Dr. Thomas E. Everhart
After serving as Caltech's president and as professor of electrical engineering and applied physics for 10 years, Everhart stepped down to pursue other interests in 1997. During his tenure, Everhart oversaw the construction of the Beckman Institute, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the Moore Laboratory of Engineering, Avery House, and the Fairchild Library, and the successful completion of the $350 million Campaign for Caltech.
In November of 1998, Everhart was elected to the Caltech Board of Trustees.
Everhart has received numerous honors and awards and has been a member of various national and international societies. He was elected to the Council of the National Academy of Engineering in 1988, and he served as chairman of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board from 1990 to 1993. From 1990 to 1996 he served as vice chairman of the Council on Competitiveness - a private, nonprofit group of prominent leaders that addresses growth and the competitive position of U.S. corporations in global markets - and he continues to serve on its executive committee. He has also conducted continuing dialogues with federal agencies concerning their support of research and teaching on campus, and with NASA in support of JPL. In addition, he sits on the boards of several large corporations including General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, and Raytheon Company.
Everhart came to Caltech from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was chancellor and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1984 to 1987. From 1979 to 1984 he served as dean of the College of Engineering and professor of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University. After earning his PhD in 1958, Everhart spent 20 years on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Everhart's research has concentrated on the generation and application of very-small-diameter electron beams, first to scanning electron microscopy and later to microfabrication. Research conducted with graduate students explored the spatial extent of electron energy dissipation in matter, secondary electron emission, electron backscattering, computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy, and other topics. He is one of the pioneers in the fabrication of electronic devices using electron beam lithography. Building on his early work in the field of scanning electron microscopy, his research provided much of the basis for forming microstructures using scanning electron beams to form desired patterns on substrates. Everhart-Thornley detectors are still used in scanning electron microscopes even though the first one was used in 1956.
In 1978, Dr. Everhart was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the electron optics of the scanning electron microscope and to its uses in electronics and biology. In further recognition of his scientific work he has also been elected a member of the Böhmische Physikalische Gesellschaft. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He received the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984, and the ASEE Benjamin Garver Lamme Award in 1989. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1990.