New England Public Media Welcomes Robert Sproull to Board of Directors

SPRINGFIELD — Robert Sproull has been elected to the board of directors of New England Public Media (NEPM).

“We are honored to welcome Robert Sproull to the New England Public Media board,” said Crist Myers, board chair. “Bob’s extraordinary career in applied research, computer science, and organizational leadership brings a level of expertise and depth that will be invaluable to NEPM. His perspective, particularly as public media navigates rapid technological change, will greatly strengthen our ability to serve our community with integrity, innovation, and purpose.”

Sproull recently retired as vice president and director of Oracle Labs, an internationally respected applied research group that originated at Sun Microsystems. Since his undergraduate days, he has been building hardware and software for computer graphics: clipping hardware, an early device-independent graphics package, page description languages, laser printing software, and window systems. He has also been involved in VLSI design, especially of asynchronous circuits and systems.

Before joining Sun Microsystems in 1990 (acquired by Oracle in 2010), Sproull was a principal at Sutherland, Sproull and Associates, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a member of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. He is co-author, with William Newman, of the influential early text Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics, and author of Logical Effort, a foundational work on designing fast CMOS circuits.

Sproull is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He has also worked as a technology partner at Advanced Technology Ventures and as co-chair of the National Research Council’s report review committee. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of computer science at UMass Amherst and serves on the boards of the Connecticut River Conservancy and River Network.

“I am a lifelong fan and beneficiary of NPR and PBS, already smitten when my daughter met Mister Rogers on the screen 40 years ago,” Sproull said. “I am honored to be elected to the board and hope to help NEPM sustain and grow its vital services to the area.”