Gift from Burzik Foundation creates UTSA professorship in engineering design

Catherine M. Burzik

Catherine M. Burzik

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(April 29, 2013) -- The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has received a $250,000 gift from the Catherine and Francis Burzik Foundation to establish the Burzik Professorship in Engineering Design in the UTSA College of Engineering. The position will support the research and teaching of engineering design to nurture student-developed technology ventures and train the next generation of engineering business leaders.

"The Burzik Professorship in Engineering Design will have a tremendous influence by focusing on the impact that engineering design plays in the entrepreneurship experience," said UTSA engineering dean Mauli Agrawal. "We are so grateful for the Burzik's support of innovation in education."

"Finding innovative solutions to life's opportunities and challenges is at the heart of engineering and business," said Ms. Burzik. "UTSA is a hotbed for innovation and we want to help create the environment in which young talent can explore and test their ideas."

Catherine (Cathy) M. Burzik is an industry-recognized senior executive in the health care field. Most recently, she served as president and CEO of Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI), a wound care company whose stock price doubled as she led it through significant product innovation and global expansion. Currently, Burzik advises several venture capital-backed biotech companies in San Antonio and San Francisco and has joined forces with a local venture capital group to form Targeted Technology Fund II, which plans to raise $50 million for biomedical and biotechnology start-ups, mostly in the San Antonio area. She has extensive public and not-for-profit board experience and currently serves as board chair of VitaPath Genetics Inc., board member of Becton Dickinson and member of the San Antonio Branch of the Dallas Federal Reserve Board.

In 2012, Burzik founded the Catherine M. and Francis N. Burzik Foundation dedicated to furthering higher education and the performing arts.

With the Burzik gift, UTSA has 59 endowed faculty positions across the university.

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(Rev. 7/12/13) Nationally ranked and recognized, the UTSA College of Engineering provides world-class education and research opportunities to the region's multicultural community, to the nation and beyond. The college offers 16 different graduate and undergraduate degrees to its 2,500 students within the departments of biomedical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering. The college's undergraduate programs in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

 

 

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