Dr. Thomas K. Miller III has been named the McPherson Family Distinguished Professor in Engineering Entrepreneurship at NC State.

The endowed professorship was established by Thomas R. McPherson Jr., an NC State Distinguished Engineering Alumnus. McPherson holds two electrical engineering degrees from NC State, earning his B.S. in 1976 and his M.S. the following year. He has founded and led several successful high-tech companies resulting in one IPO and two mergers. The companies that he helped establish and make successful include Picture Element Limited, Network Equipment Technologies, Rapid City Communications, Hatteras Networks, Inc., and most recently Cognio, Inc., which was sold to Cisco Systems. He is a member of the advisory board for the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and sits on the NC State Engineering Foundation Board of Directors.

Miller also serves as professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vice provost for Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA), director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and associate dean of engineering. As vice provost for DELTA, Miller is responsible for strategy, deployment, and implementation of the university’s learning technologies and distance education programs.

Miller is also a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State and was the recipient of the 1995 Joseph M. Biedenbach Outstanding Engineering Educator award from IEEE. The United States Distance Learning Association recently honored Miller with its award for Outstanding Leadership by an Individual in the field of Distance Learning. He had previously received the state award from the North Carolina Distance Learning Association.

Miller, a Kinston native, received his B.A. in mathematics and chemistry in 1976, his M.S. in biomedical engineering and mathematics in 1980 and his doctorate in biomedical engineering and mathematics in 1982, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

College of Engineering News – View the original article