Title:

Can We Educate an Engineering Entrepreneur?

Speaker:

Dr. David Ku

Affiliation:

The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech

When:

Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

William Wepfer
bill.wepfer@me.gatech.edu

Abstract

The future economy depends on new companies developing solutions to evolving problems and needs. GT engineers make new products and solve problems. Many go into management ten years after graduation and others start new business that the large companies do not serve. Some of our students would love to learn about invention, management, and entrepreneurship. Using examples from my entrepreneurial experience, I posit that particular knowledge sets and skills in these areas that will help our graduates succeed in the future.

Biography

The Jack M. Zeigler Outstanding Educator Award for 2009 is given to David N. Ku for his contributions to education at Georgia Tech at the personal and programmatic levels. Dr. Ku was an early and key player in the development and implementation of the biomedical engineering program at Georgia Tech, and he was a leader in the development of the entrepreneurship program, which sparked a real interest among students and faculty. The Inventure Competition is a direct result of this. Dr. Ku has also been strongly involved in the development of the undergraduate Technology and Management minor, which teams management and engineering students, sensitizing and educating both groups for their future careers. Finally, he has mentored a multitude of undergraduate researchers over his career at Georgia Tech.

Dr. Ku began his career at Georgia Tech in 1986 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1990 and to Professor in 1995. He was named a Regents’ Professor in 1998 and to the Lawrence P. Huang Endowed Chair in Engineering and Entrepreneurship in 2000. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University (1978), an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech (1982, 1983), and an M.D. from Emory University (1984).

Dr. Ku is interested in cardiovascular pathophysiology, unsteady three-dimensional fluid mechanics, medical implants, and commercialization of university research. His basic research focuses on sudden cardiac death from platelets subjected to high shear and plaque rupture due to arterial stenosis collapse. His projects span device design and development of bench tests to predict clinical performance. Dr. Ku teaches entrepreneurship and product development to bring technological solutions to the bedside.

Dr. Ku is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a licensed physician in Georgia and Illinois, and the holder of five U.S. patents. He won the Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award and the Y. C. Fung Young Investigator Award (Bioengineering Division), both from the ASME, received a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and was a Woodruff School Faculty Fellow.

Notes

Reception will follow.