Professor Emeritus
Electrical & Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno

Dr. John Kleppe earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He has been a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno since 1969, where he held the position of chairman of the Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Department from 1985-1988 and was again chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department up until his retirement in June of 2006. He currently holds the rank of Professor Emeritus. In over forty years of design and research and development experience, Dr. Kleppe has published over 100 technical papers and one text book, "Engineering Applications of Acoustics," ARTECH Press, Boston, (1989).

His academic work has included being a tenured full professor of electrical engineering at the University of Nevada,
Reno. As a professor, his teaching responsibilities included courses in acoustics, advanced control theory, nonlinear
systems, digital systems, communications, network theory and radar systems. He is an experienced product design
engineer and has managed two small companies from ideas to the market place.

He developed a special “CAPSTONE” course for senior electrical engineering students that requires knowledge of
all phases of new product development including invention,innovation, patent law, product liability, business,
marketing, and venture capital. The students are required to complete all phases of the product development cycle
including the actual design and fabrication of a working prototype. He is also director of the UNR Lemelson Center
for Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship funded by the Lemelson Foundation.

Dr. Kleppe, has over the past years, been very active in the small business area with special emphasis on research,
development, innovation and technology. Nevada's Congressman, Jim Santini, appointed Dr. Kleppe to a special White
House Conference to represent the State of Nevada's small business community. Dr. Kleppe has since prepared and
presented several issue papers on this topic and in October, 1979, was selected by the White House Conference
Chairman to prepare a national paper for final presentation to President Carter in January 1980. The results of this
effort lead to passage of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program now in operation throughout the
United States. In May, 1986, President Reagan appointed Dr. Kleppe as a presidential delegate to a special White
House Conference on business. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Governor's Office of Science,
Engineering and Technology in 1990.

Professor Kleppe continues to be active in international, national, state, local and university service work. He has
presented invited lectures, reviewed proposals for national programs, served as a judge for the Discovery awards,
served as an advisor to the Office of Science, Engineering, and Technology in the Governor's office, and served as
president of the Nevada Technology Council (statewide).

Dr. Kleppe received the 2006 Olympus Lifetime of Educational Innovation Award. He was inducted into the
Nevada Technology Hall of Fame in October of 2006. He has also received the Outstanding Engineer Award from
the Northern Nevada Chapter of the IEEE, the Nevada Inventor of the Year Award, twice received the Outstanding
Engineering Achievement Award from the Nevada Society of Professional Engineers and was awarded a
Professional Achievement Award by the University of Nevada, Reno Alumni Association. He is a registered
professional engineer in both Nevada and California, and is a member of a number of professional organizations
including IEEE, Acoustic Society of America, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Tau, and Tau Beta Pi. He was the National
Education Committee Chairman for the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society in 1986.