Michael J. Birck 

Michael J. Birck, a 1960 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, had a remarkable career. He commenced his professional journey by joining the AT&T Bell Laboratories technical staff and then worked for Continental Telephone Laboratories and Wecom, Inc. before venturing into entrepreneurship. In 1974, Birck founded Tellabs, a company initially focused on manufacturing echo suppressors to eliminate annoying echoes on phone calls. Tellabs experienced significant growth and success, going public in 1980 and expanding to employ more than 2,000 people across 25 countries by 1990. With Birck as president and CEO until his retirement in 2004, Tellabs emerged as a global leader in producing voice and data networking products. Birck received numerous accolades, including the IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Award in 2001, the Electronics Industry Alliance's Medal of Honor Award in 2003, and Purdue’s Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award in 1991. His legacy lives on at Purdue through the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.