David Keller

Title:

Program Manager

What is your focus at Sarnoff?

Biological Aerosol Collection and Detection

Describe a typical day for you at Sarnoff.

Respond to emails, work on new proposals and/or contracts related to aerosol sampling of our group’s electrostatic concentrator and aerosol sorter, visit the lab to find out how things are going, program manage projects that I’m responsible for, review patent portfolio action items, hold abusiness development strategy meeting, fill out corporate administrative paperwork, interact with potential clients, talk to team members about interesting technical problems, maybe have lunch if I can fit it in.

What experience did you have prior to joining Sarnoff?

Prior to Sarnoff I worked at Bell Laboratories in Princeton, NJ for six years where I specialized in robotics for circuit board fabrication. I then ran my own mechanical engineering consulting firm for six years — working on the mechanics of custom camera transport systems used in various sporting events and Olympic games.

What is your background in academics?

BS in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Why did you choose Sarnoff?

Sarnoff provides the support of a bigger company while I can still work and invent like an entrepreneur. Sarnoff’s diversity of technical activities is like a “playground” for a mechanical engineer like me.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

While working at my consulting company, my client and I won the 1996 Sports Emmy for Technical Achievement.The Emmy was for the “DiveCam”, an apparatus that dropped in synchronization with a diver diving off the 10-meter platform. The camera gave an unprecedented perspective of “falling” with the diver and followed the diver as he/she entered the water. The “DiveCam” was initially used in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, then the 2000 Games in Sydney and subsequently at other diving events.