Pounds attended
Carnegie Mellon University where he graduated with a degree in
chemical engineering and later earned masters and PhD degrees from
Tepper School of Business, studying under
Herbert Simon. He also served as a fighter pilot in the
U.S. Navy during the
Korean War. Prior to his academic career, Pounds worked in operations management at
Eastman Kodak and
Pittsburgh Plate Glass, where he was involved in supplying automobile paint to
General Motors. He joined MIT Sloan in 1961 at the invitation of then-dean Howard Johnson. In 1969, amid campus protests against the
U.S. Department of Defense's funding of MIT laboratories, Pounds led a review panel to evaluate the institution's relationship with military funding. The panel is now known as the Pounds Panel. After his tenure as dean, Pounds served as a senior advisor to the
Rockefeller family from 1981 to 1991. He was a member of several non-profit boards, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and WGBH. Pounds was also a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ==References==