans – computer scientist and graphics pioneer; co-founder of Evans & Sutherland
- Olivier Faugeras – computational neuroscientist and computer vision researcher, member of the French Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Technologies, and recipient of the 2014 Okawa Prize
- Justin Frankel – developed Winamp media player and gnutella peer-to-peer network; founder of Cockos Incorporated, which creates music production and development software such as the REAPER digital audio workstation
- Henry Fuchs – computer scientist; member of the National Academy of Engineering
- Amy Ashurst Gooch – developed Gooch shading for non-photorealistic rendering
- Henri Gouraud – computer scientist; inventor of Gouraud shading
- Charles D. Hansen – co-editor of The Visualization Handbook
- Paul Hudak – co-designer of the Haskell programming language
- Robert Royce Johnson – computer engineer, inventor of the Johnson counter, and Utah computer science professor
- Jim Kajiya – computer scientist; developed the frame buffer concept for storing and displaying single-raster images and the rendering equation
- Alan Kay – computer scientist; recipient of the Turing Award; credited with the concept of the laptop computer
- Gordon Kindlmann – developed the tensor glyph
- Miriah Meyer – computer scientist, pioneer in interactive visualization for basic research
- Martin Newell – computer scientist and graphics pioneer; creator of the Utah Teapot
- Frederic Parke – made the first 3D animation of a human face
- Bui Tuong Phong – computer scientist; inventor of the Phong reflection model and the Phong shading interpolation method
- Jim Waldo – lead software architect of Jini, CTO of Harvard University
- John Warnock – computer scientist; co-founder of Adobe Systems Inc.
- Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Athletics
- Jamal Anderson – former NFL running back
- Mike Anderson – former NFL running back and 2002 NFL Rookie of the Year
- Marv Bateman – former NFL punter
- Zane Beadles – Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman
- Daria Bijak – German gymnast; four-time German World Championships team member (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006); 2008 Olympic Team member
- Andrew Bogut – NBA center, most recently with the Golden State Warriors; first overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft; left early for the NBA and did not graduate
- Garett Bolles - Denver Broncos offensive lineman
- Anthony Brown – NFL offensive lineman
- Carlon Brown - basketball player, 2013-14 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League
- Blake Burdette – USA Rugby; current member of the United States National Rugby Team; four-time All-American at Utah
- Josh Burkman – former football player; current mixed martial artist formerly with World Series of Fighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Jerry Chambers – former NBA player; NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1966
- Tom Chambers – former NBA all-star
- Norm Chow – college football coach Utah, offensive coordinator; NCAA All-America honorable mention as an offensive line
- Will Clyburn - professional basketball player, 2016 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League, 2019 EuroLeague Final Four MVP
- C. J. Cron – MLB first baseman
- Michael Doleac – NBA player; AP All-American Honorable Mention and GTE First Team Academic All-American
- Andre Dyson – NFL defensive back
- Kevin Dyson – former NFL wide receiver
- Luther Elliss – former NFL defensive lineman
- Charlie Evans – former NFL running back[12]
- Manny Fernandez – former NFL player for the Miami Dolphins defensive lineman
- Arnie Ferrin – former NBA player, four-time NCAA All-American
- Marv Fleming – NFL tight end, first player in NFL history to play in 5 Super Bowls
- Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala – former NFL running back
- Scott Garson – college basketball coach
- Caroline Gleich – professional skier, mountaineer, and environmentalist
- Jordan Gross – former NFL offensive lineman
- Dominique Hatfield – NFL defensive back
- Manny Hendrix – former NFL cornerback
- Brian Johnson NFL and College Football coach
- Jack Johnson – former NFL offensive tackle
- Jeff Judkins – former NBA player
- Kyle Kuzma – Washington Wizards forward
- Hilary Lindh – FIS Alpine World Ski Champion and 1992 Winter Olympic medalist
- Joe Machnik – National Soccer Hall of Fame, Fox Sports broadcaster
- John Madsen – wide receiver Oakland Raiders
- Billy McGill – All-American basketball player and NBA
- Andre Miller – Former NBA guard, NCAA All-American
- Scott Mitchell – back-up quarterback to Dan Marino on the Miami Dolphins and later started at QB for the Detroit Lions
- Charles K. Monfort – Chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball
- Hanno Möttölä – former player in the NBA and with many European professional teams
- Mike Newlin – former NBA player with the Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets, and New York Knicks
- Terry Nofsinger – NFL quarterback for St. Louis in the 1960s
- Jared Norris – former NFL linebacker
- Sean O'Connell – mixed martial artist[13]
- Ralph Olsen – former NFL defensive end
- Tenny Palepoi – NFL defensive end
- Jakob Pöltl – San Antonio Spurs center/forward; left early for the NBA and did not graduate
- Ashley Postell – gymnast; balance beam champion; 2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Debrecen, Hungary
- Aldo Richins – NFL wingback, first Mexican to play in the NFL
- Dick Romney – member of the College Football Hall of Fame
- George Seifert – former NFL head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers
- Sharrieff Shah – Husband to Jen Shah, football coach
- Chris Shelton – MLB baseball player, first baseman
- Alex Smith – former Washington Redskins quarterback, first overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft
- Dave Smith – former NFL running back
- Kim Smith – Sacramento Monarchs, four-Time Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, 13th pick of 2006 WNBA draft
- Steve Smith Sr. – former NFL wide receiver
- Paul Soliai – NFL defensive tackle
- Bill Spencer – biathlete who competed at the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics
- George Theodore – Played for the Utes baseball team and earned a Master of Social Work in 1978[14]
- Shona Thorburn – Minnesota Lynx seventh overall pick of 2006 WNBA Draft
- Dakarai Tucker (born 1994) - basketball player for Hapoel Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Keith Van Horn – former NBA player
- Danny Vranes – former NBA player
- Eric Weddle – former safety for the Los Angeles Rams
- Larry Wilson – Pro Football Hall of Fame member; All-Pro free safety
- Delon Wright – Dallas Mavericks guard
- Patrik Trhac – professional tennis player
Humanities and fine arts
- Margaret "Peggy" Battin - Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Ethics
- Ellen Bromberg – Distinguished Professor of dance, choreography, and ballet
- Jan Harold Brunvand – Emeritus Professor of English; folklorist and urban legends researcher
- Lyle Campbell – linguist and leading expert on American Indian languages, Leonard Bloomfield Book Award winner
- Paul G. Cassell – former United States federal judge
- William Henry Chamberlin – philosopher and theologian; alumnus
- Katharine Coles – third poet laureate of Utah, director of Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute
- Charles E. Dibble (1909–2002) – Distinguished Professor of Anthropology (1939–78), Mesoamericanist scholar
- Nadja Durbach - Professor of British History, Guggenheim winner
- Craig Dworkin - Professor of English, poet, critic, and editor
- Leslie Pickering Francis - Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Law
- Eric Hinderaker - Professor of Early American History
- Scott Jarvis - Professor of Linguistics and expert in lexical diversity
- Jesse D. Jennings – archaeologist and anthropologist
- Dean L. May - (1938-2003) Professor of History
- Elijah Millgram - Professor of philosophy former Guggenheim Fellow.
- Lance Olsen - Professor, novelist, and poet.
- Jacqueline Osherow - Professor and poet.
- Sarah Projansky – professor in the department of film and media studies and professor in the department of gender studies
- Paisley Rekdal - Professor and poet, currently serving as Poet Laureate of Utah.
- Willis W. Ritter – former United States federal judge
- Clarice Short – poet and professor of English
- Ronald Smelser – professor of history, Holocaust educator and author of The Myth of the Eastern Front
- Terry Tempest Williams – author, conservationist, and activist
Life and physical sciences
Mathematics
- Mladen Bestvina – major contributor to the field of geometric group theory, fellow of the American Mathematical Society, three-time medalist at the International Mathematical Olympiad, and visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study
- Herbert Clemens – two-time invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Sloan Fellow, visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study, and proved that a cubic three-fold is in general not a rational variety
- Kenneth M. Golden – considered the "Indiana Jones of mathematics" for his work and expeditions to study polar sea ice, Fellow of the Explorers Club, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and American Mathematical Society
- Christopher Hacon – fellow of the American Mathematical Society, received Cole Prize for work in higher dimensional birational geometry
- Roger Horn – co-developed the Bateman–Horn conjecture and co-wrote the standard-issue Matrix Analysis textbook with Charles Royal Johnson
- Fern Hunt – member of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee of the US Department of Energy and recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Outstanding Federal Service for her work in mathematical biology, stochastic modeling, and parallel computing
- James Keener – pioneer in the field of mathematical physiology and cardiology and SIAM fellow
- János Kollár – received Cole Prize for contributions to the minimal model program for threefolds in algebraic geometry
- Graeme Milton – received SIAM Ralph E. Kleinman Prize for contributions to the field of modeling composite materials, SIAM fellow, and Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship recipient
- Wiesława Nizioł – Invited Speaker at the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians
Engineering and computer science
- Donald A. Dahlstrom – elected member of the National Academy of Engineering for his work on liquid-solids separation with the hydrocyclone
- David C. Evans – founder of the computer science department at the university; graphics pioneer and co-founder of Evans & Sutherland
- Alexandra Illmer Forsythe – author of the first computer science textbook
- Anthony C. Hearn – developed the REDUCE computer algebra system, co-founder of CSNET computer network
- John M. Hollerbach – editor of the International Journal of Robotics Research, co-founder of the International Symposium on Robotics Research, and co-inventor of the Utah/MIT dexterous hand
- Stephen Jacobsen – distinguished professor and founder of Sarcos, a robotics company that is now part of Raytheon
- Christopher R. Johnson – founding director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, recipient of the IEEE Computer Society Sidney Fernbach Award, and recipient of the Utah Governor's Medal for Science and Technology
- Steven Kistler – inventor of aerogels, the lightest known solid material
- Jan D. Miller – distinguished professor in metallurgical engineering holding over 30 patents on methods for processing oil sands, resin recovery from Utah coal, and air-sparged hydrocyclone technology
- Elliott Organick – educator considered "the foremost expositor writer of computer science"[17]
- Suhas Patil – computer scientist; entrepreneur; founder of Cirrus Logic, a fabless semiconductor company
- John Regehr – developed the C compiler fuzzer Csmith, the Clang C compiler integer overflow sanitizer, and widely-read blog Embedded in Academia
- Thomas Stockham – founder of Soundstream Inc., one of the experts selected to investigate President Richard Nixon's White House tapes
- Ivan Sutherland – winner of the Turing Award in 1988 for Sketchpad; co-founder of Evans and Sutherland
- Suresh Venkatasubramanian – developed the notion of t-closeness in differential privacy and the widely-read Geomblog
- Anil Virkar – ISI Highly Cited researcher in ceramic engineering and fuel cells, Member of the National Academy of Inventors and the National Academy of Engineering
- Ling Zang – member of American Association for the Advancement of Science,[18] National Academy of Inventors,[19] Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, USTAR Professor and founder of Vaporsens.[20] He is serving as the Director Board Of Directors at Gentex Corporation.
Medicine
- Balamurali Ambati – ophthalmologist, child prodigy who wrote a book on AIDS at age 11 and completed his MD at age 17
- Brenda L. Bass – distinguished professor of biochemistry focusing on RNA silencing, Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Mario Capecchi – 2007 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
- Susan Horn – pioneer in clinical biostatistics
- Janet Iwasa – data visualization designer for molecular processes
- Erik M. Jorgensen – lead researcher in the genetics field for finding more than 30 genes involved in synaptic function, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
- Willem Johan Kolff – pioneer of hemodialysis and in the field of artificial organs
- Jindřich Kopeček – distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and bioengineering and pioneer in drug delivery
- Kathi Mooney – distinguished professor of nursing
- Russell M. Nelson – physician and cardiothoracic surgeon; President of the LDS Church
- Richard A. Normann – distinguished professor of bioengineering, inventor of the Utah Electrode Array interface for studying parallel information processing in sensory corteces, and co-founder of the brain implant company Cyberkinetics which developed BrainGate
- John M. Opitz – developmental biologist who defined the concept of the developmental field in humans, and discovered and delineated Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome, Opitz–Kaveggia syndrome, Opitz G/BBB syndrome, Bohring–Opitz syndrome, and other autosomal and X-linked conditions
- Stefan M. Pulst – Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah; chair of the science committee of the American Academy of Neurology
- Wolfram Samlowski – oncologist; former director of the Translational Research, Multidisciplinary Melanoma Program at the Huntsman Cancer Institute
- Mark Skolnick – founder of Myriad Genetics
- Dixon M. Woodbury – epilepsy researcher, former chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and distinguished professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the School of Medicine
- Shuping Wang (1959–2019) – Medical researcher associated to HIV in blood collection at Immunology and Pathology, Dermatology, Nephrology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy Labs.[21]
Economics and political science
Social and behavioral sciences
"Fast Facts" (PDF). University of Utah. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 11, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
"Fast Facts" (PDF). Office of Budget and Institutional Analysis. The University of Utah. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
Nozawa, Jennifer (Fall 2016). "The Stork". Continuum. Retrieved 14 September 2022.