The Inventor and Entrepreneur
Fall
2017
Spotlight on Hidden Physicists
The Inventor and Entrepreneur
Michael Brewer, CEO, Allurdata Inc. and Gravaton Energy Resources Ltd., LLC Sigma Pi Sigma Colorado Mesa University Chapter ‘90
I’m a physicist who invents practical applications and then builds businesses around those applications. Because of my physics background, I look at every problem as a potential solution waiting to be found.
I started and run a software company, Allurdata Inc., that provides software solutions to the healthcare industry. Lowering the total cost of care with better outcomes has been and continues to be our mission. In order to do this, I invented a software framework that can be applied to just about any disparate data system and bring data normalization and analytics to the forefront.
Currently, we are working on goggles that can reveal signs of human diseases when the wearer’s eyes are examined. This project is the result of an offer to tutor an optometry student from my alma mater in physics. The student had written a paper on wavefront technology and optometry applications. After reading this paper, I immediately started thinking about what problems this technology could solve.
I also started and run an energy company, Gravaton Energy Resources, that aims to bring low-cost, sustainable energy to market. I invented a system that takes daily air temperature changes and converts those changes into mechanically stored energy that can be released later to power devices such as generators or pumps. As temperatures change every day, everywhere, this is 100% sustainable. I was inspired to create this system after observing how my hot lunch reacted to the Tupperware it was in. One of the first things I learned in the physics lab was to observe what is happening around me.
Running multiple companies is a challenge, especially when they are so different, but I hire really good people and provide them with the tools they need. I’m available to be in the trenches, but my primary focus is company visionary and inventor. I provide the overall strategy and we all make it happen!
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial attitude. At a young age, I would follow my grandmother on her egg route and sell homemade cookies to her clients. (I was 5 at the time, and the cookies were made of mud.) I’ve also been lucky in that I’ve had some great business and personal mentors along the way. One of the main reasons I mentor and provide scholarships today—to honor those who gave to me.
Solving business problems is a lot like solving physics problems: you have parameters that need to come together to formulate an answer and you go through a logical progression to do so. The world has pretty much an unlimited supply of problems, and physicists at all levels are educated and trained to solve problems. It seems obvious that we need more people studying physics. There is no better foundation for life than a degree in physics. You can be and do just about anything.
I believe in giving back to the communities in which I live, and therefore feel it is my duty to help support physics students in whatever manner I can. I have done this by tutoring physics and calculus, sponsoring student travel to PhysCon, and setting up scholarship opportunities.
One of my proudest accomplishments in academia was helping to get Sigma Pi Sigma and the Society of Physics Students to Mesa State University (now Colorado Mesa University) while I was a student there. I still wear my gold pin with pride.