Lally School Collaborates with Eleven Rensselaer Departments and Albany Law School to Offer Technology Commercialization & Entrepreneurship Program. Speaking at the Lally Innovation Series, Deans Advocate Cross-disciplinary Preparation for a New Generation of Entrepreneurs; Rensselaer Student Ventures Showcased
A cross-campus collaboration between the Lally School, eleven other Rensselaer departments, and Albany Law School is opening new educational and career opportunities to students in science, technology, engineering and business. The Lally School’s Technology Commercialization & Entrepreneurship (“TC&E”) graduate program leverages Rensselaer’s science and engineering excellence with customized legal training at Albany Law School and management fundamentals at Lally—one of U.S. News & World Report’s top-ranked business schools in entrepreneurship.
On October 14, The Lally School of Management & Technology and the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship highlighted the TC & E program with a panel entitled “Preparing a New Generation of Entrepreneurs and Innovators.”
The discussion featured three Deans of participating schools: Thomas F. Guernsey, President and Dean of Albany Law School, David Rosowsky, Dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering, and David A. Gautschi, Dean of the Lally School. Lally Professor Lois Peters moderated the session, which drew students and faculty from across campus as well as community professionals and entrepreneurs.
Lally’s TC & E program has been designed to prepare a new generation of technological entrepreneurs. The curriculum is based on the assumption that successful commercialization of technology requires not only technical understanding, but also a basic foundation in management in order to move the product to market by developing a business plan, obtaining funding, staffing and managing the enterprise, and understanding how to value and protect intellectual property.
Students may focus on TC& E at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. At the master’s level, TC&E students complete advanced coursework in management, in-depth graduate work in a technical discipline, and a specialized module in law applicable to tech commercialization (business formation, contracts, and intellectual property). Albany Law School partners with Lally to deliver the law content. Undergraduate TC&E students earn either a B.S. in business and management with a ‘strong’ minor (6 courses) in a collaborating department, or a B.S. in a science or engineering with a strong minor in business and management. Collaborating Rensselaer departments are: Computer Science, IT, Biomedical Engineering, Biology, Cognitive Science (Cognitive Engineering or Artificial Intelligence Tracks), Materials Science, Civil Engineering, Architecture, Design, Innovation and Society (PDI), Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems (DSES).
“The TC& E curriculum responds to a real need on campus and in the business community,” said Associate Professor Lois Peters, Enterprise Management and Organization Area Coordinator. “It’s directed at technical professionals who find it difficult to fully develop their ideas into commercially sustainable products or services. They are often surprised to find that the market won’t come to them, that they have to learn how to successfully approach the market. It’s a very exciting opportunity for technical professionals and for our students.”
“A lot of engineering firms would welcome TC&E grads,” said David Rosowsky, dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering. Speaking specifically to future engineers, Rosowsky added, “we need engineering graduates with a broad skill-set, who are trained to think across disciplines, and who understand how to team effectively with other professionals.”
Following the panel, an entrepreneurial showcase featured nine Rensselaer student ventures in all stages of commercialization, including:
- Argus Predator—animal detection system to prevent highway collisions with wildlife, presented by Tom Sundman, ’10, MS and Sean Kelly ‘11
- Blink Together—web application for group networking and scheduling, presented by Mike O’Shea ’09 and Anthony Guidarelli ’09;
- Freebeam—home safety monitoring system using a laser to detect falls by elderly or medically at-risk users, presented by Katie Malysa ‘12
- Iletkin/Playalike—social recommendation technology that provides personalized music video channel, presented by Selcuk Atli MS ’09
- Intellidemia/Concourse—online, interactive syllabus system for students, instructors and administrators, presented by Judd Rattner ’07, MBA ’09 and Edward Levie MS ’08, MBA ‘10
- New Clermont Project—Hydrogen fuel cell powered boat that retraced Fulton’s NYC to Albany voyage, presented by Will Gathright MS ’10 and PhD candidate, Jennifer Gagner ’12, Casey Hoffman, PhD Candidate, Natalie Korn ’11, Jason Kumnick PhD Candidate, Michael Mullaney MBA ’11, Mike Pinkowish ’11, and Leah Rollhaus MBA ’10
- Promethean Revolution LLC—system that utilizes food waste to generate hot water, presented by Brent Solina ’11 and Ke Xia PhD ‘09
- Smartwear Designs—Wireless SmartBadge provides law enforcement/first responders with information at the scene of an emergency. Presented by Sara DiNovo ’08, MBA ‘10
- Touché-- flat panel, touch-screen tabletop game display for one to six players. Presented by Eric Peterson, PhD Candidate and Lauren Sacks ‘11
Event Program with Venture Details
MS in TC & E Curriculum Description
View a recording of 10/14 Preparing a New Generation of Entrepreneurs and Innovators
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