Technology Innovator Dr. David Pensak to Speak at DSU March 7

Monday, February 25, 2013

Dr. David A. Pensak, will talk about how to eliminate fear as an impediment to innovation.

Delaware State University will host a guest lecture by Dr. David A. Pensak, founder of the Pensak Innovation Institute and author of Innovation for Underdogs, at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 7 in parlor C of the Martin Luther King Student Center.

Presented as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer Series of the DSU College of Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology, Dr. Pensak, one of the top innovators of technology in the country, will speak on “Fear is the Biggest Impediment to Innovation.”

The guest lecture is free and open to the public.

Dr. Pensak is a technology innovator, entrepreneur and author who has lectured at over 30 universities, companies, and government agencies a Fellow of the Creative and Innovative Economy Center of the George Washington University Law School. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Delaware Business School and Drexel University College of Medicine (Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine). A Harvard PhD in organic chemistry and computer science, Dr. Pensak started his career at DuPont as a research chemist, directed many R&D projects across a variety of technology fields, and retired as their Chief Computer Scientist. He invented:

A high flow rate filtration system with a new class of membranes to clean up effluent water from abandoned Rocky Mountain mines

A biodegradable additive that mixed with animal manure in agricultural settings causes the fermentation to become aerobic rather than anaerobic, thereby decreasing smell, nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, and stabilizing the soil

A new class of concrete protection chemicals for streets and buildings with reduced weathering and pot-hole characteristics

A new kind of spackle for the construction industry that is immediately ready to paint, needs no sanding, and requires just one coat

A very low cost prosthetic hand which is within range of even the poorest developing country

A suite of materials that can be implanted in a periodontal procedure to minimize and/or eliminate gum resection surgery

A new coating for teeth that discourages the bacteria that cause plaque and tooth decay

A new class of textiles which are simultaneously waterproof, fireproof and breathable - at the weight of silk

And developed new technologies in heat storage and dispersal;

Dr. Pensak also directed a project to splice organ specific polypeptides from snake and insect venom to pharmaceuticals to decrease dosage levels and avoid deleterious interactions with unintended organs.

Nevertheless, Dr. Pensak is best known for his software inventions. He invented the first commercially successful Internet firewall, starting-up Raptor Systems to develop the technology, a company now owned by Symantec. Subsequently, he invented an enterprise digital rights security system, starting-up Authentica to develop the technology, a company now owned by EMC. Most recently, he founded Vi Laboratories in Waltham, MA, to develop new anti-piracy detection technologies and reporting systems.

He is presently working on technology innovation projects regarding biotechnology, energy, information technology, and materials. The author of the 2008 book Innovation for Underdogs: How to Make the Leap from What If to Now What, at the University of Pennsylvania he advised the Medical School and has taught technology innovation and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business. He teaches at the University of Delaware Business School, advises the Olin College of Engineering, and has taught workshops regarding technology innovation and entrepreneurship at over 30 universities, companies, and government agencies in the US, Brazil, India, Jordan, Germany, Trinidad, Mexico and Thailand. He is currently writing a new book “Innovation from Evolution to Execution.”