Duncan T. Moore has been appointed Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester in recognition of his scholarship and research, personal achievements as an entrepreneur, and abilities to advance the University's entrepreneurial initiatives.
As director of the University's Center for Entrepreneurship, Moore is accelerating interaction among schools and departments on the agenda supported by a $3.5 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. With matching funds, the amount has reached $10.5 million to make entrepreneurship an integral part of courses and programs across all six schools at the University.
"The University's strategic planning process builds on a distinguished history of curricular and research innovation," said Joel Seligman, president of the University of Rochester. "Duncan Moore's focus on innovation in his new role will harmonize well with our core academic mission."
Moore is the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and professor of business administration. A former dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, Moore is past director of the University's Institute of Optics and past president of the Optical Society of America. Last fall, he was appointed area coordinator of the entrepreneurship concentration at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University.
"Professor Moore personally embeds the characteristics of entrepreneurship in many ways, including academic leadership, the formation and scientific leadership of several successful companies, and his role setting science and technology policy in the Clinton White House," said Charles E. Phelps, University provost.
Moore described his new role as "an exciting opportunity to blend my background in engineering with both social and economic entrepreneurship. It also raises the profile of entrepreneurship within the University community."
From 1997 to 2001, he served as associate director for technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Clinton Administration. While there, he worked on such projects as the Next Generation Internet, Clean Car Initiative, and Nanotechnology and Elder-tech on technologies that allow individuals to live independently longer.
He was the founder and president for many years of Gradient Lens Corp., the largest manufacturer of rigid industrial borescopes in the United States. More recently, he was president and chief executive officer of the Infotonics Technology Center Inc., a not-for-profit corporation of industry, universities, and government formed to foster research, new technology, and economic development in upstate New York.
Moore earned a bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Maine at Orono, and his master's and doctoral degrees in optics at the University of Rochester.