Who we are

The Upstate New York I-Corps Node combines the experience of the nation’s top university R&D region with the entrepreneurial knowledge of experienced mentors and faculty. Our teams work together to connect skilled researchers to valuable resources through national and regional I-Corps programming.

Leadership Team

  • PI: Lynden Archer, Dean, College of Engineering, Cornell University
  • Co-PI: Tom Schryver, Executive Director of the Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) and visiting lecturer at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
  • Mark Nelson, Dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
  • Emmanuel Giannelis, Vice Provost for Research and Vice President for Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Research Policy, Cornell University
  • Alice Li, Senior Director, Cornell Technology Licensing, Cornell University
  • Jacqueline Mozrall, Dean, Saunders College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Ryne Raffaelle, Vice President for Research, Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Duncan Moore, Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship, University of Rochester

Node Operating Team

  • Tom Schryver, Node Executive Director, Cornell University
  • Shannon Ellis, Node Regional Director, Cornell University
  • Will Heptig, Node Project Associate, Cornell University
  • Lucy Harwood, Node Program Assistant, Cornell University
  • Caitlin Schickel, Cornell University
  • Annette Durnack, University of Rochester
  • Erin Sefca, University of Rochester
  • Anthony Testa, Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Evan Vershay, Rochester Institute of Technology

“When creating a culture for entrepreneurship, we need to focus on impact, not just the value of a potential product. We start by educating people about entrepreneurship and helping them understand that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to make an impact. I’m excited about I-Corps, because it is a tool for accelerating the pace in which a new idea becomes an impactful product.”

-LYNDEN A. ARCHER, JOSEPH SILBERT DEAN OF ENGINEERING, CORNELL UNIVERSITY AND TECHNICAL LEAD/PI FOR I-CORPS TEAM 1843, POLI

National I-Corps Instructors

Fernando

Fernando Gómez-Baquero
Director of Runway and Spinoffs at the Jacobs Technion– Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech

Andrea Ippolito

Andrea Ippolito
Instructor for eLab, Cornell’s student accelerator, and Engineering’s Commercialization Fellowship

Mike Reidlinger

Mike Riedlinger
Managing Director Tech Commercialization & Program Director, Hardware Scaleup

Ken Rother

Ken Rother
Director of hardware accelerator programs at both Rev: Ithaca Start Up Works and Cornell University’s eLab student program

Tom Schryver

Tom Schryver
Executive Director, Center for Regional Economic Advancement at Cornell University

Deborah Streeter

Deborah Streeter
Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University

National I-Corps Adjunct Instructors

caroline cannon headshot

Caroline Cannon
Founder of the Academic Venture Lab at Dartmouth College, Faculty Advisor for the Diversity Entrepreneurship Collaboration and the Tuck First Year Project

olga petrova headshot

Olga Petrova
Technology Licensing Associate, Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships at Binghamton University

Qualls_Marquita-1

Marquita Qualls
Founder and Principal of Entropia Consulting and Doctor of Psychology in Chemistry from Purdue University

Gregory Ray-0029

Gregory Ray
Program Lead, Entrepreneur in Residence for Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, and Faculty Member at the Johnson Graduate School of Management Cornell University

Steve-Sauer

Stephen Sauer
Leadership and teams researcher, Entrepreneur in Residence for Rev: Ithaca Startup Works and senior lecturer of management and organizations at Cornell University.

Justin-Smithline_headshot

Justin Smithline

Co-Founder & General Partner at Triple Impact Capital and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Cornell University

Brad Treat

Brad Treat
Program Director of the Southern Tier Startup Alliance and visiting lecturer of management at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Carrie White

Carrie White
Executive Director of the WVU Launchlab Network and Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Chambers College of Business and Economics

Regional Course Instructors

Brian Bauer

Brian Bauer
Cornell

Ed Bazari

Ed Bizari
Hobart & William Smith

Byron_Makini

Makini Byron
Linde

Byrd_Julia

Julia Byrd
Columbia

Brim_Stacye_crop

Stacye Brim
STB Consulting

Cartini _Kathryn

Kathryn Cartini
Chloe Capital

Katie-Cherny

Kathryn Cherny
Binghamton

Coffee_Kerry

Kerry Coffee
Weill Cornell

nate cook headshot

Nate Cook
Cornell

Dave Eilers

David Eilers
Syracuse

Tony Frontera

Tony Frontera
Binghamton

Alex-Hagan

Alex Hagen
Cornell

Anne_Jones_WVU

Anne Jones
West Virginia

Klein_Tom

Tom Klein
RIT

Nakia Melecio, a Black man wearing glasses and wearing a gray suit jacket, red vest, black dress shirt, and gray and white printed tie

Nakia Melecio
Georgia Tech

Dave Miller

Dave Miller
Rochester

Petrovich_Paul

Paul Petrovich
Pittsburgh

per-stromhaug2

Per Stromhaug
Binghamton

Greg-Thomson-837x837-300x300

Greg Thomson
Cornell

Waggoner_Bob

Bob Waggoner
West Virginia

Beth_Xie_Cornell

Beth Xie
Cornell

Curriculum Group

  • Chair: Deborah Streeter, Cornell University
  • Richard DeMartino, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Shannon Ellis, UNY Node Regional Director, Cornell University
  • Andrea Ippolito, Cornell University
  • David Miller, Warner School of Education, University of Rochester
  • Mike Riedlinger, NextCorps, University of Rochester
  • Ken Rother, Southern Tier Startup Alliance, Cornell University
  • Tom Schryver, Center for Regional Economic Advancement, Cornell University

Evaluation Group

Chair: Cynthia Callard, Warner School, University of Rochester

  • David Miller, Warner School, University of Rochester
  • Nahoko Kawakyu O’Connor, Associate Director of Program Evaluation, Warner School, University of Rochester
  • Marcella Maier Lambrecht, Consultant, Warner School, University of Rochester