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FAU Professor Posthumously Enters Florida Inventors Hall of Fame William Glenn, Ph.D., Joins Inaugural Class with Some of Country’s Most Accomplished Innovators BOCA RATON, Fla. (September 9, 2014) – He’s mentioned in the same vein as iconic figures such as Thomas Edison, Robert Cade – who developed Gatorade – and John Gorrie, the air conditioning innovator. His work is credited with saving thousands of lives and pioneering an age of high-definition televisions, while his legacy continues to be felt at Florida Atlantic University, in the medical field and in homes across the globe. For all of his innovations and achievements in the fields of high-resolution imaging, electronic and optical physics and electrical engineering, William Glenn, Ph.D., who served as a professor in FAU’s Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will be posthumously inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 10 in Tampa, represented by his widow Jeanne Glenn. Glenn died on July 13, 2013 in Fort Lauderdale at the age of 87. The inaugural Hall of Fame class is comprised of six inventors, including Edison, Cade, Gorrie and Glenn. “If I had a chance to sit with Dr. Glenn, I would ask him how he did what he did. How did he come up with one creative solution after another after another,” said FAU President John Kelly. “Most people may have a good idea once in a while. He seemed to have good ideas constantly. And anybody who can do that could be a great teacher for the rest of us. I’d like to keep his story alive at FAU and really celebrate him and his career as a role model for all the rest of us.” Glenn’s innovation helped develop the medical ultrasound industry, including pioneering a cardiovascular ultrasound scanning machine. He was awarded more than 135 U.S. patents and published more than 105 technical articles and is one of only approximately 50 prolific, commercially viable U.S. inventors whose number of patents are exceeded only by those issued to Edison. “I’m sure that device saved thousands of lives,” said John Marcinka, a long-time Glenn collaborator and friend. “In fact, the new project that we have, the wireless medical ultrasound, I think will do the same thing.” A Norway-based company, Eyelife, which has an office at the FAU Research Park, licensed Glenn’s ultrasound patent and is working with Marcinka to develop a portable, wireless and pocket-sized ultra sound machine that could be used in doctor’s offices around the globe. Glenn was born on May 12, 1926 in Atlanta, Ga. He received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1946, and his master’s and doctoral (1952) degrees in the same field from the University of California at Berkeley. He began his career at General Electric Research Laboratories where he developed two new types of electro-optical imaging systems. He went on to become the vice president and director of research at CBS Laboratories, Inc., where he worked on systems using holographic techniques, including early forms of ultrasound imaging systems. While there, he sparked pioneering developments in laser optical imaging systems employing orbital satellites for instant worldwide communications. Glenn became the director of the Science and Technology Research Center at the New York Institute of Technology in Dania, Fla. In 1989, he joined the faculty at FAU as a distinguished professor, the Motorola endowed professor for electrical and computer engineering and the director of the Imaging Technology Center, including the NASA Imaging Technology Space Center (Research Partnership Center). “Certainly, he’ll be remembered as a wonderful scientist with a very inventive spirit,” said Glenn. “I feel he was a man of great integrity. He was always calm and rationale, even under the most trying circumstances. He saw the good in everyone.” -FAU-