Texas Tech's Accelerator program provides a big boost to local startups and nonprofits launching new ventures to success. Gabriella Hale, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Plant & Soil Science, was selected as one of 16 startups tapped to participate in the program's sixth cohort competition.

The Texas Tech Accelerator is designed to help faculty, students and other entrepreneurs in the region launch startup companies or discover licensing opportunities based on inventions of university technology to make an impact to benefit the people in this community and around the world. 

Hale and her husband, Gary, lead operations for G&G Ranch, a developer of pre-fabricated crop-canopy netting kits that enable West Texas farmers to grow specialty crops with less time and resources.

While Hale did not make it into the final round of the competition, she will still be active in other Innovation Hub programs. “Through the Innovation Hub, our team has completed the regional NSF I-Corps Program (Spring 2022 Cohort),” Hale said. “Our next steps include prototyping the product and applying for the national NSF I-Corps program."

In addition to her start up business activities, Hale serves as a graduate research assistant in Tech's Department of Plant & Soil Science, and is a McNair Research Scholar, a graduate school preparatory program for undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups who've demonstrated strong academic potential for graduate research. 

CONTACT: Glen Ritchie, Department Chair, Department of Plant & Soil Science, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-4325 or glen.ritchie@ttu.edu

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