Erich E. Kunhardt Grullon (May 31, 1949 – August 4, 2014) was aDominican American physicist and electrical engineer who wasProfessor ofapplied physics at thePolytechnic Institute of New York University and a special advisor to the institute's president.

Kunhardt was born inMonte Cristi, Dominican Republic, moving to the United States in 1956.^[1] Kunhardt held a Ph.D. in Electrophysics from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and bachelor's and master's degrees from New York University. In 1992, he received anhonorary doctorate from theRussian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Electrophysics. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Thomas A. Edison Patent Award and the Halliburton Foundation Excellence in Research Award. On October 10, 2006, he was appointedProvost by the Polytechnic Institute. Previously, he had served as thedean of the Arthur E. Imperatore School of Sciences and Arts and the George Meade Bond Professor of Physics at theStevens Institute of Technology, where he had been a faculty member since 1992, and pioneered the establishment of itsPlasma Physics Laboratory.^[2] He held thePolytechnicProvost position until March, 2009, when he returned to full-time research and teaching, and assumed the role of "invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship" advisor to the President and the new Provost.^[3]

At Stevens, Kunhardt proposed the concept ofTechnogenesis, which involves students, faculty and industry in the development and commercialization of new technologies. Kunhardt has worked on numerous research and development projects relating toparticle andplasma physics. In 1999, Kunhardt helped create the PlasmaSol Corporation, based upon theAtmospheric Pressure Capillary DischargePlasma technology he developed at Stevens with Dr. Kurt Becker. He was named a finalist byDiscover magazine's Innovation Awards (2001) in the Environmental Category for the development of the PlasmaSol technology for environmental remediation.^[2] On December 30, 2005, PlasmaSol was acquired by theStryker Corporation for $17.5 million.^[4]

On June 9, 2009, asymposium was held in Erich Kunhardt's honor.^[5]

In 1984, Kunhardt joined the faculty of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University for the first time, as a professor of electrophysics and physics and director of theWeber Research Institute. He arrived from theTexas Tech University, where he had been a professor ofelectrical engineering and physics and received the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.^[2]

Kunhardt died in New York on August 4, 2014, while he was a professor in the Department of Applied Physics of NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering.^[6]

• Erich E Kunhardt's official website at thePolytechnic Institute of New York University.

• 1949 births
• 2014 deaths
• People from Monte Cristi Province
• New York University people
• New York University faculty
• Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States
• Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
• 20th-century American physicists
• Texas Tech University faculty
• Polytechnic Institute of New York University faculty
• Pulsed power researchers
• 21st-century American physicists
• Dominican Republic engineers
• American electrical engineers
• 20th-century American engineers
• 21st-century American engineers

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