Insights from a distinguished alumnus

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Dean David B. Williams and Hemant Betrabet,
College of Engineering Dean David B. Williams congratulates Hemant Betrabet,

As The Ohio State University geared up for its Homecoming celebration, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering observed a homecoming of its own, celebrating the return of Hemant Betrabet to present the Distinguished Alumnus Lecture. Betrabet, '86, outlined his 30-year professional journey for an audience of students, staff and faculty.

That journey has taken him from India to Ohio to New York, to the Netherlands, to Michigan to Wisconsin, and from main-frame computers to plastic bags.

Betrabet was inspired to pursue graduate studies at Ohio State by a textbook, “Corrosion Engineering,” by Mars G. Fontana, but it was a timely phone call that secured his place in our doctoral program. He had been accepted to the graduate program, but he hadn’t been offered any funding in the form of an assistantship.

“I made a collect call to Bob Rapp,” now Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, “and he accepted. I ended up with a graduate research associateship.”

One of the guiding principles of Betrabet’s career is the choice to “Make the change before someone makes the change for you.”

He launched his career with IBM, working on mainframe computers, thanks to connections he had made during student colloquiums at Ohio State. As mainframe computers started to fall out of fashion, he shifted his professional focus to consumer electronics, starting a successful stint at Philips Electronics. At Philips, he shifted his focus again to pursue research and development management rather than stay in his initial research track.

“I was offered a job in Phillips’ R&D headquarters in the Netherlands in an early-career R&D management training program to learn how global research and development is managed,” Betrabet said.

He eventually became technology strategy manager for Philips, Consumer Electronics, coordinating research in labs around the globe, and launched LCD computer monitors.  He returned to the US with his family to lead product development of CRTs for televisions.  While CRT televisions had better picture quality than LCDs, Betrabet realized that “The best technology doesn’t always win.”  LCD technology swept away CRT’s in televisions, as it had done in computer monitors.

“Innovation is at the intersection of technical feasibility, commercial viability, and consumer desirability,” he explained. He’s seen R&D move from being technology driven to market driven. “Consumers drive R&D.”

He began another successful professional relationship, this time with S.C. Johnson, leading research and development for product lines like Ziploc bags and Off insect repellents. He’s currently S.C. Johnson’s Senior Director for Research and Development, Science and Technology.

“We must provide value to the consumer,” Betrabet said, but he notes that “It’s important to impact our consumer’s lives positively.”

 

 

Category: Alumni