Richard K. Miller (NAE) was appointed president and first employee of Olin College of Engineering in 1999; in June 2020 he became president emeritus and professor of mechanical engineering. He then served as the Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems at MIT (2020–21). Previously, he was dean of engineering at the University of Iowa, associate dean of engineering at USC in Los Angeles, and assistant professor of engineering at UCSB.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and National Academy of Inventors, and a member of the NAE. He has received the 2017 Brock International Prize in Education, the NAE’s 2013 Bernard M. Gordon Prize (together with two Olin colleagues), and the 2011 Marlowe Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.

He has chaired the National Academies’ Board on Higher Education and Workforce and NSF’s Engineering Advisory Committee, and served on advisory boards and committees for Harvard University, Stanford University, the NAE, NASEM, and the US Military Academy at West Point. In addition, he has been a consultant to the World Bank in the establishment of new universities in developing countries. 

He earned his BS from the University of California at Davis, SM from MIT, and PhD from the California Institute of Technology where he received the Distinguished Alumni Award.