According to Tom Baruch ’60, general partner at CMEA Ventures, the world has come a long way since he was a student at Rensselaer studying metallurgical engineering in the late 1950s. In those days, technological change was linear. Today, change is exponential, fostered, Baruch believes, by two major innovations — the invention of the transistor and the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA.

At Rensselaer today, research priorities parallel the paths forged by those earlier innovations — information technology and biotechnology. However, scientific fields are converging and the term “multidisciplinary” takes on new significance. As Baruch says, “boundaries will blur and new industries will emerge.”

A venture capitalist and investor in technology-based businesses, who earlier in his career worked as a patent attorney, Baruch recently made a major gift to create the Richard Baruch M.D. Career Development Professor in biotechnology at Rensselaer, named in honor of his father. He views his philanthropy as he has other major investments: “I back winners, who have winning management teams, and the horses to pull them through.” He says he has found all of those ingredients at Rensselaer, under the leadership of President Shirley Ann Jackson.

Baruch feels that two things stood out in his experience as a student at Rensselaer — hands-on experience with the scientific method, and the people he worked with and came to know. Ultimately, he took away from that experience skills that have served him well in his career.

He sees at Rensselaer an “absolute revitalization, an institution with a sense of purpose that will play a major role in changing our lives for the better.” These, he feels, are key ingredients in success and he very simply wants to play a role in that success. His endowed chair will support a faculty member in biotechnology, an area where, as Baruch says, “unlocking the periodic table of life opens up unlimited possibilities and responsibilities for Rensselaer’s students.”