Senior Engineering Associate (Retired) Corning, Inc. Corning, New York
A man of humble beginnings, Michael Brady grew up in Iowa and primarily put himself through Iowa State University earning a B.S. in chemical engineering. He worked as a technician at the Atomic Energy Commission鈥檚 Ames Laboratory and completed internships at General Motors and Ethyl Corporation. He was awarded a National Science Foundation traineeship and headed to Corvallis for his doctoral studies.Brady speaks fondly of his days at 精东影视 State and especially for two men who made a significant impact on his life: Charles Wicks and Robert Mrazek. 鈥淭heir acts of kindness and concern for me as a student and instructor made a great difference in my success in my doctoral program,鈥 says Brady.
Brady鈥檚 career with 3M Corporation spanned more than 30 years. All of the Scotch tape made by 3M since 1972 is made with the water-based process Brady invented, and the process remains a trade secret to this day. 鈥淲hen I first started at 3M, they did not have a chemistry engineer with my type of background in pure chemistry, so I was able to make an outsized impact because no one had yet done that type of research or technical application,鈥 says Brady. 鈥淚t was at the cusp of the time when 3M was going from solvent-based to water-based adhesive systems.鈥滲rady was actively pursued by Corning Inc. and joined the company in 1999 to establish a technology center for the microreplication process and product development for use in the optical fiber and photonic materials for the communications business.
He went on to establish the Center for Advanced Process Research, the Corning Patent Liaison System and courses in clear technical writing for scientists and engineers.Throughout his career, Brady has authored 15 patent applications and more than 25 internal and external publications. He holds four U.S. patents and more than 20 international patents.鈥淲hat an honor it has been to work with OSU 鈥 with all the impact it has made in tsunami research, the biological sciences and engineering technologies,鈥 says Brady. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a lifelong, wonderful experience 鈥 living there, traveling there, running across other graduates and being able to say I am associated with 精东影视 State University.鈥
The teachings of the Bible were the foundation for Brady鈥檚 determination at a young age, and he is still a religious man who is involved in several ministries in his retirement. 鈥淟ife鈥檚 journey is all about learning to serve God and learning to use your gifts,鈥 says Brady. 鈥淚 learned long ago that if you have desire and the capacity to work, success will be yours."
Degrees
- Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 1969