Michael J. Barber to speak at MSOE Spring Commencement
| Published: 05/21/2012 |
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More than 350 undergraduate and graduate students in engineering majors, the Rader School of Business and the School of Nursing will receive their bachelor’s or master’s degrees at Milwaukee School of Engineering’s (MSOE) Spring Commencement, Saturday, May 26, at the Kern Center.
The ceremony will feature a keynote address from Michael J. Barber ’82, MSOE Regent and vice president of molecular imaging for GE Healthcare. Barber also will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree.
Alexander G. Izzo is the class respondent. Izzo is graduating with high honors and will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Izzo and Carol Smith Cayo, who is graduating with high honors and will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, will receive the Alumni Association Award. The award is given to students who have made time in their hectic schedule to serve as a leader in university and community activities in addition to achieving academic excellence. Recipients are first nominated by faculty members in their respective academic departments and then the entire graduating class selects from among its peers the student who is most deserving of this prestigious award.
About Michael Barber:
Michael J. Barber, MSOE Regent and supporter, is a GE officer and vice president of the molecular imaging business for the corporation. He graduated from MSOE in 1982 with a B.S. in electrical engineering. His career with GE Healthcare has spanned 30 years and started with an internship while attending MSOE. “I was interning in an electronics lab and I was able to be more proficient, more so than the interns from other schools, and I directly attribute that to doing labs at MSOE; not just learning the theory, but also the practical application,” said Barber.
In his role as VP of molecular imaging, Barber and his team are responsible for developing innovative ways to detect diseases earlier and monitor disease progression. Molecular Imaging is positioned to help solve the clinical and research challenges in oncology, neurology and cardiology.
Prior to this position Barber was vice president of GE’s business strategy on global health, called healthymagination. The healthymagination goal is to improve the quality of care, to reduce the cost of procedures and processes through the appropriate use of GE technologies and services and to increase the access to essential technologies and services essential to health. Barber was the first leader of healthymagination and delivered 50 products targeting cost, quality and access as well as established key partnerships for GE in the cancer, maternal and newborn health and emerging markets.
During his career, Barber has had a variety of roles in engineering, operations and product management. As the manager of the Digital X-ray Detector Platform, Barber led a team that eliminated the need for film in X-ray procedures. Barber holds patents for novel X-ray system designs and has been directly involved with many product advances in the field of diagnostic imaging. As VP and chief technology officer for GE Healthcare he led a team of more than 7,000 engineers, technologists and scientists working in diverse fields such as MRI, CT, ultrasound, patient monitoring, anesthesia, life sciences, imaging contrast agents and health-related R&D.
Barber is an active champion of GE’s African American Forum and has also served as chair of the Milwaukee Chapter of GE Volunteers (a volunteer organization of GE employees). He is active in combating health care disparities in the United States, was named to the Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 in 1997 and was named as a “Master of Innovation” in 2009 by Black Enterprise. He and his wife Jackie Herd-Barber ’84, who is an MSOE Corporation member, have both been inducted into the MSOE Alumni Hall of Fame. They also established the Jackie Herd-Barber and Michael Barber Scholarship, which supports MSOE students.
MSOE is an independent, non-profit university with 2,500 students. MSOE offers 18 bachelor’s degrees and nine master’s degrees in the engineering, engineering technology, building and infrastructure engineering, health-related engineering, computer, business and nursing fields. The university has a national academic reputation; longstanding ties to business and industry; dedicated professors with real-world experience; extremely high placement rates; and the highest starting salaries of any Wisconsin university according to PayScale Inc. MSOE graduates are well-rounded, technologically experienced and highly productive professionals and leaders.