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Professor Dorsey and PCGS student Kaylea Homiak participate as members of the 2022 Spring cohort of USF I-Corps Fellows

The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is an effort by the National Science Foundation to assist teams of university scientists and post-doctoral or graduate students to go outside of their laboratories and into the marketplace where they can learn first-hand about entrepreneurship while they explore and validate the commercial landscape surrounding their innovation. The NSF I-Corps Fellowship program at the 91社区 provides USF scientists and researchers with business development training, processes, and resources to investigate and validate the commercialization of their science or idea. On February 1st, Associate Professor of Instruction, Dr. Joseph Dorsey and PCGS graduate student Kaylea Homiak were selected to participate as members of the 2022 Spring cohort of USF I-Corps Fellows and successfully completed a 6-week series of entrepreneurial workshops. The innovative idea was a mobile application called SolConnect. This app was intended to provide quick, live updates of the permitting process from utility companies to existing customers of solar companies. Professor Dorsey was the Principal Investigator (PI) and Ms. Homiak was the Entrepreneurial Lead (EL) in this effort based on her final project paper submitted in Professor Dorsey鈥檚 core course, Concepts and Principles of Sustainability last semester. Due to his high level of expertise in the solar energy market, PCGS Adjunct Professor Pradeep Haldar joined the team as the Business Mentor (M) midway through the term. This app research and development project is ongoing and has evolved into a platform to assist in decreasing the time needed for the permitting process between solar energy businesses, installers, and utility companies.

sPCGS Graduate Student, Kaylea Homiak

 

sAssociate Dean of Academic Affairs & Associate Professor of Instruction, Dr. Joseph Dorsey