A detailed article on student ambassadors as conduits for industry engagement appears in the May issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor. For subscription information, click here.

Two “student ambassador” programs — one of long standing, the other just getting started — both involve tapping students to network in the community to connect with industry, promote local resources and opportunities, and convince students to stay in-state and display their talents to potential employers. The efforts – at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and Ball State University — are enlarging the talent pipeline for local industry, while promoting state-based companies to students who may otherwise leave for other pastures.

While they are similar, the two programs part ways a bit when it comes to their basic goals. “Our main goal is to develop students,” says Robert Mitchell, PhD, director of the UA Little Rock School of Business, whose program is now reaching its 11th anniversary. The ambassadors represent the school during major events, support their fellow business students, and engage with industry to let them know about academic, research, and industry partnership opportunities. Their specific responsibilities include:

• Assisting prospective students to understand the advantages of attending a metropolitan business program.
• Facilitating success among business majors.
• Networking with area business leaders.
• Participating in off-campus business events.
• Providing advice to the school leadership regarding student needs and concerns, and helping ensure a positive college experience for all business majors.

The major goal of the Ball State program, explains Jeff Eads, director of industry engagement, is “to help our regional folks and counties be entrepreneurial about how to attract talent.”

Basically, he says, the program will say to these organizations, “’Hey, we have students from your county coming here; how can we empower you to grab one of them? Call an ambassador, who will talk about how great it is to come back home.’”

That’s not to say that Indiana does a poor job of keeping its students in-state. “As a state-serving institution we love to show a graph [indicating that] 78% of last year’s graduates stayed in the state,” says Eads. “We’re thrilled about that — but there could always be more.”

The university, he continues, already does a lot to retain in-state talent. “We’ve created a video with state leaders [outlining] opportunities and asking students to consider living in the state,” he shares. “We have the Indiana Connection Lounge, a café where industry can sit and have very casual interaction with students — what we call ‘return on collision’ networking.” The Ball State student ambassador program, he says, will launch in the fall. Students will sign up for one year but will be able to extend that should they wish.

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A national consortium led by Carnegie Mellon University will receive $20 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish Safety21, a new University Transportation Center (UTC). continue reading »

City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S., has entered into a new sponsored research agreement with Ostentus Therapeutics, Inc., the second such agreement between the pair. Under the new agreement, City of Hope will conduct preclinical research on OST compounds, which could be used as future therapies for leukemia and other cancers. continue reading »

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Video games may not be the first thing that comes to mind in terms of industry partnerships, but the esports industry is big and growing fast and video games have long been a major part of the modern entertainment and tech industries. So maybe it’s not surprising, after all, that Arizona State University and gaming company HyperX are involved in a sponsored research deal. What may be more surprising is that the research may be useful not only for the gaming industry but for a range of other companies that could benefit from insights into human behavior, endurance, and performance – fields like air traffic control that also involve digital technologies and pressure-filled conditions. continue reading »

Dr. Stephen Rodda has been appointed the inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor, Industry & Innovation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney. He joins UNSW Sydney from the University of Adelaide where he was Chief Innovation & Commercialization Officer.

The new role at the university reflects its commitment to collaborating with industry and translating its research into outcomes delivering lasting social and economic benefit.

Prof. Nicholas Fisk, deputy vice chancellor for research & enterprise, said Rodda’s track record in change management will be invaluable as UNSW reimagines the way industry-led research is prioritized.

“The Pro-Vice Chancellor, Industry & Innovation will play a pivotal role in nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of students, staff and alumni, and we look to Dr. Rodda to embed a culture of innovation that nurtures the next generation of technologies and businesses,” Fisk said.

Rodda added: “It is truly an exciting time in Australia for innovation. The spotlight on the ability of universities to develop enterprising partnerships and to publicly demonstrate both the excellence and relevance of their teaching and research to our communities and the economy has never been greater.”

At the University of Adelaide, Rodda headed up a new department focused on growing the university’s research income and commercial partnerships across its research portfolio. Among his accomplishments during his tenure, Rodda helped secure the $250 million Defense Trailblazer award, part of the Commonwealth’s Trailblazer Universities Program. A collaboration between University of Adelaide, UNSW Sydney and industry partners, the initiative aims to strengthen Australia’s defense capability and is expected to contribute over the decade an estimated $1.5 billion to the economy.

The Trailblazer initiative also seeks to transform university workplace culture by providing new incentives, recognition, promotional pathways, and career trajectories for staff engaged in research commercialization.

Source: UNSW Newsroom

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A detailed article on the University of Michigan’s initiative to strengthen support for research and industry engagement appears in the May issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor. For subscription information, click here.

It appears that “status quo” is not in the vocabulary of the movers and shakers at the University of Michigan. No sooner had they just begun to get things rolling on a major reorganization of their research, commercialization, and industry relations efforts, they announced the launch of an ambitious initiative to generate greater external support and internal resources for their research and scholarship activities, including industry-sponsored research.

The initiative is spearheaded by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and is based on these six “pillars:”

• Enhance support for researchers seeking large-scale grants.
• Enhance support for foundation-sponsored research.
• Enhance support for industry-sponsored research.
• Establish infrastructures to coordinate faculty honorifics.
• Establish infrastructures to forecast new research frontiers.
• Expand research analytic capabilities to support strategy.

So far, the university has invested $3 million this year to launch the initiative. “The university prides itself on public-oriented research,” says Arthur “Skip” Lupia, PhD, associate vice president for research-large scale strategies and executive director for Bold Challenges. “It likes to be a leader in a lot of areas; we have a new president and provost who want to be innovative, and the groundwork came from that excitement.”

In fact, adds Kelly Sexton, PhD, associate vice president for research and innovation partnerships, some initial efforts in these areas actually preceded the formal announcement of the initiative. “My pillar is for industry-sponsored research,” she shares. “A lot of our [efforts] date back to work throughout 2021, when we were doing a deep dive into understanding our strengths and weaknesses — especially in research awards.” However, she adds, “this [initiative] gives us more resources to really move that forward.”

To make the initiative successful will require numerous units within OVPR working closely together, notes Lupia. For example, when it comes to industry engagement, “we have a great relationship with the Innovation Partnerships and Development offices.”

Sexton has similar relationships with other units. For example, the strategy’s second pillar calls for OVPR to “strengthen outreach efforts with key foundations and other non-profit organizations, while expanding tools and services for faculty,” and is headed by Nicholas Widdington, associate vice president for research-strategic initiatives. “We obviously work really closely, as we see lot of synergy between our work on the corporate research side and foundations,” she says. “We see a trend where sometimes companies want to sponsor research, but the funding comes from their foundation, which wants to see a partnership with the company and the university.” As part of the expanded internal resources outlined in the initiative, Widdington will be hiring a director of foundation research.

The involvement of Innovation Partnerships as the initiative unfolds will at least in part be the continuation of efforts already underway. “This is an expansion and continuation of what we began when we initiated Corporate Research Alliances (which falls under Innovation Partnerships in the OVPR organizational chart),” says Sexton. “It’s a three-pronged strategy. First, to provide faculty-facing support, turning relationships and early conversations into research contracts and awards. Second, external business development to connect new companies with university expertise. And third, grow and expand existing alliances; make sure to connect them with additional faculty, additional opportunities, and make sure sponsors see their engagement needs met in terms of collaboration with the university.”

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Chipmaking and electronics giant Applied Materials, Inc. announced plans to build the world’s largest and most advanced facility for collaborative semiconductor process technology and manufacturing equipment R&D. The new Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization (EPIC) Center is designed to accelerate development and commercialization of the foundational technologies needed by the global semiconductor and computing industries. continue reading »

Boise State University has established the Institute for Microelectronics Education and Research (MER), a university-wide effort to prepare students for careers related to microelectronics and to advance research activity. The effort is supported by long-time Boise State partner Micron Technologies. continue reading »