Hochsprung Endows Computer Science Chair

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Chicago native and retired Apple Distinguished Engineer Ron Hochsprung (CS ’72) has established the first endowed chair in computer science at IIT with a gift of $2 million. This is the fifteenth endowed chair to be established at IIT as part of the university’s Fueling Innovation capital campaign. The Ron Hochsprung Endowed Chair will be administered by the College of Science, and the chair holder selected will have demonstrated excellence in the field of computer science.

Hochsprung retired from Apple after 33 years of service. While there, he worked on the Lisa and on Macs from the original Motorola 68K-based through the PowerPC and Intel platforms. He was the architect of the Mac II and participated in the PowerPC architecture, especially AltiVec. Most recently he was one of the team that developed Thunderbolt. Along the way, he was a contributing member of several IEEE standards, including IEEE-1296 (NuBus) and IEEE-1275 (Open Firmware).

Prior to Apple, Hochsprung worked for IIT in the computer center, Fermilab, Northwestern University, Purdue University, and National Semiconductor. He taught operating systems and computer hardware classes at IIT and designed a computer programming class for high school students with Professor Robert Dewar. Hochsprung co-taught the class with Professor Charlie Bauer.

Hochsprung attended the first computer science reunion to celebrate its 40th year as a department in 2011. He was a presenter and expressed his gratitude to the university for setting the foundation for his career.

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Apple Distinguished Engineer Ron Hochsprung (CS '72) delivers lecture at Illinois Institute of Technology Department of Computer Science 40th Anniversary event on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.

Hochsprung and his wife Lynda Bowlin live in Los Gatos, Calif. and have been traveling extensively since Hochsprung retired.

Reprinted from IIT Today

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