Troy, N.Y. – Mark M. Little ’82, senior vice president and director of GE Global Research, will be the keynote speaker at Rensselaer’s 2009 Trustee Celebration of Faculty Achievement.

The event will kick off with Little’s presentation at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the auditorium of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Following Little’s lecture, titled “Redefining What’s Possible,” Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson and the trustees will recognize and honor faculty achievement during a reception at the Russell Sage Dining Hall. The lecture and reception are open to the entire campus community.

Little is responsible for guiding one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated corporate research and development programs. GE Global Research employs more than 2,500 researchers at four multidisciplinary facilities, and provides technology for all of General Electric’s businesses. Headquartered in Niskayuna, N.Y., Global Research currently focuses on such areas as molecular medicine, energy conversion, nanotechnology, advanced propulsion, and security technologies.

Prior to becoming Research Director, Little was vice president of GE Energy’s power generation segment headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., which is a world leading supplier of power generation equipment including gas, steam, wind, and hydro turbine-generators, turnkey power plant services, gasification, and integrated gasification combined cycle technologies.

Little joined GE in 1978, starting out in the company’s Turbine Business. After holding several management positions in engineering and business development, he was named vice president for Power Generation Engineering in 1994. Three years later, Little became vice president for GE Power Generation, responsible for the company’s turbine, generator, and power plants business. GE’s hydro and wind turbine businesses were added to his portfolio in 2004.

Little holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Tufts and Northeastern universities, respectively, and in 1982 earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.