Page 26 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No2

laptops. They will be adjacent to start-up labs and have access to wet lab space.
A proposed partnership with Delaware Technical Community College could open other doors, giving students access to its manufacturing and engineering capabilities.
Weir and McLaughlin have helped students and business owners connect well with each other. They have put guardrails in place to be sure no one goes down in flames.
The project can’t be “business critical,” Weir said, nothing that—if it failed— would cripple the business. And business owners and students have to be realistic. Not everything works. Interruptions hap- pen. Timing can go wrong.
“The thing that’s difficult is managing expectations,” said Weir, a chemical phys- icist who spent 35 years with the DuPont Co. before joining the University in 1998. “Students have learned a lot. But the value
of time is viewed differently. The entrepre- neur doesn’t have the luxury of spending too much time reaching decisions. So
the challenge is the value of time and the requirement for bringing the disciplines together quickly.”
Another challenge lies in the inter- disciplinary dynamic at work within the student teams. For many, it is their first endeavor with those trained in other fields, and crossing over is not always smooth.
Engineers have much different habits of mind than artists and marketing students, for example. Computer scientists look at problems from a different perspective than public policy specialists.
Those encounters are sometimes frus- trating, sometimes fascinating—but always important to the final product.
That was clear to Adam Engelson, an electrical engineering major, who is part
of one of the most suc- cessful projects to date. His team developed
a biofeedback device known as “mTrigger” for a medical equipment company. It is expected to go to market in early 2016, Weir said.
“In the beginning
it was challenging to collaborate with such different people,” Engelson said. “You have electrical engineers and political science majors and you learn how to work together. I learn some social policy, you learn some engineering. On the mTrigger project,
we learn to work together with graphic designers, biomedical engineers and busi- ness analysts while getting exposed to the whole product life cycle.”
Even those with expertise in communi- cation are stretched in these conversations.
“We think very creatively, and they’re very analytical,” said Amanda Smith, a mass communication major who worked with engineering students in an experimental class developed by Lindsay Hoffman, associ- ate professor of communication and polit- ical science, that used an adapted Spin In approach. “It’s hard to get your ideas across in ways they understand and vice versa.”
Andrew Seski, a finance and business management major, was on a team that addressed a request from Nancy Gregory of UD’s Cooperative Extension Service. Could they develop a mobile application to help Delaware farmers?
24 | UD RESEARCH
David Weir and Cyndi McLaughlin,
who direct UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships, launched the Spin In program to give students opportu- nities to work with entrepreneurs.
SPIN IN
5Roads: Website and app in use by entrepreneurial service that links volunteers with non-profit agencies.
Connect Hub: Web- based learning platform for training and coaching, with iOS and Android versions. Continued platform and mobile application develop- ment, marketing campaign to be completed fall 2015.
Esper: Device to separate perchlorate from water, de- signed by UD faculty mem- ber. Spin In team did market and policy research, customer discovery, built a second- generation prototype. Marketability under review.
Fan Deck: Design thinking and leadership tool available on iTunes. Trans- lated into Chinese last spring.
updates
Here’s what’s spinning out of our innova- tion pipeline
Used in UD classes and private sector workshops by inventors Tony Middle- brooks and Jules Bruck.
Linne Industries:
Solar pond aeration system in market nationally and internationally through Pond
EVAN KRAPE
KATHY F. ATKINSON