Jeff Kodosky

Cofounder and NI Business and Technology Fellow

NI Business and Technology Fellow, Jeff Kodosky, cofounded National Instruments with Dr. James Truchard and William Nowlin in 1976 while working at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Today, he is a respected mentor in the NI global R&D organization and continues to chart new directions for the company’s flagship product, the NI LabVIEW graphical development platform.

Kodosky, revered by engineers and scientists around the world as the “father of LabVIEW,” invented the graphical programming language that defines the software, spurring the development and widespread adoption of graphical system design and making instrument automation available to all engineers. Since the initial release of LabVIEW in 1986, Kodosky has earned 68 patents associated with LabVIEW technology. His expertise has helped guide LabVIEW development and expansion to targets, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), smart sensors, microcontrollers, and other embedded devices, previously out of reach for many engineers.

Kodosky’s ongoing work has helped NI grow this software into an award-winning industry standard programming environment that continuously addresses an ever-growing variety of industries and application areas. Highly regarded across disciplines, LabVIEW has garnered more than 100 national and international industry awards from major industry publications including EE Times, Electronics Weekly, Elektronik, Engineering for You, EDN, NASA Tech Briefs, and Test & Measurement World. Electronic Design magazine even named Kodosky’s invention of LabVIEW as one of the “Top 50 Milestones for the Industry.”

LabVIEW has been integral in powering many life-altering applications, from a car capable of being driven by the blind to power sources for remote African villages to early cancer detection methods. Additionally, LabVIEW has been inspiring the next generation of students to pursue careers in engineering and science through universities adopting the software to help teach engineering disciplines including mechatronics, robotics, and communications. It also powers the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT and LEGO Education WeDo™ robotics kits, which are used to educate and inspire children as young as grade-school age to take an interest in science and engineering.

Working closely with UT at Austin, Kodosky has invested a significant amount of time and money to help found UTeach. This program is in place at 22 U.S. universities and is currently preparing more than 5,000 students to become math and science teachers. Kodosky also has played a key role in creating the NI Endowed Scholarship for Excellence at the UT College of Natural Sciences, which each year recognizes an outstanding student who demonstrates proficiency in computing or laboratory measurement skills. In addition to his involvement with academia, Kodosky supports performing arts in Austin.

Kodosky is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In addition, he dedicates a large amount of time to working with community and academic organizations. He serves on the UT College of Natural Sciences Advisory Council, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Board of Trustees, and the Texas State University Math Department Advisory Group.

Kodosky’s professional and academic accomplishments feature a host of prestigious recognitions, including the following highlights: received the UT College of Natural Sciences Hall of Honor Award (1999); inducted into the Electronic Design Engineering Hall of Fame (2002); awarded the Albert Fox Demers Medal from the RPI Alumni Association (2004); and received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2011).

Kodosky became vice president of NI in 1978 and later served as vice president of R&D from 1980 until he was named an NI Business and Technology Fellow in 2000. Kodosky received his bachelor’s degree in physics from RPI in Troy, New York.

Jeff Kodosky