Free NSF I-Corps Virtual Course Offered This Summer

Upstate New York is rapidly becoming a national hub for semiconductor research and manufacturing, with a $100 billion+ announced investment by Micron. For those university and community-based researchers and early-stage startup founders who are interested in exploring the market potential of their work and learning entrepreneurial skills, Syracuse University is hosting a free, virtual U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) regional course focused on the semiconductor industry from Monday, June 17, through Wednesday, July 17.

Researchers, faculty, graduate students and semiconductor innovators selected for this prestigious cohort will have the opportunity to attend SEMICON West from July 9-11, as a guest of the NSF I-Corp program. Accepted teams can receive up to $5,000  in travel reimbursement, depending on team size.

The monthlong virtual course is taught by NSF-trained instructors through Syracuse University, in collaboration with the University of Rochester as a partner in the Interior Northeast I-Corps Hub (IN I-Corps), funded by the NSF, led by Cornell University and with other collaborators, including Dartmouth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, University of Vermont and West Virginia University. The Hub is part of the National Innovation Network, connecting researchers, entrepreneurial communities and federal agencies to help commercialize research.

This NSF I-Corps course is an extraordinary opportunity to be part of a semiconductor-focused national program to catalyze innovation and commercialization.  Application criteria include:

• Applicants should have an early-state technology innovation, with either a prototype or some form of scientific validation.
• Teams of one to three people may apply, and all team members are required to attend and participate fully in every course session and complete all coursework to be considered for NSF lineage and a nomination for the national I-Corps Team.
• While all applicants are welcome, preference is given to those with university-affiliated technology, as well as postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students who are commercializing research. Applications are also encouraged from researchers and early-stage founders engaged with other campuses as well as community incubators and accelerator programs.

Spaces are limited and the application deadline is Wednesday, May 22. Learn more and register online.

NSF I-Corps course programming at Syracuse University is co-led by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, strategic initiatives advisor for Syracuse University Libraries and founding director of the Blackstone LaunchPad, and Jeff Fuchsberg, director of the Syracuse Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering. Both Hartsock and Fuchsberg led the Syracuse Tech Garden before joining the University. Fuchsberg will also be a co-instructor for the semiconductor course.

Read more about Syracuse University’s participation in the new IN I-Corps Consortium and its $15 million STEM innovation program. The initiative aims to create a cohesive innovation ecosystem through inclusive models of education and workforce training designed to catalyze innovation in economically underserved areas.

Partners in Syracuse University’s NSF I-Corps programming are resource providers across campus, including the Office of Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Syracuse University Libraries, the College of Law’s Innovation Law Center, the College of Engineering and Computer Science and its Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering, and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

For more information about the upcoming NSF I-Corps course, contact Linda Dickerson Hartsock (ldhart01@syr.edu) or Jeff Fuchsberg (jrfuchsb@syr.edu).