James E. Boyd

Who was James E. Boyd?

James Emory "Jim" Boyd was an American physicist, mathematician, and academic administrator. He was director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1957 to 1961, president of West Georgia College from 1961 to 1971, and acting president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1971 to 1972.

A graduate of the University of Georgia and Duke University, Boyd began in academia as a professor of physics at West Georgia College. He then became a professor at Georgia Tech and a prominent researcher at the Engineering Experiment Station, now known as the Georgia Tech Research Institute. At the Engineering Experiment Station, Boyd helped spur the organization's mainstay: federally funded electronics research and development. Along with fellow Georgia Tech researchers Gerald Rosselot and Glen P. Robinson, Boyd was influential in the founding of Scientific Atlanta, where he was a board member for 25 years.