Burt Swersey
biography :: conference marerials
Burt Swersey is the founder (1999) of the Inventors
Studio at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a semester-long capstone design
experience for engineering seniors that helps them identify, understand, and
solve open-ended problems. Student work in the course has resulted in five patents,
with several more pending. Two teams originating in the course won first and
third place in the spring 2004 $40,000 Tech Valley Business Plan Competition.
These teams, TekAlert and Bullex, have started companies to commercialize their
fire training and fire safety equipment. Swersey received the 1994 Design Education
Curriculum Innovation Award from ASME for The Use of Reverse Engineering in
a Mechanical Senior Design Course. Holding fourteen US patents himself, Swersey
founded Brookline Instrument Company in 1962 and American Scale Corporation
in 1973.