Guru Madhavan
TOPIC
The Forgotten Courage of Engineering
Beyond the shiny innovations Silicon Valley worships, engineering has a deeper, more profound purpose. Guru Madhavan invites us to rethink what courage truly means in the world of building and sustaining. This talk reveals the unsung heroism of engineers who strategically care for, protect, and thoughtfully evolve the invisible systems that quietly underpin our civilization. Discover the vital work that ensures technological resilience and allows human achievements to endure.
ABOUT
Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering, where he also founded the Forum on Complex Unifiable Systems (FOCUS). A systems engineer with a background in biomedical engineering and an MBA, he has advised the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the European Union Malaria Fund. His prior work in the medical device industry included contributing to the research and development of surgical catheters and neuromuscular stimulators. Dr. Madhavan is an elected fellow of multiple prestigious organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is also the author of the popular non-fiction books “Applied Minds: How Engineers Think” and “Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World.”