Greg Blonder

Visiting scholar Greg Blonder is a scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He was a Professor of the Practice in the Mechanical Engineering department from 2015-2021.
Greg began his professional career as a bench scientist at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and over a 20-year period rose to the position of Chief Technical Advisor for the corporation. As a Research VP, his laboratory developed new manufacturing technologies and the quantitative strategic analysis of future opportunities. After leaving AT&T in 1998, Greg worked as a venture capitalist and was CEO of a number of portfolio companies, most notably early LED lighting, LIDAR and electronic game advertising startups.
He holds more than 100 patents in a wide range of fields, including green energy, medical devices and consumer products and services. These include plastic films that instinctively ventilate hot wall cavities, fiber optic blood pressure sensors, pioneering patents on two-factor authentication and headphones that convert into personal speakers. He has taught at Parsons School of Design and lectured widely on product development and entrepreneurial topics. Greg attended MIT as an undergraduate and earned his PhD in physics from Harvard University. His PhD work was cited as one of Physical Rev B’s 50^th anniversary “Milestone” papers.
When not teaching or working with young companies, Greg is an avid cook and barbecuer, and enjoys busting food-related myths at genuineideas.com