Alumni return to LCS to share their success stories with future engineersFebruary 11, 2009Tricia Hopkinsthopkins@syr.edu
Two alumni of Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science will return to the SU campus this month to share their stories of success with today’s aspiring engineers.
Joseph Kummer ’00, G’02, Ph.D. ’06, founder and president of the Syracuse-based Propulsive Wing, LLC, will speak on “Engineering, Inventing and Struggling-The Way of the Entrepreneur” Monday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. in Room 105 of Link Hall. Limited alumni parking will be available in the Q4 parking lot. To reserve a parking space, contact Denise Hendee at dahendee@syr.edu.
On Friday, Feb. 20, Jim Ambras ’78, founder and CEO of NotchUp Inc., a Silicon Valley startup, will speak on “The Fast and the Furious: Life on the Inside of Silicon Valley Tech Startups” at 1 p.m. in Room 369 of Link Hall. Both presentations are free and open to the public.
NotchUp is an executive recruiting solution that allows leading corporations to connect with desirable professionals who have in-demand skill sets and proven track records of success. While still in invitation-only Beta, the site has attracted more than 100,000 qualified professionals who are seeking new challenges in their careers. NotchUp has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, BBC Radio, USA Today, BusinessWeek and The New York Times.
Ambras will talk about what it’s really like to work on the inside of an early stage Silicon Valley tech startup. He will also talk about how he personally financed and developed NotchUp.com, signed up members, and received international press coverage before getting any venture funding.
Kummer holds a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering. As a Ph.D. candidate at SU, Kummer’s research, under funding from the NASA Glenn Research Center, focused on the application of computational fluid dynamics to the simulation of the cross-flow fan and integration of this unique propulsion device into an ultra high-lift, high payload wing configuration. Propulsive Wing was formed to commercialize this technology as a new unmanned airplane for the military and wildfire suppression.
Recently, Propulsive Wing also collaborated with the Building Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratory at SU to develop personal ventilation and filtration technologies, a project that was funded by the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to Propulsive Wing, Kummer is a partner with J3 Wind Power, LLC, a company that is focusing on the development and manufacturing of wind turbine technologies. He is also principal scientist at Allred & Associates Inc., a company partnering closely with Propulsive Wing, where he focuses on the design of advanced carbon-fiber structures for the military and industry clients.
Prior to starting NotchUp, Ambras was vice president of engineering at Peerflix, where he was responsible for building Peerflix’s next generation trading and social media platform. Before that, he was the vice president of products and services at OnStation, where he was instrumental in turning the company around, leading to its acquisition by the Cobalt Group.
Before joining OnStation, he was vice president of engineering at AltaVista, where he created the AltaVista Live portal and led development of the company’s 20 international search sites. He also served as vice president of engineering at Zip2 Corp.
Ambras holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from SU.
