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Following is a list of some notable students and alumni of Stanford University.
Ramesh K. Agarwal (Ph.D. in AA, 1975), William Palm Professor of Engineering at Washington University, computational fluid dynamicist
Susan Athey (Ph.D. in business school), winner of the John Bates Clark Medal (2007) in Economics of Technology and professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Cara Drinan (J.D. 2002), author and professor of law at Catholic University
Ronald N. Bracewell AO (Ph.D. 1949), professor of electrical engineering, pioneer of radio astronomy, designed and operated the spectroheliograph used to map the temperature of the Sun during the NASA Moon landing
Ricardo Felipe Munoz (B.A. 1972), Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University
Nils Nilsson (Ph.D. 1958 computer science), led the effort in developing Shakey the robot at SRI, professor of engineering, emeritus in computer science at Stanford University
John Kenneth Salisbury, Jr. (Ph.D.), roboticist and professor emeritus at Stanford's Computer Science Department and Stanford School of Medicine's Department of Surgery[10]
Jan Crull Jr. (enrollee, summer quarter 1967), Native American Rights activist and iconoclastic filmmaker, first proposed the need for an Indian college fund as an aide to U.S. Congressman Paul Simon
Gregory Minor (M.S. 1966), resigned from the General Electric nuclear reactor division in 1976 to protest the use of nuclear power, galvanizing anti-nuclear groups across the U.S.
Richard Harvey Chambers (LL.B. 1932), chief judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1959–1976), judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1954–1959)[75]
Daniel P. Collins (J.D. 1988), judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (2019–present)[76]
Procter Ralph Hug Jr. (LL.B. 1958), chief judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1996–2000), judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1977–1996; 2000–2002)[89]
Pamela Ann Rymer (LL.B. 1964), judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1989–2011), judge of the Central District of California (1983–1989)[101]
Oliver Seth (A.B. 1937), chief judge of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (1977–1984), judge of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (1962–1977)[102]
Sri Srinivasan (A.B. 1989, M.B.A. 1995, J.D. 1995), chief judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals (2020–present), judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals (2013–2020)[103]
Holly A. Thomas (A.B. 2000), judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (2022–present)[104]
Haywood Gilliam (J.D. 1994), judge of the Northern District of California (2014–present)[121]
Irma Elsa Gonzalez (A.B. 1970), chief judge of the Southern District of California (2005–2012), judge of the Southern District of California (1992–2005; 2012–2013)[122]
Phyllis J. Hamilton (A.B. 1974), chief judge of the Northern District of California (2014–2021), judge of the Northern District of California (2000–2014)[125]
Harry Lindley Hupp (A.B. 1953, LL.B. 1955), judge of the Central District of California (1984–1997)[126]
Susan Illston (J.D. 1973), judge of the Northern District of California (1995–2013)[127]
Fred Kunzel (A.B. 1925, LL.B. 1927), chief judge of the Southern District of California (1967–1969), judge of the Southern District of California (1959–1967)[129]
Charles A. Legge (A.B. 1952, LL.B. 1954), judge of the Northern District of California (1984–2001)[130]
Kimberly J. Mueller (J.D. 1995), chief judge of the Eastern District of California (2020–present), judge of the Eastern District of California (2010–2020)[136]
Robert Francis Peckham (A.B. 1941, LL.B. 1945), chief judge of the Northern District of California (1976–1988), judge of the Northern District of California (1966–1976)[140]
Hernán D. Vera (A.B. 1991), judge of the Central District of California (2023–present)[154]
Vaughn Walker (LL.B. 1970), chief judge of the Northern District of California (2004–2010), judge of the Northern District of California (1989–2004; 2010–2011)[155]
James Ware (J.D. 1972), chief judge of the Northern District of California (2010–2012), judge of the Northern District of California (1990–2010)[156]
Claudia Ann Wilken (A.B. 1971), chief judge of the Northern District of California (2012–2014), judge of the Northern District of California (1993–2012)[158]
David Keith Winder (LL.B. 1958), chief judge of the judge of the District of Utah (1993–1997), judge of the District of Utah (1979–1993)[159]
Joshua Groban (B.A. 1995), associate justice of the California Supreme Court (2019–present)[171]
Barbara Durham (LL.B. 1968), 1st Female chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court (1995–1998), associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court (1985–1995, 1998–1999)[172]
Charles L. McNary (A.B. 1897), associate justice of the Oregon Supreme Court (1913–1915), United States Senator (1917–1944), United States Senate Minority Leader (1933–1944)[182]
Gordon R. Thompson (LL.B. 1943), chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada (1966–1968, 1973–1974), associate justice of the Nevada Supreme Court (1961–1965, 1969–1972, 1975–1980)[190]
Donald Wright (A.B. 1929), 24th chief justice of California (1970–1977)[191]
Walton J. Wood (A.B. 1901), associate justice of the California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two (1935–1945), first public defender in the history of the United States (1914–1921)[199]
Law
Attorney
Luke Cole (A.B. 1984), environmental lawyer, cofounder of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment
David Benaron (postdoc), former professor in pediatrics and neonatology, digital health entrepreneur, specialist in medical imaging, monitoring and analysis, and co-inventor of "glowing mice" imaging technique
Marcia Stefanick (Ph.D. 1982) director of the Stanford Women's Health and Sex Differences in Medicine Center
Nicholas Tatonetti (Ph.D. 2012), bioscientist who is vice chair of operations in the Department of Computational Biomedicine and associate director of computational oncology in the Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Karl Deisseroth (Ph.D. 1998, M.D. 2000), neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and bioengineer; known for creating, developing, and applying the technologies of optogenetics and CLARITY, and for coining the names of these fields
Esther Lederberg (A.M. 1946), pioneer of bacterial genetics; contributions include the discovery of lambda phage, the transfer of genes between bacteria by specialized transduction, the development of replica plating, and the discovery of bacterial fertility factor F
Kumar Patel (M.S., Ph.D., EE), inventor of carbon dioxide laser (the most widely used laser), IEEE Medal of Honor winner, National Medal of Science winner
John Elway (A.B. 1982), retired Hall of Fame National Football League quarterback and current executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos[360]
Zach Ertz (2012), tight end for the Washington Commanders; previously played for the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles and won Super Bowl LII
Jennifer Sey, former U.S. National Gymnastics Champion
Samantha Shapiro, five-time member of the USA Gymnastics National Team, 2007 U.S. junior uneven bars champion, 2008 U.S. junior uneven bars, and balance beam champion
Eric Heiden (B.S. 1984, M.D. 1991), speed skater, 5 gold medals at 1980 Lake Placid Olympics; cycling, competed in 1985 Giro D'Italia, 1986 Tour de France
Sara Lowe, artistic swimming, Olympic bronze medalists and Pan American Games champion.
Alexander Massialas (B.S. 2016 Mechanical Engineering), Olympic fencer, 2016 silver medalist in individual Men's Foil, 2020 bronze medalist in Team FoilDorian "Doc" Paskowitz, surfer and physician
Daniel Naroditsky (B.A. 2019 History), Chess Grandmaster, internet personality and commentator, rated top 150 in the World, top 20 in the U.S., and top 75 in blitz and rapid
In Antitrust, the main character is depicted as a Stanford graduate.[401]
In Avatar, Grace Augustine wears a Stanford T-shirt.[402]
In Challengers, two of the main characters attend Stanford while the third main character visits them on campus[403]
In Die Hard, Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi graduated from Stanford Law School in 1962.[404]
In Double Indemnity (1944), the storyline is about a wife who conspires with her lover to kill her husband in Palo Alto on his way to a Stanford reunion.[401]
In The Family Plan, attending Stanford is a key theme throughout including the final scene.[405]
In The Internship, characters portrayed by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson seek help from fictional Stanford Professor Charles Xavier.[406]
In Legally Blonde, the storyline was inspired by Amanda Brown's real-life experience as a student at Stanford Law School.[407] Character Warner Huntington III is revealed to have attended Stanford.[408]
In Mother of the Bride, all four main characters are noted to have attended Stanford, a centerpiece of the storyline.[409]
In literature
In East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck, Aron Trask (aka Aaron Trask) is enrolled at Stanford University when he runs away to join the U.S. Army during World War I.
In 24, Kate Warner and President Wayne Palmer have Stanford degrees.[401][410]
In 9-1-1, character Darius states his intention to go to Stanford[411] in Seasons 3 and 6. Stanford is also mentioned in Season 2 Episode 2, where it is mentioned that the basketball team's top recruits wanted to go to either "Duke or Stanford"[412]
In Castle, character Detective Kate Beckett attended Stanford as a pre-law undergrad.
In Chuck, the main character Chuck Bartowski is presented as a Stanford dropout, and Stanford plays a central role in the theme.[401]
In Cobra Kai, character Miguel Diaz is accepted to Stanford in the series finale.[413]
In Dharma & Greg, main character Greg Montgomery graduated from Stanford Law School.
In Entourage, character Lloyd Lee received his MBA from Stanford.
In Grey's Anatomy, character Cristina Yang holds a Doctor of Medicine from Stanford,[414] where her former boyfriend Colin Marlowe was a professor.[401]
In How I Met Your Mother, character Stella (Ted's almost bride) attended Stanford as both an undergrad and medical school graduate.
In Just Shoot Me!, character Maya Gallo attended Stanford.
In M*A*S*H, character Captain B. J. Hunnicutt graduated from Stanford.[401]
In The Morning Show, character Stella Bak attended Stanford. There is a 2023 episode named "The Stanford Student".[415]
In Landman, Jerry Jones plays himself describing his business revolving around Stanford and his daughter attending.[416]
In MythBusters, several scenes were filmed at Stanford and included real Stanford students.[406]
In Parenthood, character Julia Braverman-Graham attended Stanford for law school.[417]
In Scandal, character Quinn Perkins (also known as Lindsay Dwyer) graduated from Stanford Law School.[418]
↑"First Junior College for County Opens". Ridgewood Herald-News. Ridgewood, New Jersey. September 14, 1933. p.1. Retrieved January 15, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
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