Skip To Content
Filter search
Cal Poly Pomona
  • LIBRARY
  • ONLINE SERVICES
  • DIRECTORY
  • MAPS
  • CALENDAR
  • About Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal Poly Pomona Overview
  • Visitor Information
  • Campus Maps & Tours
  • News
  • Events
  • Administration
  • Annual Security Report
  • Campus Safety Plan
  • Admissions
  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • International Admissions
  • Continuing Education Admissions
  • Military & Veterans Admissions
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Student Accounts & Fees
  • Outreach, Recruitment, & Educational Partnerships
  • Academics
  • Colleges & Departments
  • Majors & Degrees
  • University Catalog & Academic Schedules
  • University Library
  • Research
  • Academic Resources
  • Registrar
  • Campus Life
  • Student Services
  • Student Activities
  • Recreation & Fitness
  • Health & Wellness
  • Housing & Dining
  • Diversity
  • Calendars & Events
  • Campus Safety & Emergency Info
  • Athletics
  • Visit Athletics Website
  • Alumni
  • Visit Alumni Website
  • Giving
  • Why Give
  • Ways to Give
  • Where to Give

PolyCentric University News Center

Main Menu
  • About Our University
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Athletics
  • Giving
  • Expand/Collapse Menu
Browse: Home / 2018 / November / Cal Poly Pomona One of Three CSUs to Earn NSF Innovation Corps Grant

PolyCentric

University News Center

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
    • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Department of Strategic Communications
    • PolyCentric
  • News
    • Browse by Topic
    • View All Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Archives
  • Achievements
  • Announcements
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Social Media Directory
  • Events
  • For the Media

Cal Poly Pomona One of Three CSUs to Earn NSF Innovation Corps Grant

Posted on November 7, 2018

A three-year National Science Foundation grant will be tapped to help budding entrepreneurs on campus develop and commercialize projects they develop.
A three-year National Science Foundation grant will be tapped to help budding entrepreneurs on campus develop and commercialize projects they develop.

Cal Poly Pomona has earned a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) grant to identify promising research and development projects on campus and help find ways to commercialize them. The university is only one of three CSUs and one of 10 institutions in California to be awarded the grant.

The grant provides opportunities for students to collaborate with faculty and industry to bring their ideas and research to market by forming I-Corps teams. The teams will tap into technical, entrepreneurial and mentorship expertise to generate products the public can use.

The grant also provides Cal Poly Pomona students, faculty and staff with access to NSF’s National Innovation Network. The network’s resources include about $50,000 each year in funding to assist successful I-Corps teams to determine the feasibility of launching successful ventures and participation in a national network of I-Corps teams and mentors to aid their success.

I-Corps has a strong track record in successfully translating research into products and services with commercial appeal. In the past five years, approximately half of the 1,000 I-Corps teams have gone on to start new ventures.

“Cal Poly Pomona’s strategic aspiration, to quote President Coley, is ‘to be the epicenter of creativity, innovation and discovery,’ said Business Professor Olukemi Sawyerr, founding director of the Student Innovation Idea Lab (iLab). “I believe our participation in the NSF National Innovation Network will contribute to our ability to attain our aspiration as an institution.”

According to Sawyerr, one of the many reasons Cal Poly Pomona earned the grant was due to the existing “infrastructure to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the iLab.”

Sawyerr will serve as principal investigator on the grant and will work with an interdisciplinary team of faculty members. Co-principal investigators are Winny Dong, chemical and materials engineering professor and founding director of the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), and Sadiq Shah, associate vice president for Research, Innovation and Economic Development.

Faculty members Yu Sun from the College of Science, Trayan Kushev from the College of Business Administration and Olive Li from the Huntley College of Agriculture join Sawyerr, Dong and Shah on the teaching team. They will be responsible for teaching and training Cal Poly Pomona I-Corps teams.

“NSF is looking for ways to support the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation of our academic experience to better prepare the 21st century workforce for start-ups or corporate career paths, and translating ideas into products or services,” said Shah.

Posted in News | Tags Advancement and Fundraising, College of Business Administration, College of Science, Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture, Engineering, grant, I-Corps, iLab, Innovation Corps, National Innovation Network, National Science Foundation, NSF, olukemi sawyerr, Sadiq Shah, Winny Dong

POPULAR

  • CLASS Dean Iris Levine

    CLASS Act: Dean Levine Sets High Bar for Herself and Others

    358 views / Posted January 11, 2021
  • Graphic with illustration of Martin Luther King Jr.

    MLK Day Celebrations Include Student-Centric Volunteer Opportunities

    212 views / Posted January 14, 2021
  • A group photo of Cal Poly Pomona’s Reading, Advising, and Mentoring Program

    RAMP Receives $2.2 Million Grant For Underrepresented Students

    56 views / Posted January 15, 2021
  • Expanded Early Exit Program Info Session

    36 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Travel Health Orders

    29 views / Posted January 5, 2021

Picture of the Day »

Toy Drive

Toy Drive

Cal Poly Pomona in the News »

College students reflect on their first semester experiences

Mailani Matsuno, who is taking classes from her home in Guam, interviewed about her reasons for studying from home and adjusting to the time differences between home and her classes.…

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2×8 Virtual Exhibition


NMSU student research outlines problems in private immigration detention facilities


Out of work during the pandemic, Riverside woman starts charcuterie business, Mel’s Boozy Bites


10 rock stars with impressive college degrees


Tags
Advancement and Fundraising, College of Business Administration, College of Science, Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture, Engineering, grant, I-Corps, iLab, Innovation Corps, National Innovation Network, National Science Foundation, NSF, olukemi sawyerr, Sadiq Shah, Winny Dong
About Cal Poly Pomona Feedback Privacy Accessibility Document Readers

3801 West Temple Avenue,Pomona, CA 91768

©2018 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

All Rights Reserved