"It is with great pride that the Rensselaer community—students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends—formally recognizes tonight’s inductees by creating a permanent tribute to their far-reaching accomplishments," said Robert McIntosh, chair of the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

This year’s class of inductees honors leading civil planner Alan Voorhees, Class of 1947; Eben Horsford, considered "the father of American food technology," Class of 1838; Ray Tomlinson, father of internet e-mail, Class of 1963; steel pioneer John Winslow, elected chair of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees in 1865; western railroad pioneer Edwin Crocker, Class of 1833; transcontinental railroad visionary Theodore Dehone Judah, Rensselaer student in 1837; fire-safety pioneer Frederick Grinnell, Class of 1855; and William Wiley, leading publisher of scientific and technical books, Class of 1866.

The living honorees in this year’s hall of fame class are Voorhees and Tomlinson.

Tomlinson, who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, received the George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award from the American Computer Museum last year.

Tomlinson’s invention of network electronic mail, often called the "killer application of the Internet," energized the U.S. Department of Defense’s ARPANET project, the precursor of the modern Internet.

Tomlinson believes that in upcoming years people will "see a lot less of the web and a lot more of peer-to-peer applications" and is waiting to receive "an mail from outer space" in his inbox. "That technology exists," said Tomlinson.

Since Tomlinson’s graduation from RPI, the school has integrated technology extensively into its curriculum and facilities.

"Every time I turn around, it seems they are finding new ways to adapt it to the curriculum. It’s always great to see Rensselaer mentioned at the top of the list of technological universities," said Tomlinson.

Tomlinson’s designation of the @ symbol to route electronic messages among networks led to its revived use and emergence as a universal electronic icon. "It was falling out of favor—possibly going the way of the cent sign," said Tomlinson.

Voorhees, who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in civil engineering, is a renowned urban planner and traffic forecaster. "I appreciate it [being inducted] as an old-timer. Times have changed ... with e-mail. I was in the period before that," said Voorhees.

Voorhees noted that a major distinction between the time when he studied at the Institute and today is that 80 percent of upperclassmen students lived in fraternities in the 1940s.

"One of the interesting things is that all the upperclassmen live in dormitories now. Fraternities weren’t a social structure then ... We just lived there as a way to get by," said Voorhees. Voorhees is a former president of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Voorhees planned major metro systems built in the 1960s and 1970s, designed plans for cities around the world, and produced mathematical models for forecasting traffic during the 1950s that became instrumental in later forecasting techniques.

Voorhees is the principal benefactor of the Voorhees Computing Center and is a former member of the Board of Trustees.

He was the first recipient of the Harlan Bartholomew Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers, bestowed upon an engineer who has contributed most to urban planning.

Since the Rensselaer Alumni Association established the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame in 1994, 33 alumni have been inducted into the hall of fame.