The Power Of Revolutionary Thinking: What Today's Scientists
Can Teach You About Driving Innovation In Your Organization
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Atlanta, Georgia
View the presentations from our panel of experts:
Do you ever wonder how the really BIG ideas happen? From DaVinci
and Einstein to Edison and Henry Ford: all made monumental
advances through revolutionary thinking. Whether you're a scientist,
intrepreneur, entrepreneur or corporate strategist, real success
and real impact will come from your organization's ability
to deliver quantum leap-style thinking that promotes advances
in technological innovation and products that boost bottom
line results. But how do you do this? How can you become a
REVOLUTIONARY thinker?
The MIT Enterprise Forum, Inc. and the MIT
Enterprise Forum of Atlanta present a unique program that looks at how cutting-edge
technologies are invented and how these technologies move from
laboratory curiosity to real commercial adoption.
"The
Power of Revolutionary Thinking" will
feature a
panel of visionary researchers who will explore how organizations,
both large and small, can use revolutionary thinking to enhance
the innovation process, and show us how advanced concepts
go from far-off vision to becoming part of our everyday lives.
Program attendees and viewers will learn:
How ultra-light golf clubs, advanced prosthetics and new
wonder drugs are inspired by exotic technologies such as
ultra-strong carbon nanotubes, electroactive polymers,
and so-called 'extreme environment' microorganisms;
How cutting-edge laboratory technology gets commercialized
and what you can learn about developing innovations that
drive revenue in your company;
How revolutionary thinking is fostered and can be driven
into your organization.
Featured panelists include Dr.
Robert Cassanova,
Director of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts; Dr.
Penelope J. Boston,
Director and Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Director
of Research for Complex Systems Research, Inc.;
Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards, President
and Founder of Carbon Designs, and development leader for the
Space Elevator project
; Dr. Dava Newman AA '89,
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and a MacVicar
Fellow; and
program moderator Alf
Nucifora,
Chairman, Nucifora Consulting Group, and a syndicated columnist
on marketing.
Speaker Biographies
Bob Cassanova
Dr. Robert
A. Cassanova is the Director of the NASA
Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in Atlanta, Georgia . The
NIAC is focused on the development of revolutionary, advanced systems
and architectures in the fields of aeronautics and space. He is
the recipient of the NASA Public Service Medal for exceptional
contributions to the Mission of NASA. Prior to becoming the Director
of NIAC, Cassanova was Director of the Aerospace
and Transportation Laboratory in the Georgia Tech Research Institute
(GTRI). While in GTRI and in the School of Aerospace Engineering
at Georgia Tech, he performed research in biofluid mechanics, solar
thermal energy, acoustics, combustion and rarefied gas dynamics.
He received a PhD in
Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology;
an MS in Space Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tennessee;
and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Penny Boston
Dr. Penelope
J. Boston is Director
of Cave and Karst Studies and Professor of Earth and Environmental
Sciences at the New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology; and Director of Research for Complex Systems
Research, Inc., Boulder, Colorado. Boston specializes in cave microbiology,
microbial life in extreme environments, astrobiology and the search
for life beyond Earth, human life support in space, Mars research
and human exploration of the solar system. One of the founders of The
Case for Mars series of conferences, she
is the author of more than 70 papers and an upcoming book on extreme
life forms. She earned a PhD in Environmental,
Population from the University
of Colorado and the National Center for Atmospheric Research; an MS
in Microbiology and Atmospheric Chemistry, and a BS in Microbiology,
Geology, and Psychology, from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Bradley Edwards
Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards is
President and Founder of Carbon
Designs, a developer of high strength
materials. He has led development of the space
elevator project, organized
three conferences, led a research staff of 70 people at the Institute
for Scientific Research, and written the definitive book on the space
elevator. Previously, Edwards spent 11 years as a staff member at
Los Alamos National laboratory
(LANL) leading
advanced technology efforts for lunar missions, optical cryocooler development,
and a Europa orbiter mission. He has over 50 publications, with three
books and eight papers in the works, and has appeared
on the cover of Discover and Science News. Edwards
received his PhD in Physics in 1990. He is a NIAC Phase II Fellow.
Dava Newman AA '89
Dr. Dava Newman AA '89 is an Associate
Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at
MIT, and faculty in the Harvard-MIT
Health Sciences and Technology Program (an MD and
PhD program between Harvard and MIT). Newman specializes in investigating
astronaut performance across the spectrum of gravity. She is currently
the Principal Investigator (PI) on the MICR0-G
space flight experiment
to quantify astronaut intravehicular activity (IVA) onboard the International
Space Station. Previously, Dr. Newman has been the PI for Space
Shuttle experiments dealing with load sensors and astronaut workloads.
Newman earned a PhD from MIT in Aeronautics, Biomed and Engineering.
She is a NIAC Phase II Fellow.
Alf Nucifora
Alf Nucifora (moderator)
is the Chairman of Nucifora
Consulting Group, specializing in strategic
planning and marketing services consultation. He is also a marketing
columnist, syndicated in 40+ business publications across the country.
A native of Brisbane, Australia, Nucifora entered the advertising and
marketing business on the corporate side working for two Fortune 500
companies, first in Australia and then in the United States. He then
made the move to the advertising business and later advanced into agency
management as Chairman of the Southeast office of a $310 million
advertising agency. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business
School , and a BA from the University of Queensland, Australia.
