Q&A

Dean Thomas L. Magnanti The Progress of Engineering Education

Associate Professor Erik Demaine Algorithms and the Adventure of Teaching

Forrest Liau '06 Nanotechnology and Entrepreneurship

Clarence Lee '06 Technology Fair Co-Founder

Janice Voss EE '77 Opportunities in Space

Mitch Tyson '75 From Politics to Entrepreneurship

Forrest Liau '06

Student Entrepreneur/Inventor Wins Contract with U.S. Government
Forrest Liau '06

Forrest Liau is a senior at MIT studying materials science and engineering. His honors include being selected as a Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia and, more recently, winning gold in his division at the National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships. Liau is a brother of the Chi Phi Fraternity and a StartingBloc fellow. In 2004, he co-founded RallyPoint, Inc. with four other MIT community members and helped the company win a Small Business Innovative Research contract with the Department of Defense. Next year, he will pursue a PhD at either MIT or Stanford and work toward his professional objective of standing at the crossroads of materials science, biology, and information technology to lead an enterprise that combines powerful capabilities from the various fields and applies them in significant, responsible ways.

What does your research with the Biomolecular Materials Group entail?

The group, led by Professor Angela Belcher, leverages molecular interactions between biological and inorganic materials to produce a remarkable range of technologically important materials and devices at room temperature and with minimum harmful waste. For example, we have utilized a type of virus (non-harmful to humans) to produce metal oxide nanowire and high-performance battery electrodes without using expensive processing equipment or toxic solution baths. I am fascinated by this approach to nanotechnology because it takes advantage of what nature does best: producing complex systems through programmable molecular self-assembly. Just as we plowed wheat fields using horses long before agricultural tractors were available, it makes sense for us to employ nature-tech to accomplish technological feats (e.g., in medicine and manufacturing) that would be difficult to do otherwise within the decade.

What is RallyPoint and how did you start it?

RallyPoint integrates advanced materials and sensors into the garments of extreme users, such as soldiers and rescue workers, to boost their survivability and effectiveness on the field. The RallyPoint team first met in fall 2003 to prototype a sensor-enhanced glove for the Soldier Design Competition sponsored by MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN). Advice and support we received from the ISN and various other MIT connections proved invaluable during the company's development. The collaborative, open spirit of the MIT community has also made our journey particularly pleasant and meaningful.

What do you see as the future of RallyPoint?

We recently launched a two-year Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program with the Natick Soldier Center to produce a rugged computer-input glove. Our product will look and feel like a conventional soldier glove, yet allow the soldier to interface his/her electronic equipment in a more convenient (i.e., more survivable) manner than currently possible. For example, using our glove, a future soldier would be able to change what is shown on his/her helmet-mounted display (e.g., a digital map) using simple hand gestures performed while the hand remains on a weapon or steering wheel. Upcoming field evaluations and discussions with military personnel and defense contractors will provide insight on how we should proceed with commercialization. My goal is to allow my team to have the best experience possible while delivering exceptional value to our program.