Darrel F. Untereker (Medtronic) : Judgment - Decision Making Under Uncertainty - Its Relationship to Quality

May 4, 2006

Location: University of Minnesota, EE/CS Building - Room 3-115

Twin-SPIN
For the Minneapolis/St. Paul Regional Area

Meeting Announcement:

Thursday,
May 4, 2006
5:30-8:00 p.m. at The University of Minnesota 5:30 start for networking, 6:15 start for meeting.

EE/CS Building
Room 3-115
Minneapolis, MN

Directions:
A map is available at http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/EE/CSci/
Check out the detailed map, including convenient parking, under the "Close Up" button.

This Month's Meeting:

Program Manager: Patrick Wegerson (p.wegerson@comcast.net <mailto:p.wegerson@comcast.net> / 612-240-1836)
Topic: Judgment - Decision Making Under Uncertainty - Its Relationship to Quality
Speaker: Dr. Darrel F. Untereker, Ph.D - VP of Research and Technology, Medtronic

Abstract:

Decision-making is different under different circumstances. If nothing is known, it is called guesswork. If everything is known it is called reasoning. Arguably the most important situation is between these extremes when some things are known, but there are also significant uncertainties. The critical part of the decision-making process then depends on judgment, and is what we call "Critical Thinking".

The ability to think critically is a key skill to be successful.
This skill is equally applicable in our personal as well as our professional lives. We define Critical Thinking as "the ability to make informed judgments." This applies to all types of decisions, from a scientist trying to interpret a set of data, to a manager deciding a course of action, or even to a person deciding what kind of automobile to buy. While clearly some decisions are more important than others, the nature of making decisions and the impediments to good decision making transcend the specific situation and decision. The goal of this presentation is to discuss the anatomy of decisions and the impediments to making optimum decisions. There is no clear-cut formula to ensure a good decision is made, but if we understand the dynamics of decision-making and recognize the challenges to good decision-making, we have a better chance to make good decisions consistently.

Please join Dr. Untereker and TwinSPIN for this thought-provoking and universally applicable presentation on better decision making.

Dr. Darrel Untereker Bio:

Darrel received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota (1967) and a doctorate from the University of New York at Buffalo (1973), both in chemistry. He followed that with post-doctoral work in surface science at the University of North Carolina. In 1991 Darrel received his CER in Business Administration from Stanford University.

He joined Medtronic, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN in 1976 and has held several technical and managerial positions involving power sources, materials science and biomedical engineering of implantable medical devices. He is currently the Vice President of Corporate Research and Technology, and a Senior Technical Fellow. He has a broad range of interests in science, technology, and business, and is currently applying his knowledge and interests to improve the design of future medical devices.

Darrel has over 58 publications in several fields, as well as 16 patents and has won many awards including the Medtronic Star of Excellence, the Medtronic Outstanding Initiative Award, as well as being selected to the Bakken Society, the highest technical honor in Medtronic (named for Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic). Darrel currently serves on the Bioengineering Board of the University of California/Berkeley and has served in the past on the CIE (now IPRIME) Advisory Board of the University of Minnesota and the Stout Technical Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin.

Darrel's passion is for improving the quality of medical devices by applying scientific principles and understanding to their design and development. Outside Medtronic, he has served on many industrial advisory boards and was an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society for six years as well as Battery Division Editor for a number of years before that. In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow in the Electrochemical Society. In 2006 he was selected as a Fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He is a 2006 winner of the Charles W. Britzius Distinguished Engineer Award for lifetime achievement in and service to the profession of engineering. He also spends a great deal of time mentoring younger scientists and engineers.