John Bennett is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation Initiatives at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus, where he directs Inworks. This new initiative draws together faculty, staff and students from across the two campuses, as well as entrepreneurs and leaders from industry, government, education and the community, to address problems of importance to human society. Inworks seeks to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems while in the process creating lifelong innovators. At the University of Colorado Boulder, Bennett holds joint appointments in computer science and in electrical, computer and energy engineering. Bennett previously directed the ATLAS Institute, a campuswide CU Boulder initiative that explores ways in which information and communication technology can benefit human society, and serves as the home to the first graduate program in North America in ICT for Development. Before ATLAS, Bennett was the Associate Dean of Engineering for Education in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He joined the CU Boulder faculty in 2000, after serving on the faculty of Rice University for 11 years. Bennett holds MS and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of Washington Seattle, and BSEE and MEE degrees from Rice University. His research interests are broadly focused in the areas of technology and development, STEM education and distributed computing. Fourteen PhD students and six master's students have completed degrees working with him. Bennett is the past president of the national Governing Board of Engineers Without Borders USA and has received several teaching awards, including the W.M. Keck Foundation National Award for Engineering Teaching Excellence. Prior to his academic career, Bennett founded and led two successful technology start-ups and was an officer in the U.S. Navy.