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CFR Partner Feature: Dr. Todd Marek, Executive Director of the Watt Center

February 19, 2018

The CFR team is beginning a new series of faculty and staff feature stories to highlight partnerships with the academy that have increased corporate support of Clemson. Our first feature highlights Dr. Todd Marek, Executive Director of Clemson’s Watt Family Innovation Center.

Dr. Marek works closely with the Corporate and Foundation Relations team to establish strategic partnerships with corporations to support the needs of the Watt Center and the many students, faculty, and staff who engage with the Center each semester.

Throughout graduate school, Dr. Marek was very interested in medical instrumentation and imaging. His research at that time was in the area of highly parallel computer architectures and processing. After he graduated, he had the opportunity to work at MIT Lincoln Laboratory developing satellite communications systems for military requirements. He spent 6 years at Lincoln Laboratory and then transitioned into private industry for a company that provides engineering services for the US government. He spent 18 years with Scientific Research Corporation working in engineering, project leadership, and technical director roles. During much of this time, he led the Communications, Networks, and Electronics division and supported numerous projects for the US Air Force, the US Army, and several other clients.

As for his work with the Watt Center, Dr. Marek says, “The innovation cycle at the Watt Center depends on ideas and creativity originating from interactions between students, faculty, and industry partners. Industry input helps clarify the problem definition, and also helps establish boundary conditions that define acceptable or commercially meaningful solutions. Many of our industry partners have contributed their advanced products and tools to the Watt Center, giving students access to technology that would otherwise be unavailable to them.”

Currently, The Watt Center is actively engaged with about 30 companies. “Corporate and Foundation Relations team members have provided great support to our interactions with these companies. It is a true partnership with CFR where we each have elements of the company relationship that we lead and other elements where we provide support.”

As an alumnus of Clemson, Dr. Marek shares the same devotion to Clemson as current students. He notes, “There are so many amazing things happening at Clemson – it is a very exciting time to be a part of it all.” If Dr. Marek had to choose his favorite thing about working at Clemson it would be that he loves the energy, creativity, and optimism that he sees in Clemson students.

He is particularly excited about two major initiatives that are developing at the Watt Center: first, they are expanding their offerings that invite innovation at the intersection of art and technology; second, they are looking into ways the Watt Center can lead multidisciplinary activity at the convergence of analytics, visualization, cybersecurity, emergency management, and public administration.

The Watt Center is so much more than just a great place to study or have a class. There are always great opportunities for multidisciplinary interaction and involvement. You can get involved with the Watt Center by following them on Twitter @WattCenter.