Dr. Harold J. Raveché is the Rector of Stevens Institute of Technology International and sixth President of Stevens Institute of Technology, a private university founded in 1870 in Hoboken, NJ. The founders of Stevens, who pioneered steam transportation in the U.S. and who were early advocates for U.S. Patent Law in 1790, are said to be America’s First Family of Inventors.
Dr. Raveché has championed the development of new curricula for undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs emphasizing the importance of students learning how engineering, science and technology management lead to the development of new businesses and the creation of broad opportunities for society. He has pioneered the unique Technogenesis® approach to higher education, wherein students, faculty and external partners join in creating shared value from the intellectual property developed at Stevens. Many Technogenesis® companies have been formed with investors and partners, and some have been sold to larger corporations.
Dr. Raveché has promoted the development of research centers that meet the needs of government agencies, and business and industry. These multidisciplinary organizations include the Maritime Security Laboratory, the Wireless Network Security Laboratory, the Center for Environmental Systems, the Center for Intelligent Networks, and the Design and Manufacturing Institute.
The graduate programs at Stevens in Systems Engineering and Information Systems have, with Dr. Raveché’s endorsement, have emerged to be among the largest in the world, reaching students in business, industry and government across the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia and India.
Dr. Raveché promoted WebCampus.Stevens, established in 2000, which has since reached 10,000 enrollments globally with students in all continents. WebCampus.Stevens was named the best online graduate program in the U.S. by the Sloan Foundation in 2003 and by the U.S. Distance Learning Association in 2005.
Dr. Raveché, whose doctorate degree is from the University of California, San Diego in Physical Chemistry, lectures widely on the role of universities in promoting entrepreneurship and economic competitiveness. He serves on corporate boards and advises on technological innovation.
Lex McCusker, A.B. PHD., is the Vice Rector of Stevens Institute of Technology International and the Dean of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology. He joined the Howe School in July of 2004 and served as its Acting Dean since June 2005.
Prior to joining Stevens, McCusker served as Professional Services Vice President and General Manager at AT&T Laboratories. In this capacity, he oversaw day-to-day operations of the internal consulting practice of 450 high-power technical professionals. He also provided administrative oversight for AT&T’s R&D budget and managed its Intellectual Property Licensing and Technology Transfer activities.
He earned his doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, and he holds an A.B degree in Psychology from Dartmouth College. He also worked as a Sloan Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Chicago. He is a graduate of the Management of Technology Innovation Program at the California Institute of Technology and of the Executive Program at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.
Dr. Luftman is the Director of the Information Systems program at Stevens Institute of Technology International and the Associate Dean of Graduate Information Systems Programs, and Distinguished Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken New Jersey. His career includes strategic positions in management (Information Technology, including being a CIO, and consultant), management consulting, Information Systems, and executive education. After a notable twenty-two year career with IBM, and over fifteen years at Stevens, Dr. Luftman’s experience combines the strengths of practitioner, consultant, and academic. His framework for assessing IT-business alignment maturity is considered key in helping companies around the world understand, define, and scope an appropriate strategic planning direction that leverages Information Technology. Dr. Luftman is the founder and leader of Stevens graduate IS Programs. He created and teaches a popular end-of Masters course on managing the IT resource, which explores how to be a successful IT executive. Dr. Luftman’s newest book (one of twelve) “Competing in the Information Age: Align in the Sand”, publish by Oxford University, has surpassed his initial best seller “Competing in the Information Age” which is still selling strong around the globe. His active membership in SIM includes being the VP of Academic Affairs for the SIM Executive Board. His advice is frequently requested as an executive mentor.
Dr. Souran Manoochehri is the Director of the Manufacturing Technologies Program at Stevens Institute of Technology International and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Dean for Research and Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology. He has been co-founder and previous Director of the Design & Manufacturing Institute (DMI) at Stevens since 1989. Dr. Manoochehri has led the technical programs at the Design & Manufacturing Institute and under his leadership the DMI center has become a nationally recognized R&D center in integrated product design and manufacturing. In his tenure, DMI has received more than thirty million dollars of funding from the public and private sectors, including the U.S. Army ARDEC, U.S. Navy MANTECH, ONR, ARO, DARPA, U.S. Army TARDEC, NIST, AT&T, 3M, GM/EDS, Digital Equipment, United Defense, Primex Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Lucent Technologies, among others. Dr. Manoochehri received his B.S. degree from Illinois Institute of Technology and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Manoochehri has researched and taught mechanical engineering for more than 20 years. His research interests are in intelligent electro-mechanical systems; controls and robotics; automated design and manufacturing systems; knowledge-based engineering systems; design for manufacturability; computer-aided design and manufacturing; advanced and emerging materials and MEMS/NEMS devices. He has more than one hundred technical publications and two US patents. At Stevens he has developed a number of undergraduate and graduate courses and programs in the design and manufacturing areas, including laboratories, which has incorporated his research experience into the curriculum. He has been the principal developer of two successful masters’ degree programs at Stevens, one is the Concurrent Engineering and the other is the Integrated Product Development.
Janet Kunhardt Grullon, M.S., joined as Liaison of Stevens Institute of Technology in the Dominican Republic in 2004. She was appointed Registrar of Stevens Institute of Technology International (SITI) in 2007. Her career includes several strategic positions in consulting and management. These include 12 years of technical consulting at Instituto Dominicano de Tecnologia, INDOTEC as well as consulting engagements at PROEMPRESA, European Union; Development Interamerican Bank, DIB; United Nations, ACNUR. She also was the founder and leader of the Comision Interinstitucional de Tecnologia e Innovacion, which brought together, for the first time in Dominican Republic, the Government, private Companies, Universities, and Research Institutes to propose the first Sistema Nacional de Innovacion.
She also brings to SITI 15 years of experience teaching Psychology at important Dominican universities and 13 years of practicing Clinical Psychology. At SITI she directs all student counseling and administrative services for studednts. She is also the SITI interface to the Secretaría de Estado de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología (SEESCyT).
Mrs. Kunhardt received her B.S. degree in Clinical Psychology from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), her M.S. in Management from Instituto Tecnológico Santo Domingo (INTEC) and her Post-grado in Total Quality from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD).