Established in 2018, the Dean’s Appreciation Award is given to a non-alumnus who has had a significant impact on the School of Engineering. Luay Nakhleh, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering, has selected James Truchard as the 2024 recipient of this award.
James Truchard has made a lasting impact on both the engineering industry and the quality of education at Rice Engineering.
As co-founder of National Instruments Corporation (NI), Truchard has revolutionized automated test systems for engineers and scientists. He co-invented LabVIEW, a graphical programming language that enables user-defined testing, measurement and control systems, which has been adopted by industries ranging from aerospace to healthcare. Truchard was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for this development in 2019.
Truchard has furthered Rice Engineering education through generous support of programs like the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK)—to which he contributed one of the inaugural lead gifts through NI—and of OpenStax, previously called Connexions. He has also hired hundreds of Rice alumni at NI, donated NI equipment, supported research initiatives in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and funded endowed faculty positions in ECE and computer science.
Under Truchard’s leadership, NI established itself as a leader in the STEM education movement by providing technology, employee volunteer time and financial support to STEM initiatives. NI also has a long history of partnering with STEM nonprofit organizations to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Although Truchard did not attend Rice University, he holds a deep personal connection to Rice Engineering through his alumni family members, including his daughter Aimee ’96, grandson Roman ’27 and cousin Larry Brune ’76.
Truchard will be honored along with 2024 class of Engineering Alumni Award recipients and the 2023 honorees at the George R. Brown School of Engineering Alumni Awards Celebration on September 12, 2024.