(l) Rajiv Singh and (r) Ajay Malshe

A series of four virtual fireside chats — designed to highlight academic entrepreneurs — will begin Thursday, Feb. 24, with the first talk from 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

The scheduled guest for the chat, “Tales of a Battle-Hardened Materials Engineering Faculty Entrepreneur: What works and what pitfalls to avoid” is Rajiv Singh, emeritus professor at the University of Florida and vice president of Entegris.

The host for the series is Ajay P. Malshe, the Eugene and Susie E. Goodsen Distinguished Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He also serves as one of 12 Purdue Engineering faculty members who are in the first class of Entrepreneurial Ambassadors, an offshoot program of Purdue’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellowship initiative.

Singh joined the University of Florida in 1989 and was promoted to full professor in 1996. During his tenure, he helped establish the NSF Engineering Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, authored more than 500 publications, and filed/awarded more than 50 patents. He supervised 50 PhD students, who currently are employed in top-tier academic institutions and leading chip companies across the globe.

In 1998, Singh co-founded Nanotherapeutics, and in 2000, he commercialized the patents he developed at the University of Florida. As CEO/CTO of Sinmat, he commercialized his inventions and managed the company in 2020 as it was sold to Entegris Inc. for $75M. Sinmat’s commercialized products offer defect-free polishing processes for ultra-hard semiconducting materials used by top global companies in manufacturing of smart watches, smart phones, silicon carbine chips for electrical vehicles, and 5G communications.

To join the chat, register at the Zoom link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b42U5ehZT5ibH-dr3d5s_A