Class of 1946
Engineering Education Leader
1925-2013

Lois Graham was one of the first two female graduates of Rensselaer after she completed an accelerated wartime program in 1946. Graham began her career in industry, and later became the first woman in the country to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, at the Illinois Institute of Technology; she subsequently joined the faculty at Illinois as a professor of mechanical engineering and retired as professor emeritus.

In 1991, Graham returned to Rensselaer as a distinguished speaker at the Panhellenic Association’s 6th Annual Meeting and Awards Tea. During the event, she shared her experience as one of the first women students at Rensselaer and discussed the challenges she faced upon entering the field of engineering.

She was inducted into the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003.