Joseph Barker became RC president.

Joseph Warren Barker graduated from MIT in 1916, became an officer in U.S. Army and served overseas. When he retired from the military in 1925 as a major, he became a professor of electrical engineering at MIT. At age 39, he became dean of the faculty of engineering at Columbia.

During WWII, he received the Distinguished Civilian Service Award from the U.S. Navy. He was a special assistant to the secretary of the Navy.

Barker became head of Research Construction Co. during World War II. After the war, he went to work for Research Corporation and, in 1946, became president of the Foundation, a position he held until 1957. Barker died in 1975.