Curtis R. Priem is an American computer scientist. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982. He designed the first graphics processor for the PC, the IBM

Professional Graphics Adapter Professional Graphics Controller (PGC, often called Professional Graphics Adapter and sometimes Professional Graphics Array) is a graphics card manufactured by IBM for PCs. It consists of three interconnected PCBs, and contains its own processo ...

. From 1986 to 1993, he was a senior staff engineer at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

, where he developed the GX graphics chip. He cofounded

NVIDIA Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

with Jen-Hsun Huang and Chris Malachowsky and was its Chief Technical Officer from 1993 to 2003. He retired from NVIDIA in 2003. In 2000, RPI named him Entrepreneur of the Year. From 2003 to 2007 he was a trustee of Rensselaer. In 2004 he announced that he would donate an unrestricted gift of $40 million to the Institute. Rensselaer subsequently created the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, named in his honor and usually referred to as "EMPAC" for short.09.11.04 Rensselaer Announces $1 Billion Capital Campaign — the Largest in the University's History
September 2004. He is also president of th
Priem Family Foundation
which he established with his wife Veronica in September, 1999. The foundation is non-operating (has no office or staff, and therefore, no overhead) and exists only to give money to other foundations or charities.

References

Nvidia people Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American technology company founders American electrical engineers American chief technology officers American philanthropists {{business-bio-stub