Aug 30 2008
Robert M. Dunn, most recently the director of the Integrated Engineering and Business Practices Program in the University of Notre Dame's College of Engineering, has been named the managing director of the Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano) and the recently established Midwest Institute of Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND).
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In this new role, Dunn will serve as both an advocate of the organizations and a facilitator for them, working closely with faculty, staff and industry and government partners as the research activities in these centers continue to grow. He also will coordinate outreach and commercialization efforts, including the development of an industrial affiliate’s network, and assist the transition from his previous position by helping to identify and train a new director of the college’s business practices program.
Prior to joining the University in 2001, Dunn served as vice president of corporate manufacturing staff at IBM. During his 30-year tenure at IBM, his responsibilities progressed from those of design engineer to the manager of major product development programs for IBM’s midrange processors. He subsequently served as technical assistant to the president of the Systems Technology division in Endicott, N.Y., and as manager of the packaging, development and product quality assurance division.
After an assignment as director of the Systems Technology Laboratory in Austin, Texas, Dunn returned to Endicott to assume responsibility for more than 2,000 employees in technology development and manufacturing. He managed the start-up of an IBM facility in Dublin, Ireland, which housed multiple business units and approximately 1,200 employees. He also served as vice president and site location manager of the corporation’s Poughkeepsie, N.Y., site, a facility composed of 15 major divisions and 6,000 employees.
Dunn graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in engineering science in 1965. He earned a master’s degree in engineering mechanics from Pennsylvania State University in 1967 and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1972.
NDnano explores the fundamental concepts of nanoscience in order to develop unique engineering applications using nanoprinciples. Established in 1999, the center is composed of a multidisciplinary team of researchers from electrical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science and engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry and physics.
Established in March, MIND is a research consortium designed to discover and develop the next nanoscale logic device, which will be the basic building block of future computers. The consortium includes Purdue University, the University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, Argonne National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.