Raymond P. Vito is a Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering.  He is currently serving as a Special Assistant to both the Vice President for Research and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  His focus is on education and programming related to encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship among students.  Vito’s interests include research in cardiovascular biomechanics and undergraduate design education.  He is particularly interested in the design of medical devices and holds a number of related patents, one of which has lead to a successful product. Vito founded or co-founded two companies focused on commercializing medical devices.  He has helped foster student creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech by initiating two very successful competitions, the InVenture Prize for undergraduates and the Georgia Tech Research and Innovation Conference for graduate students.  He is also working with others on related curriculum.