Engineering professor David Barbe has helped create more than 5,000 jobs through his work with MTECH. j
What began as engineering professor David Barbe’s vision to boost the university’s partnerships with state businesses has recently garnered attention from the White House and media outlets for creating more than 5,000 jobs.
About 25 years ago, Barbe helped create the Engineering Research Center — now called the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute — to work within this university’s engineering program. Earlier this month, the White House named Barbe a “Champion of Change” because of the impact MTECH has had in creating jobs and breeding an “entrepreneurial spirit” in both students and faculty members who participated in the program, said Barbe, MTECH’s director.
Barbe and 19 other recipients sat on a panel earlier this month at the White House alongside high-profile officials, such as House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (who represents this university), the nation’s Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and representatives from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation.
“It’s an honor for the College of Engineering to have us represented by the White House, and it’s an honor for the University of Maryland,” Barbe said. “One of the things we try Barbe said. “One of the things we try in every way to do is get the word out about what we’ve done at MTECH the past 25 years.”
According to Barbe, the best way to foster job growth is to create entrepreneurs, help form innovative companies and build new products that will create more jobs and more products to manufacture.
And with more than 30 initiatives, various courses in fostering innovation and funding opportunities for companies, MTECH has helped create the “next generation of entrepreneurs,” he said.
MTECH includes the Hinman CEOs Program for juniors and seniors, which teaches students about innovation in the marketplace and 10 percent of students who graduate from the program eventually run their own company, according to Barbe. Applying MTECH’s models to federal labs around the country could replicate this success nationwide, Barbe said.
Daniel Raviv, a professor at Florida Atlantic University, said he first learned of MTECH when Barbe gave a speech in 2005 at the American Society for Engineering Conference. Drawn to the university because of this program, Raviv took a one-year sabbatical at this university to experience MTECH up close.
“I saw what he was doing firsthand; I was amazed and am still amazed. I saw someone with an amazing vision,” he said. “He was able to take that vision and make it happen. He’s a doer; you don’t really find these qualities quite often.”
MTECH has funneled $22 billion into the economy through the products it has helped create, Barbe said.
Because of this, he said he remains optimistic about the job market in technology-related fields despite the economic climate.
“I think you have to be optimistic,” he said. “There are proven models that work, and the nation does not need to reinvent the wheel.”
Earlier this month, The Daily Record named Barbe “Innovator of the Year.” Dean Chang, director of MTECH ventures, said the two honors were the culmination of the program’s successes since it began in 1980s.
“These awards, even though recent awards, they are validation of two decades of work by Dave and MTECH,” he said.
bach@umdbk.com