ASEE - Abstract: College Industry Partnership
Title: Innovation and Entrepreneurship through Industry-Academic Collaborations: A Collegiate Model for Economic Development
Submitted by:
Authors: Nada Anid and Marta Panero, New York Institute of Technology
nanid@nyit.edu and mpanero@nyit.edu
In March of 2015, the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences (SoECS) of New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) launched its Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) with a mission to consolidate and expand the School’s ongoing industry-academic partnerships, foster innovation and promote collaborations between industry, the academic community, professional organizations, and government. As a source for talent, entrepreneurship, and innovation in technology, engineering and applied science, the Center goal is to spur economic growth and ensure greater competitiveness for Long Island and the broader metropolitan region. The Center will support the region’s economic development by focusing in the three critical areas of: IT and cyber-security, bioengineering and medical devices, energy and green technologies.
Throughout the Center’s collaborative process, each business or startup company has access to faculty and skilled students to test concepts and/or develop fully marketable products. At the same time University residence opportunities made available to industry practitioners and entrepreneurs at the Center, offer students the operational expertise in turning good ideas into great businesses and become confident innovators in their own right.
This paper will provide an overview of the approach taken to recruit business to the Center, establish novel partnerships, and leverage industry association memberships. It will include examples of ongoing and planned academic – industry collaborations, indicating challenges and how to overcome them, and the approach taken to secure expected outcomes and deliverables by each of the ETIC’s constituents. The authors will also discuss the creation of synergies and alliances with existing businesses starting with the establishment of a robust advisory board, as well as the selection criteria for companies based on their potential to support students’ active learning and hands-on-projects, and to spawn innovation and economic development and while boosting the regional economy.
This article will also highlight NYIT’s efforts to provide a modern, 21st century environment where entrepreneurship and innovation can thrive, and discuss the training initiatives and competitions set up over the first year of work at the ETIC.
Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D., is the first female dean of NYIT's School of Engineering and Computing Sciences (SoECS). In this role, she oversees more than 80 engineering and computing sciences faculty members and approximately 3,500 graduate and undergraduate students at campuses located in Manhattan and Old Westbury, N.Y., the Middle East, and China. Her expertise is in Industry-academic partnerships; Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Emerging Technologies; Sustainability; Global Engineering Education; STEM K-12 Outreach.
Dr. Anid embraces NYIT’s forward-thinking and applications-oriented mission and is working on several strategic partnerships between the School of Engineering and the public and private sector, including the creation of the School’s first Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) and its three labs in the critical areas of IT & Cyber Security, Bio-engineering and Health, and Energy and Green Technologies. She is a board member of several organizations including the Greater Long Island Clean Cities Coalition (GLICC), LISTnet, the Institute for Sustainability (IfS) of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Riverdale Conservancy, and the Environment and Public Health Network of Chinese Students and Scholars (ENCSS). Dr. Anid is a Program Evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET), and holds leadership positions in AIChE, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the US Deans Engineering Council and its Public Policy Committee, among others. She earned her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH-Stockholm). Prior to joining NYIT, she was chair and graduate program director of the Chemical Engineering Department at Manhattan College.
Nada ANID is the first female dean of NYIT’s School of Engineering and Computing Sciences (SoECS). In this role, she oversees over 80 engineering and computing sciences faculty members and approximately 3,500 graduate and undergraduate students at campuses located in Manhattan and Old Westbury, N.Y., China, the Middle East, and Vancouver. Anid embraces NYIT’s forward-thinking and applications-oriented mission and is working on several strategic partnerships between the SoECS and the public and private sector, including the creation of NYIT’s Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) and its three labs in the critical areas of IT & Cyber security, Bioengineering and Health Analytics, and Energy and Green Technologies. Anid is NYIT’s principal investigator on a “Pathway to Cleaner Production across the Americas” project, funded by the Higher Education for Development (HED) in collaboration with Illinois Institute of Technology and seven academic institutions across Latin America and the Caribbean. She has been named one of “100 Inspiring Women in STEM Award” Winners by INSIGHT Into Diversity and one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business by Long Island Business News (LIBN). Anid is a program evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, a board member of several organizations, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy and a technical reviewer for the federal government and several scientific journals. Anid earned her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH-Stockholm). Prior to joining NYIT, she was chair and graduate program director of the Chemical Engineering Department at Manhattan College.
Dr Panero is Director for Strategic Partnerships for the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at New York Institute of Technology. Besides her responsibilities in developing strategic partnerships that support the mission of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Panero serves as a resource to faculty and students on economics and market plans, including student design projects and special topics courses; developing strategic partnerships with industry and promoting partnerships for applied research and joint industry and academic projects. Panero received her Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research with a concentration in economic development and sustainable and environmental economics.
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