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When he returned to Lafayette for two talks on Nov. 12, students found that electrical engineering graduate Richard Thompson ’64 isn’t shy about touting the telecommunications program he leads at the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, he calls it the best graduate program in its field.
But Thompson, professor of telecommunications in the department of information science and telecommunications, also takes pride in his undergraduate experience, which helped propel him to a distinguished career in both academia and industry.
“I went to work at Bell Labs after graduating from Lafayette and I started graduate work at Columbia — both with a little trepidation,” he admits. “But, I quickly discovered that I was at least as well prepared as my colleagues and classmates who were educated at more prestigious universities.”
He says the advantages he had over students from other institutions were seeing the “big picture” and the ability to write and speak well.
“I attribute much of this to an education in which I was not coddled by being allowed to take ‘English for Engineers’ and similar fluff; a campus environment in which I got to know a few hundred people very well instead of a few thousand people hardly at all; and several extremely special professors who allowed me to get close to them,” he says.
Thompson gave two talks at Lafayette. The first was a discussion of telecommunication careers at noon in Gagnon Lecture Hall, Hugel Science Center room 100. Free lunch was provided courtesy of the student chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the department of electrical and computer engineering.
“The talk will begin with a lot of encouraging, real data about the future of high-tech careers,” he noted before the lecture. “I will then focus on telecom careers and segue into a commercial about telecom education at Pitt, and what we’ve done here that’s so unique.”
The second talk was a technical presentation to electrical and computer engineering majors on “Photonic Switching,” which is establishing point-to-point data connections in optic fiber technology without converting data to electronic form.
Thompson has developed expertise in communications switching, computer science, human-telecommunications interaction, digital and optical transmission, and technology transmission. He has shared his knowledge in presentations around the world, including forums in Germany, England, Scotland, Poland, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, South Africa, and Mexico.
At Lafayette, he received the Harry Jahn Track Award and the Class of 1913 Trophy as the outstanding senior scholar-athlete. He served as captain of the track and cross country teams in his senior year and was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
Thompson earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1966 and a Ph.D. in computer science from University of Connecticut in 1971. He joined the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute that year and received a two-year, $25,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1972 to develop an electronic telephone system. He designed the system and directed four graduate students in constructing a prototype.
NSF awarded Thompson and a colleague a $100,000 grant in 1974 to study fault-tolerant cellular architectures. He earned tenure as associate professor at Virginia Poly in 1976, and the next year, he started a 20-year stint at AT&T (Bell Laboratories) in Murray Hill, N.J., beginning as a member of the technical staff in the digital systems research department.
Since joining Pitt in 1989, Thompson has developed and taught courses such as Electronic Communication, Switching Systems, Intelligent Networks, Digital Transmission, Photonic Communication, and Designing Computer & Networking Services. He was appointed director of the telecommunications graduate program in 1991.
From 1993-95, he took on a part-time position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., working summers and miscellaneous days throughout the year.
Thompson has directed many major research projects in his academic and industrial career, receiving a number of grants and helping attract more than $1 million in funding and equipment for Pitt from corporations. He is starting a Center for Research in Electronic Communications and Networking. One of his major research projects that the center will continue involves integration of voice, data, and video in computer user-oriented services.
He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Etta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi academic honor societies.
Thompson still finds time to enter an occasional road race and serve in leadership positions at his church and homeowner’s association. He and his wife, Sandy, live in the Pittsburgh suburb of Harmar Township and have two grown children and seven grandchildren.
Richard Thompson ’64