Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Dean for Entrepreneurial Programs is also a professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan (U-M) College of Engineering. He has been at the University of Michigan for over 10 years.
Zurbuchen holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Bern, Switzerland and was a recipient of a Swiss National Science Foundation award before coming to the University of Michigan in 1998. Since then, he has received numerous awards, including the prestigious U.S. Presidential Early Career Award, which represents the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. A specialist in the robotic exploration of space, Zurbuchen served as team leader for the development of NASA’s Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer, an instrument aboard the Messenger spacecraft, which made its first Mercury flyby in 2008. Professor Zurbuchen is also part of several committees of the National Academy of Sciences and NASA.
Zurbuchen is the founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. Under his direction, the Center has rapidly grown in visibility and in impact across the entire student body. Key Center activities include strengthening academic curricula in entrepreneurship, venture acceleration, and outreach to the broader entrepreneurial community. Many key Center activities are performed in partnership with students and, in particular, by the student organization MPowered Entrepreneurship. Thomas is also engaged in activities related to industry interaction and economic development, continuing education and publicity. In his short time as Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Thomas has energized much of the campus and the U-M alumni community around the values associated with entrepreneurship: creativity, innovation, risk taking, and the drive to accomplish.
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