January 16, 2001 You are invited to attend a reception in honor of Dr. Gregory M. Ayers being named a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus of Purdue University. The reception will take place from 10:15 - 11:15 on Friday, April 20 in the Fu Room of the Potter Building. Refreshments will be served. Dr. Ayers received the B.S. in Interdisciplinary Engineering from Purdue in 1985. The following year, he was the first recipient of a Purdue Presidential Honors Fellowship that allowed him to complete the Ph.D. in Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology in 1989 and the M.D. from Indiana University in 1992. His expertise is in cardiology, in particular therapies from arrhythmia management including defibrillation. In 1992, Dr. Ayers joined a start-up company In-control, Inc. where he helped design, develop, and evaluate the first implantable atrial defibrillator, with many of the studies performed at Purdue. After In-control was purchased by Guidant in 1999, he joined MPM Capital as a venture partner where he identified new companies and technologies for support. Dr. Ayers is a member of Purdue's Engineering Dean's Visiting Committee and received the Outstanding Interdisciplinary Engineer Award from Purdue in 1999. Please take this opportunity to meet Dr. Ayers, or renew an old friendship, while congratulating him on this noteworthy achievement.