ABSTRACT: 2014 ELATE Institutional Action Project Poster Symposium
Project Title: Vision for Innovation, Invention & Entrepreneurship (i2e)
Name and Institution: Jin K. Montclare, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Collaborators: Kurt Becker, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs; Paul Horn, Senior Vice Provost for
Research; Senior Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship; Anne-Laure Fayard
Associate Prof. Dept of Technology Management; David Lefer, Director of the Innovation and
Technology Forum; Chris Leslie Co-Director of Science and Technology Studies Program, Luke
Dubois Associate Prof. co-director of the Integrated Digital Media program and director of the
Brooklyn Experimental Media Center; Mike Knox, Industry Professor Electrical Engineering;
Nikhil Gupta, Associate Prof. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Brad Penuel, Chief of Staff
and Associate Dean for Special Projects; Claudio Silva, Professor Computer Science; Kathryn
McNeill, Development Officer, Corporate & Foundation Relations; Emily Wheeler, Director, NYC
ACRE and The Urban Future Lab; Steve Kuyan, Incubator and Entrepreneurial Initiatives; Chris
Snyder, Business Development Manager, Office of Industrial Liaison; Frank Rimalovski Director
of the Entrepreneurial Insitute
Background, Challenge or Opportunity: There are lots of students interested in
entrepreneurship and administration is enthusiastic about it with pockets of faculty/adjuncts
running programs at NYU-Poly as well as the Entrepreneurial Institute, STERN Business School
and ITP. However, there is a general lack of faculty engagement and centralization of programs.
Purpose/Objectives: My goal is to help centralize the entrepreneurial programs and curriculum
at NYU‐Poly and organize support through external applications and partnerships across
campus. As entrepreneurship is in alignment with overall strategic goals and operations of NYU
and NYU-Poly, any positive effect I can make in this area would strongly benefit my institution.
Methods/Approach: I have developed a working entrepreneurial group of
faculty/administrators at NYU-Poly already engaged in innovative/entrepreneurial activities.
This group will work together to identify the programs we run, coordinate efforts across the
various disciplines, develop a mission/strategy for the future, apply for grants and foundation
support and identify a sustainable model to develop and grow our community while reaching
out and linking to the broader NYU community.
Outcomes and Evaluation: Already, I have been able to achieve some of the projected shortterm milestones for success. Foremost, I have set up and coordinated an active entrepreneurial
group of faculty and administrators. Through this group, we have coordinated the activities run
by the faculty and directors. We have drafted a preliminary mission statement and are in the
midst of applying for external funding through foundations and grants. In the long-term, I hope
that our group will be able to secure funding, engage in cross interactions with NYU Entrep
Institute, Tisch and STERN, create larger multi-school initiatives focused on i2e, and develop a
sustainable center for i2e within NYU-Poly.
NYU Institutional Action Project
Jin Kim Montclare
Associate Director of Technology Advancement for the NYU
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)
Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Innovation, Invention & Entrepreneurship i2e Center
Methods & Approach
Background, Challenges & Opportunities
Students and faculty are interested in entrepreneurship and administration is enthusiastic
about it with many different programs at NYU-Poly. However, there is a general lack of
coordination of programs and lack of full faculty engagement.
Curriculum:
student & faculty
Assembled a working team of faculty, incubator directors, staff, administrators and gathered all i2e
programs at NYU-Poly. Already we have begun coordinating our efforts and developed a
mission/strategy. We have realized that a missing piece of our ecosystem is the curriculum as this
will further engage both students and faculty.
Table 1. Engineering school comparisons highlighting ratio of core:elective courses for UG
Incubators:
partnership with NYCEDC
Clubs:
student run
NYU-Poly i2e
ecosystem
Competitions/Funding:
students & faculty with OIL
Greenhouse:
student designed and run
Mission: To nurture an i2e culture at NYU-Poly by creating a center (space, curricular and extracurricular activities, resources) that offer opportunities and incentives to students, faculty and staff
to be creative, experiment and develop innovative ideas (that might lead to start-ups, patents but
also research, solutions to real world problems and invaluable skills to students).
Collaborators & Mentors
Kurt Becker, Vice Dean of Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Paul Horn, Senior Vice Provost for
Research; Cybele Raver, Vice Provost for Faculty & Research Affairs; Kathryn McNeill, Development Officer,
Corporate & Foundation Relations; Steve Kuyan, Incubator and Entrepreneurial Initiatives; Chris Snyder,
Business Development Manager, OIL; Numerous faculty colleagues in engineering, A&S (list is too long).
Note: Not a lot of room for elective courses (in part due to ABET accreditation for some) and aside from MIT
very few capstone projects. White numbers indicate capstones
Outcomes & Evaluation
For the immediate future, we intend to: (1) secure external funding through foundations, grants
& company membership, (2) develop & pilot courses on i2e, (3) integrate i2e in capstone projects,
(4) highlight success stories and (5) engage in cross interactions & create larger multi-school
initiatives focused on i2e. Success will be measured by the creation of: (1) a sustainable center
within NYU-Poly, (2) funded projects, (3) adoption of i2e in curriculum, (4) alumni support, (5)
student & faculty IP, start-ups, companies.
Funding
Courses &
Capstone
Projects
Success
Stories
Multi-school
Initiatives
Presented at the 2015 ELATE® Leaders Forum