FEBRUARY 2021

To Our Alumni and External Partners,

Let’s have a collective sigh of relief that 2020 is in the rear view mirror. We hope your 2021 is off to a refreshing start. While the last year threw everyone unexpected curveballs, there is a lot to be hopeful for. Vaccines are beginning to reach communities throughout the country, and more research into COVID is informing our ability to safely engage with loved ones and favorite pastimes. We’re anxious to reconnect with you in person as soon as the University permits gatherings (we’ll put updates in these newsletters, but nothing to report yet).

So far, the winter semester in Ann Arbor is shaping up similarly to our fall semester, with students mainly attending classes in remote and virtual settings. While departments across the campus were bracing for an enrollment dip, due to reduced in-person course offerings and on-campus activity, the CFE is happy to report that we maintained normal enrollment throughout our courses. We suspect this is, at least partially, due to COVID’s normalizing of virtual engagement; this has allowed us to eliminate physical proximity to Ann Arbor as a barrier to alumni’s ability to help students. This has been best demonstrated by the use of our new U-M Entrepreneurs Mentoring Network, which now boasts an impressive 3,000 mentors. Student use of the platform is now part of coursework for our flagship class (Entrepreneurship Hour), through which mentors have provided over 600 responses to student questions over the past month.

Lastly, in January we welcomed 60 new students to our fellowship programs: Entrepreneurs Leadership Program, TechLab at MCity, and TechLab: Climate Change. These students, carefully selected from an impressive list of applicants, represent the next generation of entrepreneurs and startup professionals, with several already working in established companies. Their excitement for entrepreneurship is contagious, and we look forward to introducing and connecting them to you over the coming months.

We are forever appreciative of your support. Thank you for sharing your time, wisdom, and networks with each other and our students.

Go Blue!

– Center for Entrepreneurship

ALUM SPOTLIGHT UMA SUBRAMANIAN – Aeronautics for the Modern World “It was 2003, and President Bush had announced we were going to Mars. I had always been passionate about space exploration – I went to Space Camp when I was nine. I never dreamt that I would have a chance to work on the next generation vehicle.”…READ MORE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Student Spotlight: Emma Grife Grife’s internship for Shoptelligence has introduced her to AI machine learning algorithms. “For example, if a user on PierOne Imports is looking at a blue sofa, this technology allows them to create an entire room around the blue sofa”…READ MORE MORE STORIES Travel Apps to Life Affirmations: A Few Student Projects The difference in these projects is that there is the possibility some of these ideas might be the seedling that could eventually bloom into a million-dollar product or service. Here are just a few of the projects students have conceived last semester…READ MORE Diverse Teams Open New Markets and Innovative Solutions As teams become comfortable with one another, they become more efficient and productive. This is due to the trust and confidence built up in each other. The newfound trust also comes from shared experiences in the workplace…READ MORE

MAKING HEADLINES Sara Spangelo (’12 Aerospace) Wall Street Journal: The Tiny Satellites That Will Connect Cows, Cars and Shipping Containers to the Internet Rom Clement (’06 Aerospace) John Deere: Deere adds new companies to its 2021 Startup Collaborator program Greg Gage (’10 BioMedical) Tibbits Awards: Backyard Brians receives 2020 Tibbits Award for work with K-12 education technology that allows advanced neuroscience research David Wentzloff (’99 EE) Business Wire: Everactive Raises Oversubscribed $35 Million Series C Financing to Accelerate Growth of Batteryless Pervasive Remote Monitoring for Industry 4.0 Gayle Jennings-O’Byrne (’98 Finance) Forbes: How Policies Aimed At Female Founders And Investors Can Reignite The Economy And Close The Gap In Opportunity Joe Saunders (’92 Mathematics) Insights Success: Joe Saunders: Protecting Businesses from Cyber Threats ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES Be Sure To Save The New Date We encourage students, faculty, and researchers to practice their purpose by offering a diverse set of classes, programs, and special opportunities to meet the increasing demand for entrepreneurial curriculum and experiences. Giving Blue Day directly helps students participating in the CFE’s activities, so save the date. FUNDING AND OTHER RESOURCES Quick Resource Guide For Entrepreneurs College of Engineering’s COVID site ‘One Sheet’ Office of Tech Transfer’s COVID Resources  Ann Arbor SPARK’s Resource Page AROUND CAMPUS Mcity Kicks Off Semester with State of Michigan’s Chief Mobility Officer   “This group of students and startups form an extremely energetic and talented cohort that are tackling globally-important challenges for the CAV industry,” said Nick Moroz, Assistant Director of Entrepreneurial Practice. “Successful outcomes of these projects will mean breakthroughs in autonomous parking, inclement weather machine vision, sensor fusion, edge case simulation, and mapping.”…LEARN MORE