[1] He received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982.
From 1986 to 1993, he was a senior staff engineer at Sun Microsystems, where he developed the GX graphics chip.
He co-founded Nvidia with Jen-Hsun Huang and Chris Malachowsky and was its chief technical officer from 1993 to 2003.
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.
[5] He is also president of the Priem Family Foundation, which he established with his wife Veronica in September, 1999.