Andrele St. Val, assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is developing a platform for improving legal education to build resilience, wellbeing, and inclusivity.
Jay Huguley, associate professor in the school of Social Work, has created a program which delivers best practices in racially-edifying parenting strategies for black caregivers.
And Christi Kolarcik, research assistant professor of pathology in the School of Medicine, is exploring a potential new treatment for ALS.
What these Pitt junior faculty from divergent disciplines share, beyond a burning ambition to make a difference for their research in the wider world outside the Pitt campus, is a new support structure aimed at expanding and strengthening the university’s innovation ecosystem.
St. Val, Huguley and Kolarcik are three of the 10 inaugural Fellows of the Pitt EI3 (Equitable, Inclusive Innovation and Incubation) program established to facilitate participation of women and other historically excluded groups in innovation and entrepreneurship at the levels they are capable.
They were formally introduced at a reception to launch the overall program held at The Oaklander Hotel hosted by the Pitt Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE).
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The program is the brainchild of Cecelia Yates, associate professor at the Pitt School of Nursing. When Yates was engaged in the research that eventually led to her helping co-found a startup company, she said that as a black woman she encountered few people that looked like her as she engaged in the innovation process.
“I was in the same exact place 10 or 15 years ago that you are now,” she said to the inaugural cohort of Fellows at the reception. “Pitt is a very welcoming place, but I still had to learn as I went in trial by fire, and that shouldn’t happen.”
Yates decided to do something to ease the path for new generations of Pitt innovators to come. She brought her ideas for a comprehensive program addressing Individual, organizational, partnerships and community, policy and evaluation to Peter Allen, Executive Director of Inventor Engagement and New Ventures at the Innovation Institute, part of the OIE. Together they coalesced partners including the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences, the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), and the Office of the Provost to bring the PittEI3 program to life.
“This new program is unique in the country, and maybe in the world … In many ways this is the right place, the right problem, and the right people,” said John Wallace, vice provost for faculty diversity and development. “There has been an explosion in university activity around innovation, patents, and commercialization. Yet our nation is leaving billions of dollars are the table because we’re not bringing to bear the wisdom, the expertise, the culture of people beyond the traditional. It’s welcoming diversity broadly that will help the University of Pittsburgh reach the potential we have.”
Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, Rob Rutenbar, said he was eager to support the Pitt EI3 launch to “create an environment that supports a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship and addresses the obstacles to success that our underrepresented colleagues experience.”
Many members of the regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem came out for the reception to support the new program, including Kelly Collier, Director of Ecosystem Development for the LifeX life sciences incubator and Mark Connor, Economic Opportunity Manager for the Pittsburgh Innovation District.
Yates said the inaugural cohort of the Fellowship, which began in the new calendar year, drew more applicants that she had hoped, making the selection process difficult.
The Innovation Institute connected each Fellow with mentors and coaches from the Pittsburgh regional entrepreneurship ecosystem and has developed a curriculum for them to learn the “nuts and bolts” of innovation and experience what it’s like to think like innovators. Yates said she hopes for the Fellows to discover that entrepreneurship isn’t a skill or activity, but a “lifestyle” whereby they are constantly seeking to pursue disruptive innovation and bring it forward to create impact.
The Fellows are receiving partial salary reimbursement for professional effort devoted directly to innovation development activities during the year. Evan Facher, vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship, reserved special thanks for the deans and department heads that approved the time that the Fellows will be dedicating to innovation and entrepreneurship.
One of the Fellows, Katrina Knight, assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, is researching a solution to improvement treatment of pelvic organ prolapse, a condition affecting millions of women resulting in significant discomfort, and pain.
She said she is excited to develop the skills and mindset to accelerate her research toward the market.
Another of the Fellows, Lauren Kokai, is creating a concentrated, controlled-release form of Vitamin D to improve wound healing.
“There are many potential paths to follow for my innovation. I’m using this opportunity to narrow the focus to the most promising option for success,” she said.
Yates said additional elements of Pitt EI3 beyond the Fellowship are being crafted, with the support of the OIE and the initiative’s other partners.
“We view this as a multi-year effort,” Facher said. “This is just the beginning. The goal is to grow this program and expand it.”