Kate Gleason was a pioneer for women in the field of engineering being the first woman admitted to Cornell in 1888 she went on to help build her father's business and the RIT School of engineering is named after her when she died in 1933 he left a million and a half dollars to several charities and helped build the community of East Rochester she was the first woman admitted into the American association of mechanical engineers in 1914 first woman to be the president of a bank