Richard K. Lester

Dr. Lester is the founder and director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center and a professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is currently leading an international research project on the technological transformation of local economies and the role of universities and other public research institutions in this process.
Dr. Lester’s recent books include Making Technology Work: Applications in Energy and the Environment, The Productive Edge, Made By Hong Kong, and Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge.
Dr. Lester obtained his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College, London (1974), and was awarded a Kennedy Scholarship to study at MIT, where he received a doctorate in nuclear engineering.
He has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1979.