HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2013 Program - Alumni Association ...

Gregory P. Crawford, Ph.D.
William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science;
Professor, Physics
Biography
Gregory Crawford joined Notre Dame as dean of the College of Science and professor of
physics in July 2008. Before coming to Notre Dame, he was dean of engineering and professor
of physics and engineering at Brown University. Crawford is a fellow of the Society for
Information Display. His research interests span a variety of topics, including materials science
in areas related to medicine, displays, and nanotechnology. Much of his research is focused on
translation, creating value out of his basic research. His teaching interests are focused on the
union between science and entrepreneurship, a passion that has led Crawford to found two
biotechnology companies: Myomics, Inc. and Corum Medical, Inc.
He is the inventor/coinventor on over 20 patents, has published more than 300 research and
education papers, and edited several books: Liquid Crystals in Complex Geometries Formed
by Polymer and Porous Networks, Flexible Flat Panel Displays, Liquid Crystals, Frontiers in Biomedical Application, and Cross-
Linked Liquid Crystalline Systems: From Rigid Polymer Networks to Elastomers. In collaboration with Dean Kilpatrick of the
College of Engineering and Dean Woo of the Mendoza College of Business, the three started a unique one-year graduate
program – the Engineering, Science, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Excellence Master’s Program (ESTEEM) – which was
implemented in 2009. In addition, Dean Crawford played a vital role in developing the professional Master of Science in Global
Health (MSGH) program which accepted its first cohort of students in fall 2011, as well as a patent agent master’s program set
to launch in fall 2012. Crawford has a passion for training science students in the area of entrepreneurship as related to their
discipline. He developed both undergraduate and graduate programs (Master’s and Ph.D.) while at Brown, and continues his
entrepreneurial passion at Notre Dame, in addition to his research interests. Crawford is published significantly in the area of
high-technology and science entrepreneurship pedagogy.
Lectures
Pasteur’s Quadrant: From the Lab Bench to the Patient Bedside
Categories
Business, Engineering, Science
Creating value out of basic research is a hot topic these days in academia—especially those research discoveries with great
potential in medicine. Louis Pasteur, a 19th-century chemist and microbiologist, was famous for choosing problems with great
human health value that required a very basic understanding of the underpinning of science. Pasteur’s research model will be
discussed in the context of the contemporary university, including Notre Dame’s relationship with the Indiana University School
of Medicine, and also in the context of specific examples from Crawford’s research in non-invasive diagnostics, bedside tests, and
rare disease solutions.
The Role of Entrepreneurship in Academia—Pursuit of Opportunity
Entrepreneurship in academia is playing a prominent role in terms of training students to think creatively in pursuit of a new
opportunity, assisting faculty in thinking about value creation and translation of their research to solve problems for society,
environment, and human health, and assisting in economic development in many universities. Crawford will speak on the role
of entrepreneurship at Notre Dame in terms of his science initiatives, and the new ESTEEM program jointly administered by
the College of Engineering, College of Science, and Mendoza College of Business, highlighting his own start-up and industry
experience, academic experience, and philosophy of entrepreneurship in an academic setting over the last 15 years.
26 The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2013 Program