Inventors Association event at Fairfield University next week

Inventors Association event at Fairfield University next week

Image: DSB On Tuesday, May 27, at 7 p.m., entrepreneur Bob Black will speak at Fairfield University about how he turned his anti-graffiti coating business into a $7 million a year company. Free and open to the public, the event is part of a speaker series co-sponsored by Fairfield University's School of Engineering and the Charles F. Dolan School of Business, in collaboration with the Inventors Association of Connecticut (IACT). The talk will take place in the Dolan School of Business Dining Room.

Black is chief executive officer and founder of GPRO®, an anti-graffiti coating business. Attendees will hear Black describe how he developed, patented, oversaw production, marketed and turned his invention into a multi-million dollar company. He sold the company eight years ago and continues licensing other technologies he developed.

He holds 18 United States and foreign patents. They include technologies ranging from concrete to candles. "His philosophy is technology transfer," said Doug Lyon, Ph.D., professor of computer engineering at Fairfield and president of the IACT. "By that he means using technology from one field and using it to solve problems in another field. His credo is to forget thinking about boxes. Inside, outside - there are no boxes!"

Black's 30-year teaching career included positions teaching chemistry at Brooklyn Technical High School and organic chemistry at Columbia University.

For directions to campus, visit www.fairfield.edu .For event details, e-mail dlyon@fairfield.edu or visit www.inventus.org .

Posted On: 05-20-2014 03:05 PM

Volume: 46 Number: 306