Jack P. Ruina (August 19, 1923 – February 4, 2015) was a professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) from 1963 until 1997 and thereafter an MIT professor emeritus. From 1966 to 1970, he was also vice president for special laboratories at MIT. Ruina received his PhD degree in electrical engineering from the

New York University Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

(then Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn), He then served in positions at the U.S.

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

, including deputy for research to the assistant secretary of research and engineering of the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

, Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Director of the

Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

. In 1962, he was honored with the Fleming Award for being one of ten outstanding young men in government. From 1964 to 1966, during a two-year leave of absence from MIT, he served as president of the

Institute for Defense Analysis The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institute ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. While at MIT, Ruina served on government committees, including a presidential appointment to the General Advisory Committee from 1969 to 1977, and acting as senior consultant to the White House

Office of Science and Technology Policy An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

from 1977 to 1980. He was an honorary member of the Board of Trustees of the

MITRE The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

Corporation, and the editor with Jeffrey Porro and Carl Kaysen of the book ''The Nuclear Age Reader'' (1988).

References

External links

Bio at MITREOral history interview with Jack P. Ruina

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

, University of Minnesota. Ruina discusses the beginning of the

Information Processing Techniques Office The Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), originally "Command and Control Research",Lyon, Matthew; Hafner, Katie (1999-08-19). ''Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet'' (p. 39). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. was par ...

within ARPA: the initial goals, how the idea of an information processing program was initiated, the selection of the first director, J.C.R. Licklider. From 1961 to 1963 Ruina was the third Director of ARPA.
Oral history interview with J. C. R. Licklider

, University of Minnesota. Licklider, the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's (ARPA)

(IPTO), discusses his work at Lincoln Laboratory and IPTO. Topics include the work of ARPA director Jack Ruina. 1923 births American engineers Brown University faculty DARPA directors 2015 deaths MIT School of Engineering faculty Mitre Corporation people Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni United States Department of Defense officials University of Illinois faculty {{US-academic-stub