Poduska was born in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Central High School in Memphis. He went on to earn a South.B. and South.M. in electrical engineering, both in 1960, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also earned a Doctor of Science. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962.
Prior to that he headed the Electronics Research Laboratory at National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s Cambridge, Massachusetts facility and also worked at Honeywell. Poduska has been involved in a number of other high-tech startups.
He also serves on the boards of Novell, Anadarko Petroleum, Anystream, Boston Ballet, Wang Center and the Boston Lyric Opera, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
