Eberhard to deliver Dean's Distinguished Leadership Lecture on April 11

Martin Eberhard, a co-founder and the first CEO Tesla Motors, will deliver the College of Engineering’s Dean's Distinguished Leadership Lecture" at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 11. His talk, entitled, "Learn by Doing," will be presented in 151 Everitt Laboratory (106 W. Green Street, Urbana). A reception in the Beckman lobby will follow the lecture, which is free and open to the public.

A lifelong engineer and entrepreneur, Eberhard (BS 1983, Computer Engineering, MS 1984, Electrical Engineering) has had a storied career since completing his master’s degree at Illinois. After working Wyse Technology, he was involved in founding Network Computing Devices (NCD). He left NCD after its successful IPO and founded Nuvo Media, which developed the Rocket eBook, paving the way for the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle. In 2000, he facilitated the sale of NuvoMedia to Gemstar/TV Guide.

Eberhard then turned to developing an electronic car, creating Tesla Motors and developing the Tesla Roadster, a beautiful, unbelievably quick automobile, and the most energy efficient car on the road at that time. Tesla Motors is credited with jump-starting consumer demand for electric cars and persuading every car company worldwide to develop and offer electric cars.  Most recently, Eberhard worked on electric vehicle programs at Volkswagen Group. He recently left Volkswagen Group, again pursuing his entrepreneurial interests. He is a named inventor on more than fourteen patents.

In 2008, Eberhard received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois. On April 12, 2014, he will be recognized with the College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.