Message from the Director

Entrepreneurship is an undertaking that requires passion, perseverance and a willingness to assess and take risks. These are the qualities of the people who start up hundreds of thousands of new businesses each year in the United States – a trend that has stimulated an increasing interest in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. Our standard of living, our tools to solve problems in the future, and our ability to lead the world through innovations and technologies largely depend on the entrepreneurial skills and passion.

I’m thrilled and privileged to lead the Center for Entrepreneurship, where we’ll work at developing entrepreneurial minds, skills, resources and opportunities. There has never been a time when the State of Michigan has needed entrepreneurs more. Fortunately, the College of Engineering has some of the world’s best faculty, students, alumni and community partners, many of whom are innovators. It’s our hope that the Center for Entrepreneurship will bring these elements together – the need and the means to satisfy that need – to the benefit of all.

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Thomas Zurbuchen, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship

Thomas Zurbuchen, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, is a professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He has been at the University of Michigan for over 10 years.

Zurbuchen, who holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Bern, Switzerland, was a recipient of a Swiss National Science Foundation award before coming to the University of Michigan. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious U.S. Presidential Early Career Award, which represents the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Zurbuchen, a specialist in the robotic exploration of space, served as team leader for the development of NASA’s Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer, an instrument that is aboard the Messenger spacecraft which made it’s first Mercury flyby in January 14, 2008. Zurbuchen is also part of several committees of the National Academy of Sciences, and NASA committees.

Zurbuchen is passionate about teaching his students to apply their deep engineering and science knowledge towards the solution of problems and towards taking advantage of opportunities. His teaching focuses on the Masters in Space Engineering program, and on hands-on involvement of students in his research.

See [ Dr. Zurbuchen's profile in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences ].

Copyright CFE 2008