Howard Lo
Biography at time of award:
2006 - Howard Lo (1987, M.S. Engineering) is a software engineer and founder of Mastersoft Inc., a business process software company. Born in Hong Kong, China, Mr. Lo immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of six. Today, Mastersoft serves companies such as Network Appliance, Symantec and Xilinx. Mr. Lo earned his Master of Science degree in Engineering at Southern Illinois University in 1987. At SIU, Howard applied his passion for computer software by completing research in composite material stress analysis using numerical methods. Prior to founding Mastersoft,Inc. Mr. Lo was employed by General Dynamics in Fort Worth (now Lockheed Martin) where he won the Extraordinary Achievement Award for creating a series of computer aircraft analysis technologies. In the early 1990's, Mr. Lo's innovations led to the development of "Webucator", an Internet-based training system for SGI's worldwide sales force. The application was developed in record time and proved vital in saving SGI millions of dollars in a major product launch. An experienced veteran of both aerospace and commercial emerging technologies, Mr. Lo applied his skills and passion when he founded Mastersoft in 1997. He also supports his community as a volunteer for charities and advises one of the Industrial Advisory Board's in the College of Engineering. Mr. Lo enjoys mountain biking, hiking, classical piano, architectural design and gourmet cooking.
He resides in Chicago, Illinois.