Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering Hosts Corporate Panel About How Innovation Drives Growth

October 4, 2006
Chriss Swaney
(412) 268-5776

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University’s Pradeep K. Khosla will lead a panel discussion about how corporate America is inculcating innovation into business models to drive growth Oct. 11 from 11 a.m. to noon in the Singleton Room at the university’s Roberts Hall of Engineering.

Panel participants include Barb Samardzich, vice president of powertrain development at Ford Motor Co.; Andrew Towle, vice president of strategic planning at the H.J. Heinz Co.; Anuj Dhanda, chief information officer at PNC Bank; Lisa Roudabush, general manager of processed products for U.S. Steel Corp. and Mark Harshman, director of research and technology at Siemens.

“Business leaders know that their companies must differentiate themselves with new products and services, and our panel is designed to hear what various industry sectors are doing when it comes to being innovative,’’ said Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering. A recent report by the Conference Board said that two-thirds of the world’s top executives plan to incorporate innovation into their business models to drive growth.

Innovation is also a big strategic thrust at Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering where a collaborative team will offer a new graduate degree program designed to train a new breed of innovation leaders. In January 2007,engineering and technical professionals can earn a one-year interdisciplinary master of science degree in Engineering and Technology Innovation Management (E&TIM). The program taps the expertise of professors and researchers in Engineering and Public Policy, the Tepper School of Business and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences.

Khosla said the panel will discuss how organizations can systematize the innovation process and how they can make it work. Panel participants also will share methods and practices that over time translate innovation into shareholder wealth.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. For more, see www.cmu.edu.