University Innovation Fellows Recognized During NSF Day
Five students are working to improve entrepreneurial opportunities at Texas Tech.
Five of Texas Tech University's most enterprising students will be recognized next week in front of some very important guests.
Francis Atore
Francis Atore, a senior mechanical engineering major from Nairobi, Kenya; Taylor Person, a senior environmental plant and soil science major from Agaña, Guam; Valente Rodriguez, a junior mechanical engineering major from Presidio; Benjamin Simmons, a junior mechanical engineering major from Aledo; and Victoria Young, a senior cellular and molecular biology major from Shallowater, will be honored during a pinning ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday (May 20) in the Rawls College of Business to kick off Texas Tech University's National Science Foundation (NSF) Day.
The students represent Texas Tech's inaugural class of University Innovation Fellows. Funded by the National Science Foundation and administered by Stanford University's National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter), the nonprofit program is designed to increase innovation in higher education.
About the program
Taylor Person
"One of the largest opportunities for Texas Tech to grow and reach out into the community is through innovation and entrepreneurship," said Texas Tech President M. Duane Nellis. "When I saw the University Innovation Fellows program in operation on other college campuses, I believed it would fit the culture we want to have here, while benefitting the students, the university and quite possibly the world."
After being nominated by faculty members or college deans, each student must apply in a video posted to YouTube. Science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) students are preferred, but students with real leadership capacity and creativity from other disciplines could be accepted as well.
"In today's economy, it is imperative for all students to acquire an entrepreneurial mindset," said Humera Fasihuddin, co-leader of the University Innovation Fellows program. "College graduates need to enter the workforce skilled in assessing complex problems, conceiving innovative solutions and developing scalable solutions, whether they join a company, a non-profit organization or start a new venture."
After being accepted, students complete an entrepreneurial landscape canvass of the campus, in which they survey students and faculty to learn about current entrepreneurial programs, courses and clubs in an effort to see what is needed on the. All subsequent groups will continue to update the canvass. In addition to showing where entrepreneurial gaps exist on campus, the information included could help professors who are applying for grants to develop entrepreneurship courses.
"Our program provides a platform for Fellows to learn to be strategic thinkers, examine the landscape of learning opportunities at their schools and formulate action plans to implement their ideas," said Leticia Britos-Cavagnaro, co-leader of the Fellows program and deputy director of Epicenter. "Fellows develop a community and share strategies about what's working at their schools. Ultimately, these students, with their drive and motivation, are leading accelerated change in higher education."
After completing the canvass, the group, known as a "cohort," then travels to Stanford for three days of training, including a trip to Google Garage. The students return and solicit peers to get involved and plan projects to increase "design thinking": looking at situations creatively and differently and finding solutions.
Victoria Young
"UIF has been a life-changing experience," Young said. "I have learned innovation and entrepreneurship touch everyone's life in some form or fashion. The UIF program taught me the successful methods of the lean start-up movement to apply in my approach of transforming my campus. With these skills I have helped other students find their creative potential. After hosting a design-thinking workshop, the fellows and I enlightened other students that innovation and entrepreneurship are not far lofty goals, but rather things that are intertwined in everyday life."
In addition to the five Texas Tech students in the cohort, a sixth member is not yet a Red Raider. Marshal Head, a South Plains College pre-engineering student from Muleshoe, will transfer to Texas Tech in the fall. He was added after Stanford offered to include students from universities' community college partners at no extra cost.
"It's a great selling point, being included in such a program," said Ramesh Krishnan, the program sponsor at South Plains College. "This is exactly what we need, not just teaching out of books all the time, because there's plenty of that. But if we can teach a culture of innovation and change, not just taking things as they are but seeing what they want it to be, students can take those ideas into the workplace, too. That's what employers are looking for, fresh energy and ideas."
Benjamin Simmons
According to the University Innovation Fellows website, Texas Tech had the distinction of being the only campus in Texas to nominate an entire cohort of five students and a community college partner. By comparison, Prairie View A&M, University of Texas, SMU and UT-Southwestern each have one Fellow, and Texas A&M has three.
"Our goal is to provide an excellent practical research and entrepreneurial opportunity for our student Fellows," said Robert V. Duncan, senior vice president for research. "When students experience the joys of discovery and entrepreneurial success, they will pursue such exhilaration for the rest of their professional careers."
Although some of the initial cohort graduated last weekend, the second group has just been nominated, according to Jennifer Horn, director of translational research and entrepreneurialism: Jianna Davenport, a mathematics major; Jennifer Romero, majoring in natural resources management; and Mathieu Conklin and Genna Jackson, both pre-engineering students from South Plains College who plan to transfer to Texas Tech in the fall of 2016.
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