David V. Ragone was named president of Case Western Reserve University in 1980. In 1987 he left Case to resume a teaching career at MIT, where he taught undergraduate courses in thermodynamics and the physical chemistry of materials. Soon thereafter he also began writing textbooks such as Thermodynamics of Materials, Volumes One and Two.

Presently on the advisory board of Ampersand Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on materials and chemicals, Ragone has also served as a member of the National Science Board and has been a director for more than a dozen public and private companies. He is also a member of ASM, AIME, and ACS.

David V. Ragone received his S. B., S. M., and Sc.D. degrees in metallurgical engineering from MIT. From 1953 to 1962 he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After leaving Ann Arbor, he served as chairman of the materials department and assistant director of the Hopkins laboratory at the General Atomic Division of General Dynamics where he directed research on materials for advanced, high-temperature, gas-cooled nuclear reactors. He later served as Alcoa Professor of Metallurgy and Associate Dean of Urban and Public Affairs at Carnegie Mellon. From 1970-1972 he served as dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth after which he returned to the University of Michigan as Dean of Engineering, a role he held until his appointment as president of Case.

Preceded by: Louis Adelbert Toepfer

President of Case Western Reserve University 1980–1987

Succeeded by: Agnar Pytte