Alumni News “I think it’s important to bemulti-


On the surface,Raj Kapoor (B.S.1992)might not seemlike the typicalMechE success story.How did this CarnegieMellon graduate—with a degree inMechanical Engineering and emphasis inRobotics—become an Internet pioneer by founding Snapfish, the world’s largest online photo


commerce service, and then become a successful Internet venture capitalist at top-tierMayfield Fund? Kapoor credits his unusual career path to the multidisciplinary nature of CarnegieMellon itself, which allowed himto combine his early interests in engineering with his entrepreneurial focus. In fact, it was the diverse nature of CarnegieMellon that first


brought Kapoor toMechE fromhis hometown of Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. “I considered a lot of the top engineering


schools,”Kapoor reflects today fromhis home in Belmont,California.“But Carnegie Mellon offeredmuchmore than just engineering.There, I could have experiences with architecture, fine arts,business, science, and the liberal arts—all in one place.”


Inmany ways,Kapoor was a traditional The Picture of Success


After Founding Snapfish,Raj KapoorMoves to New Challenges


engineering student,working closely with field robotics expertsHaagen Shempf ofMechE and Kevin Dowling of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The teamworked to design and build an autonomous robot,with Kapoor focusing on the robotic arm, which was proposed to help clean the Space Shuttle. Kapoor also worked on a project aimed at analyzing the energy usage of theMAGLEV train,once planned for Pittsburgh.


But there was another side of Kapoor,one thatmight have


predicted his unconventional career path.He not only joined the University’s EntrepreneurialAssociation,but he eventually became its President, running two businesses while still an undergraduate. In addition,he formed strong relationships withmany faculty members atMechE,but one of hismost influentialmentors was Professor Jack Roseman. It was inRoseman’s entrepreneurship class that Kapoor learned to write his first business plan. “Many people Imet at CarnegieMellon inspiredme,but


ProfessorRoseman had the greatest ‘stylistic’ influence onme,”says Kapoor.“He believed in a hands-on‘build it and sell it’business


the more you can get accomplished.


10 I C A R N E G I E M E C H


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