BHS Day 16: Mark Dean

Hi! For this week's MTS Spotlight, I'm highlighting the accomplishments of a modern-day revolutionary of sorts. Through his inventions and hard work, he sewed the seeds to what PCs are now, which in turn helped with the gaming industry and where its at today. He holds a double number of patents and is largely responsible for some of the earliest breakthrough advancements to the technological and computer industries. Let's learn about today's entrant. 

Name: Mark Dean, 1957--

Profession: Inventor and computer programmer

Why is the Spotlight on him today? For the advancements he's made to the technological industry

Notables:
--was an integral part in the development of the PC, owning three of the nine original patents 
--was the chief engineer over the development of the team that developed the IBM PC/AT
--was part of the development team behind IBM's unique Blue Gene supercomputer
--the first African-American to become an IBM Fellow
--created a team to help make the first 1GHz computer processor chip
--was inducted into the National Inventors' Hall of Fame
--worked on the development of the color PC monitor
--was named Black Engineer of the Year twice
--was awarded the National Institute of Science Outstanding Scientist Award in 2006
--got his Master's degree from Florida Atlantic University and his Doctorate's from Stanford
--helped co-create the ISA (Industry Standards Architecture) systems bus for computers, which is what led to external devices being able to be plugged into computer ports
--was a computer science professor at Harvard
--was awarded the NSBE Distinguished Engineer Award
--holds or is associated with 20 other patents in the technological field
--is currently a John Fisher Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee
--served as the Vice President of IBM's research division
--senior location executive for IBM in Silicon Valley
--was a recipient of the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators' Award
--was selected to be a member of the National Academy of Engineers

Further reading links:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Quote of the Day: 
"A lot of kids growing up today aren't told that you can be whatever you want to be. There may be no obstacles, but there are no limits."