Wayne State University’s School of Business Administration has announced the selection of Alain R. Piette as recipient of the Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship.

The School of Business Administration received a generous grant in support of the Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship through The Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan, an independent, nonprofit organization governed by a board of 50 volunteer civic leaders.

Administered by Terry Cross, executive in residence at the business school, the Wayne State program selected Piette as Adams Fellow to work with an entrepreneurial venture for one year. The award recipient not only assists in managing an entrepreneur-established firm but also participates in the assessment of new ventures. Fifteen applicants competed for the fellowship.

As Adams Fellow, Piette is the first employee of a start-up company called SpaceForm, Inc. – a new company headquartered in TechTown, an urban research and technology park located in downtown Detroit. Delphi Technologies Inc. (DTI), a Delphi Corp. subsidiary, launched the new welding company with funding provided through an award from the Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor and from Automation Alley. The company will commercialize Delphi\'s innovative Deformation Resistance Welding (DRW) technology within the mobile space-frame market.

The inventor of DRW, Dr. Anthony Ananthanarayanan, is helping to further the development of DRW under a $1.3M grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), provided through the Michigan Research Institute.

As Adams Fellow, Piette receives compensation and a generous benefit package for a one-year period.

Alain Piette was born in Belgium and received his undergraduate degree from The Royal Atheneum in Berchem, Belgium. In 2004, he received his MBA from the WSU School of Business Administration. His work has been focused on consulting primarily for engineering and manufacturing entities with a strong concentration on sales, marketing, business relationships, process development, turnarounds, productivity improvement, and restructuring. He speaks English, French, and German and has extensive work experience in Europe as well as the U. S. He has also worked in Mexico, South Africa, and South America.