Make Dec. 8 a day of innovation by attending the 2011 Harold W. Gegenheimer Lecture and the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering’s (ME) Capstone Expo.

John G. Voeller, an alumnus of the school and chief knowledge and technology officer at Black & Veatch, will deliver this year’s Gegenheimer Lecture. He is the principal architect of POWRTRAK, Black & Veatch’s automated engineering system that was used to build more than 500 power facilities around the world.  

“John Voeller is a leading visionary in terms of how innovation and technology impact society’s grand challenges,” said Bill Wepfer, Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair of the Woodruff School. “I encourage the Georgia Tech community to attend what I think will be a fabulous lecture by one of our very own.”

Voeller’s lecture will focus on innovation — past and future — and on marrying the fundamentals of engineering and new advances in technology to enable the expansion of human creativity.

Later in the day, the Capstone Expo will be open to visitors and is the culmination of student projects from the ME senior design course. The event showcases more than 40 design teams and the prototypes they have created to address real-world problems.

“You can expect to see an auto-locking medical sharp container by team Post Medical, a temperature-controlled violin case by team Perfect Temp-O, a sport vehicle loader by team Crane Engineering and a regenerative braking system for a bicycle by team Air Bike,” said Craig Forest, assistant professor of ME and coordinator of the expo.  “The Capstone Expo is a fun show-and-tell event — a celebration of invention, with dozens of new ideas created by Georgia Tech’s graduating seniors.”

The Gegenheimer Lecture will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Ferst Center, and the expo will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Clough Commons atrium.     

For more information, email Zbeeb.