Team Member

Dr. Brent Nowak (PhD) is the CEO, a director and co-founder of Orthoforge, as well as the founder and executive director of the applied Medical Device Institute (aMDI).  aMDI is a non-instructional unit of the Grand Valley State University that provides engineering, regulatory, and commercial services to companies, entrepreneurs, and start-ups.

Dr. Nowak has 30 years' experience in developing, commissioning and commercializing intelligent systems (robotics, manufacturing) with a focus on medical devices last 15 years. These clients included General Motors, Frito-Lay, Owens Corning, US Army Institute of Surgical Research, US Navy Undersea Warfare Center, Aspen Surgical, Medisurge, and others.

Dr. Nowak has been pivotal in proposal efforts and awarded programs cumulatively over $40M USD.

Prior to his role at Orthoforge, he was the founder and director of the Robotics & Intelligent Machine Laboratory at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Nowak co-founded the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems at the University of Texas at San Antonio and secured an educational partnership and development agreement with the US Navy Undersea Warfare Division, which expanded into a multi-university program (Naval Engineering Education Consortium).

Dr. Nowak also has experience as the Assistant Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Department of Southwest Research Institute, the Robotics Research Group at the University of Texas at Austin, Rockwell Space Operations and NASA. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) from the University of Illinois – Champaign, his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) from the Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago, and his Ph.D from the University of Texas at Austin.