Angel G. Jordan (born as Ángel Jordán Goñi; September 19, 1930 – August 4, 2017) was a Spanish-born American electronics and computer engineer known as the founder of the Software Engineering Institute[1][2] (SEI) and co-founder of the Robotics Institute[3] at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and served on its faculty for 55 years, since 2003 as Emeritus.
He emigrated to the US in 1956 with his wife Nieves, and enrolled at CMU as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical Engineering.
At (LTIEMA), in Madrid, Spain, during the period 1952-56, he conducted basic and applied research in Servomechanisms and Electronics engineering technology for the Spanish Navy.
He introduced the foundations of semiconductor devices and Electronics engineering technology in the Spanish equivalent of the United States Naval Research Laboratory.
In this laboratory, a large number of graduate students completed doctoral work in the period 1958-1990 while he was active in the department.
As a department head of ECE he extended areas in which this department was prominent; recognized and fostered new areas, such as computer-aided design, computer hardware, robotics, and optoelectronics; initiated new interdisciplinary programs, such as magnetic devices and electronic materials; and propelled the department to a leading position (in seven years the funded research support more than quadrupled and the level of enrollment and quality in both undergraduate and graduate programs increased substantially).
He was a co-author of the report by the Business-Higher Education Forum entitled, "The New Manufacturing: America's Race to Automate."
He himself has been instrumental in attracting to CMU a number of endowed professorships and gifts and grants from individuals, foundations, and corporations.
He was the orchestrator and driving force behind the national campaign to attract the Software Engineering Institute to CMU and to Pittsburgh.
This institute, together with the School of Computer Science and the Engineering College at CMU, are acting as catalysts for spin-offs to attract a large number of software companies to Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
As department head, dean, and provost, he has initiated and encouraged industry university research partnerships, local, national, and international.
He has been a leading force in technology transition with the university acting as source for economic development in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
He was active in a number of community action groups and served on the board of directors (or trustees) of several non-profit corporations.
He has lectured extensively in American universities and abroad on interdisciplinary education, industry/university relations, technology transfer, and strategic planning; has fostered and participated in collaborative efforts between CMU and universities and research establishments abroad; and has initiated a number of international research and educational programs in science and technology and in the humanities and social sciences.