Mark Gryzwa

In high school in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Mark never realized that he’d eventually develop the spinal cord stimulator to ease chronic neural pain for his mother, but a Michigan Tech education can take you places you’ve never even dreamed about. "Growing up in Wisconsin, I was looking for someplace different than UW Madison or Marquette, and Michigan Tech was a great educational value and is a smaller school. It prepared me well for my career and gave me a good foundation in engineering."

He chose electrical engineering and still remembers the hands-on experience he got in Professor Kulkarni’s intermediate circuits class fabricating diodes in the lab. But it wasn't all about engineering for Mark, he found a creative outlet in the Memorial Union Board, a student organization devoted to providing social, cultural, recreational, and entertaining activities for the student body.  He also played trumpet in the Pep Band. "One year, we played in the Christmas Parade in South Range, and it was so cold, after about 3 blocks, our valves froze up." Undaunted, the band started belting out Christmas carols instead and the locals were so impressed, they invited them to the firehouse after for some beverages.

After graduating, Mark began his career in GE Healthcare, and his career has spanned many positions in biomedical engineering, including 15 years on the medical implantables team at Guidant, eight years of neurostimulation at Medtronic and a rewarding career in consulting.

Recently, Mark took a position as Vice President of Research and Development for Barologics, Inc, an early stage medical device company developing neuromodulation for the treatment of hypertension.

He currently lives in Woodbury, Minnesota, and his son is a 2018 graduate of Michigan Tech as well in computer science. Mark believes it’s important to continue the great educational tradition at Michigan Tech and so he serves as a member of the Michigan Tech College of Engineering Advisory Board.

"It’s important that we continue to provide an engineering education that provides desirable experience in our graduates: meaningful design projects where students better understand what a typical engineering workplace is like." He advises Michigan Tech students to "work hard, pick a career that interests you and most importantly, attend every career fair that you can."

Updated March 2022