Victor Claude Smith '24, SM '26, ScD '30 earned his Bachelors (1924), Masters (1926), and ScD (1930)--with a thesis entitled "A study of homogenous combustion in gases"--all in Chemical Engineering (Course X).

Smith is believed to be the first African-American to graduate as a chemical engineer in the United States. He went on to work as Research Assistant in Applied Chemistry (1926-1927; 1928); Research Associate in Fuel & Gas Engineering (1929-1932); and Research Associate in Chemical Engineering (1932-1935).