Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> December 9, 2002
GREGORY J. YUREK is the Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer of American Superconductor Corporation. He is a
recognized global leader in the development and commercialization of
breakthrough technologies for large-scale electrical systems. Under Dr.
Yurek's leadership, American Superconductor has become the world market
and technology leader in high temperature superconductor (HTS) products
and the leading vendor of advanced power electronics-based grid
stabilization solutions. AMSC markets its products to the electric
power, industrial processing, transportation, medical and defense
industries. Dr. Yurek founded AMSC in April 1987 with three fellow MIT
professors. He took the company public in 1991 and has raised over $600
million in capital from venture capitalists, corporate partners,
government contracts and private and public equity offerings to meet the
company's growth needs. From 1976 to 1988, Dr. Yurek was on the faculty
of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering where he
focused his research and teaching on the thermodynamics and rapid
solidification processing of metals and ceramics and the development of
corrosion-resistant materials, work that led to the invention of methods
for manufacturing HTS wire. The results of this work became the basis
for founding American Superconductor. Dr. Yurek co-founded and was co-
director of MIT's H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory. Prior to joining
American Superconductor as CTO in August 1988, Dr. Yurek oversaw the
transfer of technology from MIT, established the company's research and
development programs and its initial corporate strategic alliances. In
1989, he became President and CEO of American Superconductor and was
named Chairman of the Board in 1991. Prior to joining the faculty at
MIT, Dr. Yurek was a Research Scientist in the Metals and Ceramics
Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. From 1973 to 1974, Dr. Yurek
was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld
in Germany where he conducted research on solid-state diffusion in
ceramics. He has authored more than 60 scientific and technical
publications and has nine U.S. patents issued in his name. In September
2003, Dr. Yurek was made a Fellow of Britain's Institute of Electrical
Engineers and was awarded the IEE 2003 Achievement Medal for his work on
the manufacturing of HTS materials. In August 2003, Dr. Yurek received
the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the College of Engineering at Ohio
State University. In April 1997, he was the first non-Japanese recipient
of the Award of Merit conferred by the Japanese Science and Technology
Agency for his contributions to the development and application of HTS
materials. He received his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from Ohio
State University in 1973 and obtained his BS and MS degrees in
Metallurgy from Pennsylvania State University in 1969 and 1970,
respectively. Profile
Corporation does?
Mr. Yurek: American Superconductor is a manufacturer of superconductor
products and power electronic
