The Professional Conversations Seminar series provides an opportunity for MS-EE students to hear directly from industry leaders to discuss about their profession, how their role plays in their organization, the methods and techniques being used, and their own career trajectory. The speakers are from companies spanning a broad range of sectors within the Power Electronics and Embedded Systems industry. 

Bio:  Juan Rodriguez's career spans six decades of experience, mostly in data storage technologies and, most recently, in LIDAR. Mr. Rodriguez started with IBM, and went on to found Storage Technology Corporation, serving as VP of Engineering, VP and General Manager of Disk Operations, and as VP and General Manager of Optical Disk Operations. In 1985 founded Exabyte Corporation, where he held the positions of Chairman, President and CEO. In 1996 he co-founded Ecrix Corporation where he held the positions of Chairman and CEO. Since 1992, Mr. Rodriguez is a professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he cofounded and became the co-executive director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU Boulder.

Most recently he has been a consultant and VP of Strategy at Insight Photonics, in the business of applying solid state swept laser technologies to industry measurement, medical diagnostic and LIDAR systems. Additionally, he has served on the boards of directors of multiple public and private companies.

Mr. Rodriguez' awards and accomplishments are numerous. Among the many, he has been honored with the Arthur Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, the General Palmer Award for the Outstanding Engineer in Industry, Hispanic Engineer Entrepreneur of the Year, the Boulder County Chamber of Commerce Esprit Entrepreneur of the Decade and Lifetime Achievement Awards, and the Townsend Harris Medal from The City College of New York.  In 2012 he was awarded Doctor of Science by the University of Colorado.

Mr. Rodriguez received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from The City College of New York and a Master of Electrical Engineering from New York University. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.

The seminar was aired on September 25, 2020.

Watch the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4BqaRYi3Y&feature=youtu.be