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.
