Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …

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School

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Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Engineering,

#7951

John P. Barber

#94035

Overall Influence

John P. Barber is a pioneer of railgun technology. Dr. Barber received the Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Saskatchewan in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from Australian National University in 1972. He joined the University of Dayton Research Institute in 1974 and directed the Impact Physics Group there until 1979 when he resigned to go into business. Dr. Barber co-founded IAP Research in 1981 and has served as President since.

#7952

Dubravka Sekulić

#132503

Overall Influence

1980 - Present (46 years)

Dubravka Sekulić is a professor, author and architect. Since 2016, she has taught at the "Institute of Contemporary Art", which is part of the Graz University of Technology in Austria. She is known for writing about privatization and its consequences on Belgrade's urban planning, stating that public space ought to be ".. a resource whose development should bring equality, not the basis for profit making". Her main field of research examines how modern cities change within the framework of spatial, legal and economic modalities.

#7953

Larry Clark

#56028

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (83 years)

Lawrence Donald Clark is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for his controversial teen film Kids and his photography book Tulsa . His work focuses primarily on youth who casually engage in illegal drug use, underage sex, and violence, and who are part of a specific subculture, such as surfing, punk rock, or skateboarding.

#7954

Joseph M Unger

#173956

Overall Influence

#7955

Shin-Ru Shih

#171712

Overall Influence

Shin-Ru Shih is the director of the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections and holds a professorship in the Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science and Graduate Program of Biomedical Sciences at Chang Gung University. She is also the medical director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

#7956

Sheila MacNeil

#124863

Overall Influence

Sheila MacNeil is a Professor of Tissue Engineering at the University of Sheffield. She works alongside NHS clinicians to use tissue engineered skin to benefit patients with burns, chronic ulcers and those recovering from surgery. She developed MySkin, skin bandages that are used to treat burns in 11 of 13 major UK burns units.

#7957

Gordon H Williams

#174000

Overall Influence

#7958

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris

#140453

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (68 years)

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is a Greek-American academic. She is a Distinguished Professor of urban planning and urban design at UCLA. She is also a core faculty of the UCLA Urban Humanities Initiative. She served as Associate Provost for Academic Planning at UCLA from 2016-2019, and she has been the Associate Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs since 2010. She was the chair of the UCLA Department of Urban Planning from 2002-2008. She is a public space scholar and has examined transformations in the public realm and public space in cities, and their associated social meanings and impacts on urban residents.

#7959

Mick LaSalle

#23980

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

Mick LaSalle is an American film critic and the author of two books on pre-Code Hollywood. Up to March 2008, he had written more than 1,550 reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle and he has been podcasting them since September 2005.

#7960

Jerzy W. Rozenblit

Jerzy W. Rozenblit

#122918

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (70 years)

Jerzy W. Rozenblit is a University Distinguished Professor and Raymond J. Oglethorpe Endowed Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, Arizona. He also holds a joint appointment as Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. From 2003 to 2011 he served as the ECE Department Head. During his tenure at the University of Arizona, he established the Model-Based Design Laboratory with major projects in complex systems design hardware software codesign, modeling, and computer-aided minimally-invasive surgical training.

#7961

Andreas Reigber

#174054

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Andreas Reigber is an electrical engineer from the German Aerospace Center in Wessling, Germany. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2016. for his contributions to SAR tomography and airborne multi-band SAR.

#7962

Stavros Tavoularis

#171079

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Stavros Tavoularis from the University of Ottawa, was awarded the status of Fellow in the American Physical Society, after they were nominated by their Division of Fluid Dynamics in 2007, for contributions to turbulence, turbulent mixing, vortex dynamics, aerodynamics, thermo-hydraulics, bio-fluid dynamics, and design of flow apparatus and instrumentation. Also, for contributions to education in fluid dynamics and for promoting international collaboration and understanding.

#7963

Suresh Sitaraman

#171946

Overall Influence

Suresh K Sitaraman is the Regents' Professor and Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professor of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. Education Dr Suresh Sitaraman received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli affiliated to University of Madras in 1982. He also obtained his Master of Applied Science degree from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 1985 and Doctor of Philosophy from the Ohio State University, USA in 1989.

#7964

Yasamin Mostofi

#154648

Overall Influence

Yasamin Mostofi is an Iranian-American Scientist and a Professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. Yasamin’s research is multi-disciplinary, expanding wireless communications, sensing, and control/robotics.

#7965

Tania Bubela

#94891

Overall Influence

Tania Marjorie Bubela is a professor and dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Education Born and raised in Australia, Bubela earned her bachelor's degree in 1988 from the Australian National University and her PhD from the University of Sydney.

#7966

Pushkar Sohoni

#108271

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (50 years)

Pushkar Sohoni is an architect, and an architectural and cultural historian. He is an associate professor and the chair of the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

#7967

Sharon M. Weiss

#156843

Overall Influence

Sharon M. Weiss is an American professor of electrical engineering and physics at Vanderbilt University. Weiss has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers , an NSF CAREER award, an ARO Young Investigator Award, and the 2016–2017 IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer award for her teaching and fundamental and applied research on silicon-based optical biosensing, silicon photonics for optical communication, and hybrid and nanocomposite material systems. She is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Engineering at Vanderbilt University, in addition to the Di...

#7968

Mary Frecker

#171909

Overall Influence

Mary Irene Frecker is an American mechanical engineer whose research focuses on topology optimization of adaptive structures, compliant mechanisms, and self-folding origami mechanisms, with applications including the design of medical devices. She is a professor of mechanical and biomechanical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, Riess Chair of Engineering, head of the mechanical engineering department, and director of the Penn State Center for Biodevices.

#7969

Thomas H. Epps III

#91463

Overall Influence

Thomas H. Epps, III is an American chemist and the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. He has a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering, and an affiliated appointment in Biomedical Engineering. He serves as the director of the Center for Research in Soft Matter & Polymers, the director of the Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials , and the co-director of the Center for Plastics Innovations . His research considers the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of nanostructure-containing p...

#7970

Malcolm Airs

#78996

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (85 years)

Malcolm Russell Airs is emeritus professor of conservation and the historic environment at Kellogg College, University of Oxford and Emeritus Professor, Department of Education. His main research work focussed on the building processes and craftsmanship of the Tudor and Stuart periods.

#7971

Carl W. Walter

#99971

Overall Influence

1906 - 1992 (86 years)

Carl Waldemar Walter was a surgeon, inventor, and professor at Harvard Medical School. Walter has been called "a pioneer in the transfusion and storage of blood," credited with founding one of the world's first blood banks and invention of the first blood collection bag. He was also known for his prolific work in the advocacy, application, and study of asepsis.

#7972

Adrian Curaj

#37603

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (68 years)

Adrian Curaj is a Romanian electrical engineer who was named Education Minister in the new government of Dacian Cioloș in November 2015. He was removed during a cabinet reshuffle the following July.

#7973

Eva Zurek

#172481

Overall Influence

Eva Dagmara Zurek is a theoretical chemist, solid-state physicist and materials scientist. As a Professor of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, Zurek studies the electronic structure, properties, and reactivity of a wide variety of materials using quantum mechanical calculations. She is interested in high pressure science, superhard, superconducting, quantum and planetary materials, catalysis, as well as solvated electrons and electrides. She develops algorithms to predict the structures of crystals, interfaces them with machine learning models, and applies them in materials discovery.

#7974

Dimitris Drikakis

#113389

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (61 years)

Dimitris Drikakis, PhD, FRAeS, CEng, is a Greek-British applied scientist, engineer and university professor. His research is multidisciplinary. It covers fluid dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, acoustics, heat transfer, computational science from molecular to macro scale, materials, machine learning, and emerging technologies. He has applied his research to diverse fields such as Aerospace & Defence, Biomedical, and Energy and Environment Sectors. He received The William Penney Fellowship Award by the Atomic Weapons Establishment to recognise his contributions to compressible fluid dynamics.

#7975

C. Nataraj

#174285

Overall Influence

Chandrashekar Nataraj , an American-Indian scientist, holds the Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Moritz, Sr. Endowed Chair in Engineered Systems in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Villanova University:.

#7976

Cathryn Mitchell

#147978

Overall Influence

Cathryn N. Mitchell is a Professor of Electronic & Electronic Engineering at the University of Bath. She was awarded the 2019 Institute of Physics Edward Appleton Medal and Prize. Early life and education Mitchell studied physics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She remained there for her doctoral studies, where she explored the use of radio tomography to study the Earth's ionosphere. She was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Keith Runcorn Prize and University of Wales Granville Beynon prize for her dissertation.

#7977

Kristina Shea

#174139

Overall Influence

Kristina Shea is a mechanical engineer whose research topics include generative design, tensegrity structures, aquatic soft robotics, and 4D printing. She is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich, where she holds the chair in Engineering Design and Computing.

#7978

Pete Docter

#39292

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (58 years)

Peter Hans Docter is an American filmmaker and animator. He is the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios. He is best known for directing the animated feature films Monsters, Inc. , Up , Inside Out , and Soul , and being a key figure and collaborator at Pixar. He has been nominated for nine Oscars and has won three for Best Animated Feature—for Up, Inside Out and Soul—making him the first person in history to win the category three times. He has also been nominated for nine Annie Awards , a BAFTA Children's Film Award and a Hochi Film Award. He has described himself as a "geeky kid...

#7979

Yuan Xie

#174320

Overall Influence

#7980

Brian Argrow

#172870

Overall Influence

Brian Maurice Argrow is an American aerospace engineer and Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the department. Argrow specializes in the field of hypersonic aerodynamics, rarefied gas dynamics, dense gas dynamics, and UAVs.

#7981

Terry Wogan

#24296

Overall Influence

1938 - 2016 (78 years)

Sir Michael Terence Wogan was an Irish-British radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday breakfast programme Wake Up to Wogan regularly drew an estimated eight million listeners. He was believed to be the most listened-to radio broadcaster in Europe.

#7982

Richard A Stone

#174333

Overall Influence

#7983

Beatriz del Cueto

#169374

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (74 years)

Beatriz del Cueto is a Cuban-born architect specialising in conservation and architectural preservation. A resident of Puerto Rico since 1960, del Cueto is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and Henry Klumb Award winner in 2012.

#7984

Lan Wang

#158302

Overall Influence

Professor Lan Wang is a Chinese-Australian material scientist known for expertise in materials synthesis and advanced materials characterisation. He was appointed as an associate professor of physics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia in 2014.

#7985

Lal Jose

#57431

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (60 years)

Lal Jose is an Indian director, actor, producer and distributor who works in the Malayalam film industry. He started his career as an Assistant director in the Malayalam cinema. His directorial debut was with the 1998 film Oru Maravathoor Kanavu.

#7986

Edwin Smith

#124811

Overall Influence

1931 - 2010 (79 years)

Edwin 'Ted' Smith FRS was a metallurgy scientist whose career included roles in both industry and academia. His first metallurgy role was as a postgraduate student in the Department of Metallurgy at Sheffield University. His early industry career work included roles at the Associated Electrical Industries Research Laboratory, Aldermaston, and at the Central Electricity Generating Board Research Laboratories in Leatherhead. Smith became Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Manchester in 1968, and was involved in the process of joining his department with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology's own Department of Metallurgy in 1975.

#7987

Graciela Silvestri

#169002

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (72 years)

Graciela Silvestri is an Argentine architect, Professor of Architectural Theory and a senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina. Career Silvestri earned both her degree in Architecture and Ph.D. in History from the University of Buenos Aires. The main focus of her work is on landscapes and urban design.

#7988

Ashutosh Tiwari

#174453

Overall Influence

#7989

Margarita Marinova

#145981

Overall Influence

1980 - Present (46 years)

Margarita Marinova is a Bulgarian aeronautical engineer. She is the Senior Mars and Vehicle Systems Development Engineer at SpaceX. Early life and education Margarita Marinova was born in Bulgaria and can speak five languages: English, Bulgarian, Russian, German and French. When she was 10, she moved to Vienna for one year, before moving to Toronto. Her mother and father were computer engineers. She was the founder and chair of the Toronto Chapter of the international Mars Society whilst at high school. She entered and won the NASA Space Settlement Design Content in 1997, 1998 and 1999. By the age of 18, she had co-authored five science papers.

#7990

Wei Gu

#174492

Overall Influence

#7991

Qiu Dahong

#148441

Overall Influence

1930 - Present (96 years)

Qiu Dahong is a Chinese coastal and offshore engineer. He served as chief engineer of the Dalian Fishing Port, the New Dalian Port, the Qinhuangdao Petroleum Port, and many other projects. He is a professor of the Dalian University of Technology and directed the State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.

#7992

Patrick Doherty

#174529

Overall Influence

#7993

Jerry Uelsmann

#32852

Overall Influence

1934 - 2022 (88 years)

Jerry Norman Uelsmann was an American photographer. As an emerging artist in the 1960s, Jerry Uelsmann received international recognition for surreal, enigmatic photographs made with his unique method of composite printing and his dedication to revealing the deepest emotions of the human condition. Over the next six decades, his contributions to contemporary photography were firmly established with important exhibitions, prestigious awards and numerous publications. Among his awards were a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment, Royal Photographic Society Fellowship, and Lucie Award.

#7994

Rebecca Sugar

#44367

Overall Influence

1987 - Present (39 years)

Rebecca Rea Sugar is an American animator, screenwriter and musician. She is best known for being the creator of the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe, making her the first non-binary person to independently create a series for the network; prior to coming out as non-binary, Sugar was described as the first woman to do so. Until 2013, Sugar was a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series Adventure Time. Her work on the two series has earned her seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Sugar is bisexual, non-binary, and genderqueer, using both she/her and they/them pronouns.

#7995

Ferdinand K. Levy

#53557

Overall Influence

Ferdinand K. Levy is a distinguished economist and management scientist with several important contributions to economics and management science. He was a professor at Georgia Tech from 1972 until his retirement in 2005. In particular he was famous for research on and contributions to the Critical Path Method and Program Evaluation and Review Technique .

#7996

Rick Millane

#155568

Overall Influence

Rick P. Millane is a New Zealand electrical and computer engineer currently Professor at University of Canterbury and an Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand. A cited expert in his field, his research involves structural biology, molecular imaging and computational imaging.

#7997

T.E. Schlesinger

#90466

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (73 years)

T.E. Schlesinger is an American engineer and physicist and since January 2014 has served as the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Previously he was the David Edward Schramm Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University's college of engineering, where he was also department head of electrical and computer engineering . At Carnegie Mellon he served as the director of the DARPA Center for MEMS Instrumented Self-Configuring Integrated Circuits , was the founding director of the General Motors Collaborative Rese...

#7998

Juan L. Maldonado

Juan L. Maldonado

#50872

Overall Influence

1948 - 2018 (70 years)

Juan Leandro Maldonado was a higher education administrator who served as the sixth president of Laredo Community College in Laredo in Webb County in South Texas, USA. In August 2007, upon the sudden retirement of Ramón H. Dovalina, Maldonado assumed the LCC presidency. Maldonado retired from LCC effective August 1, 2016.

#7999

Cigdem Eskicioglu

#170680

Overall Influence

Cigdem Eskicioglu is a Turkish-Canadian engineer, and a professor at the University of British Columbia. She holds a Senior Industrial Research Chair in the School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia.

#8000

Martha A.Q. Curley

#138331

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (74 years)

Martha A.Q. Curley is an American nurse. She is the Ruth M. Colket Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Early life and education Curley was born on November 14, 1952 in Springfield, Massachusetts, US to an Italian father. She completed her Diploma in Nursing from the Springfield Hospital School of Nursing in 1973 and her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1985. Following this, she completed her Master's degree in nursing from Yale University and her PhD from Boston College.

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