He had become fond of Albuquerque while he was stationed at an airbase during the Korean War. He helped the UNM launch a doctoral program in communication with a special emphasis on cross-cultural and intercultural contexts. Rogers suffered from kidney disease and retired from the UNM in the summer of 2004. He died a few months later, survived by his wife, Dr. Corinne Shefner-Rogers, and two sons: David Rogers and Everett King. During his 47-year academic career, Rogers authored more than 30 books and over 500 articles. When the first edition of Diffusion of Innovations was published in 1962, Rogers was an assistant professor of rural sociology at Ohio State University. He was only 31 years old but was becoming a renowned academic figure. In the mid-2000s, "The Diffusion of Innovations" became the second most-cited book in the social sciences. (Arvind Singhal: "Introducing Professor Everett M. Rogers, 47th Annual Research Lecturer, University of New Mexico") . The fifth edition (2003, with Nancy Singer Olaguera) addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas. Rogers proposes that adopters of any new innovation or idea can be categorized as innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%), based on the mathematically based Bell curve. These categories, based on standard deviations from the mean of the normal curve, provide a common language for innovation researchers. Each adopter's willingness and ability to adopt an innovation depends on their awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. People can fall into different categories for different innovations—a farmer might be an early adopter of mechanical innovations, but a late majority adopter of biological innovations or VCRs. When graphed, the rate of adoption formed what came to typify the Diffusion of Innovations model, a logistic curve. The graph shows a cumulative percentage of adopters over time–slow at the start, more rapid as adoption increases, then levelling off until only a small percentage of laggards have not adopted. His research and work became widely accepted in communications and technology adoption studies, and also found its way into a variety of other social science studies. Rogers was also able to relate his communications research to practical health problems, including hygiene, family planning, cancer prevention, and drunk driving. In the early 1990s Rogers turned his attention to the field of Entertainment-Education.