Spring 2001

Venture's Innovation Fellows Widen Expertise Base

An important competitive advantage for Rose-Hulman Ventures is the wide range of technical and scientific expertise the Ventures staff provides to create economic growth. As a supplement to the Ventures’ permanent staff, several Innovation Fellows are also available to meet specific client requests.

"The Innovation Fellows program provides us with flexibility to meet client needs without the long-term commitment of traditional appointments," explains Jim Eifert, Rose-Hulman Ventures President.

Innovation Fellows will be called upon as needed to assist in areas ranging from optics and imaging to software engineering, analytical chemistry or electromagnetic capability.

"The pool of talent we can select from is large," Eifert noted. "While most of the first group of Innovation Fellows are faculty, we also recruit experienced professionals in the corporate and entrepreneurial community," he said.

Non-faculty appointments to the program include two of the original founders of SAGIAN, Inc., Scott Atkin and Tim Bruemmer, now of Beckman Coulter’s SAGIAN Operations. Atkin and Bruemmer have helped lead the growth of SAGIAN within Beckman Coulter to be a $100 million contributor to Beckman’s Bioresearch Division. Another member of the Innovation Fellows group is Hal Greenberger, president of Precision Acoustics.

Among the Innovation Fellows is Robert Bunch, who has been the technical manager on an optical display system project for the Guide Corporation. "I also provide advice to other project teams on issues related to optics, illumination and imaging," says Bunch, professor of applied optics and physics at Rose-Hulman.

The Innovation Fellows program provides benefits to students as well as clients.  Undergraduates working with chemistry professor and Innovation Fellow Dan Morris learned new analytical techniques and received practical experience in process design.

Bunch notes that working on a fee-based project adds "an edge to a student’s experience that you can’t get through project courses."

Computer science and software engineering professor Mark Ardis has worked with six Rose-Hulman students on two Ventures projects. One of the projects resulted in the creation of a prototype for an e-commerce company. Ardis says students have learned about user interface design and implementation during their work at Ventures.

Helping companies decide whether new products can meet electromagnetic compatibility requirements is the focus of services provided by electrical and computer engineering professor Jianjian Song and several students.

"Wireless communication and computing technologies fall into the category of RF devices," Eifert noted. "Meeting these guidelines is critical to successful product development," he said.

Eifert says the Innovation Fellows will be expanded to provide even broader access to resources to attract resident, affiliate and New Product Development Lab clients to Rose-Hulman.