Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Martin A. Schmidt ’81, Ph.D., has announced that two new outstanding alumni leaders have joined the RPI Board of Trustees. Mukesh Chatter, ’82G, co-founder and CEO of Alsym Energy Inc., and Meghan Lenihan Moulder ’10, principal and vice president of Tellus BioVentures, both joined the board effective Jan. 1, 2025. Their initial terms are for four years.

“I am delighted that these distinguished alumni have joined our Board of Trustees,” President Schmidt said. “Both Meghan and Mukesh have contributed so much of their valuable time and leadership skills to RPI for many years. In addition, they both are strong financial supporters of our students and programs. I’m looking forward to working more closely with them as board members.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Meghan and Mukesh to the board,” said John E. Kelly III ’78G, ’80 Ph.D., D.H.L. (Hon.), chair of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees. “With their accomplishments in engineering and as business leaders, and their longstanding commitments to RPI as fellow alumni, they will continue to make important contributions to the future of our community.”

Chatter, who earned his Master of Engineering degree in electrical, computer, and systems engineering from RPI in 1982, co-founded Alsym Energy, a battery technology company developing high-performance, low-cost batteries made of inherently non-flammable materials to enable a zero-carbon, electrified future. He and his wife, Priti, are successful serial entrepreneurs with a record of developing advanced technology products and leading startups from launch to success. Chatter holds over 23 patents spanning a broad range of technical domains and has several patent applications pending.

The Chatters’ mission is to improve the lives of one billion people worldwide by providing access to clean energy and water. In pursuit of that goal, they endowed two chaired professorships in RPI’s School of Engineering – the Priti and Mukesh Chatter ’82 Career Development Associate Professorships – to support research that has already achieved groundbreaking advances in nanoporous materials and membranes for applications in energy, the environment, and water, as well as safe high-energy-density batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.

Chatter served on the advisory board for RPI’s Lally School of Management from 2006 to 2008. He was an alumni chapter volunteer in Boston from 1999 to 2001 and was named William F. Glaser ’53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001.

Moulder, who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical-mechanical engineering from RPI in 2010, is principal and vice president of portfolio management at Tellus BioVentures (Tellus). Its mission is to uncover and accelerate promising life science innovation, enable talented entrepreneurs and innovators, and to serve patients with unmet needs. She also serves as vice president of portfolio management for Praeventix and was previously vice president of portfolio management at TamuroBio and Zenas BioPharma after nearly a decade at GE Aviation.

Moulder’s passion for mentoring the next generation of leaders, and her deep connection to RPI, have led her to remain involved with our community through recruiting; volunteering with Red & White and her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta; and since 2013, her membership on the Rensselaer Alumni Association board. She has been active in the Boston and Washington, D.C. Alumni Chapters, restarted the Cincinnati Alumni Chapter, and hosted the first-ever alumni event in Dubai.

Throughout her time on the RAA board, she has been heavily involved in career programming and, in 2016, was elected to a vice president role in Connections & Career Programming. Moulder was elected president of the RAA Board in 2021 and served from 2022 to 2024. She received the RAA Director's Award in 2018 and the RAA Alumni Key Award in 2019.

Both leaders promise to bring new ideas and energy to the Board of Trustees as RPI enters its third century at the forefront of STEM education and research.