Dr. Michele Marcolongo, Drosdick Endowed Dean of the College of Engineering at Villanova University, will give the Knight Campus Winter 2020 Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, titled “Start-Up Campus: How to Translate Your Scientific Discovery to a Successful Product.”
When: Wednesday, December 2 at 10:00am PST
Start-Up Campus: How to Translate Your Scientific Discovery to a Successful Product
While commercialization is increasingly popular among academic faculty and researchers, the pathway to successful academic entrepreneurship is not well understood. Join guest speaker Michele Marcolongo as she discusses the roadmap for translating technology to product launch, as well as how to execute the necessary steps to create and launch a start-up company.
Join us: Wednesday, December 2 at 10:00am PST
This is a virtual event. Participants can click the button below to register.
Michele Marcolongo, PhD, Drosdick Endowed Dean of the College of Engineering
A faculty member at Drexel University College of Engineering for more than 20 years, Dr. Marcolongo has held numerous leadership positions at the university and college levels. She has served as associate vice provost for Research, senior associate vice provost for Translational Research and associate dean for Intellectual Property Development. In 2018, Dr. Marcolongo was appointed co-chair of the university’s strategic plan, leading a committee of university leaders charged with setting the vision and focus for the next decade of innovative education at Drexel. Prior to coming to Villanova, she spent six years as department head and professor of Materials Science and Engineering in Drexel’s College of Engineering.
Dr. Marcolongo’s extensive research focuses on biomaterials and engineered biomedical solutions to treat disease. Widely recognized for her expertise and innovative work, she was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Her research has been funded by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Education. Dr. Marcolongo serves on the editorial boards of two publications—the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research and Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine—and is the founding president of the Philadelphia Spine Research Society. You can review her publications on Google Scholar.
A staunch proponent of the teacher-scholar model, Dr. Marcolongo advised or mentored more than 200 graduate and undergraduate students at Drexel while pursuing her research. She was an integral part of the team that developed the university’s innovative first-year undergraduate engineering curriculum, and she received the Drexel College of Engineering’s Teaching Award in 2003. She also is a longtime advocate for inclusivity in engineering education, supporting and mentoring female faculty and graduate and undergraduate students in STEM.
In addition to her extensive work in academia, Dr. Marcolongo is a successful entrepreneur who has co-founded three biomedical technology startup companies and is a co-holder of 15 patents/patent applications. Inspired by her experiences in academia and entrepreneurship, she authored a book, Academic Entrepreneurship: How to Bring Your Scientific Product to a Commercial Discovery, which serves as a how-to guide for academic faculty, graduate students and post-doctorals on translating research from the lab to commercialization.
Prior to joining Drexel’s faculty, Dr. Marcolongo was a biomedical engineer at DePuy DuPont Orthopaedics, a role in which she invented, designed and tested medical devices. She began her career at General Electric Aerospace. Dr. Marcolongo earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware; a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel; and a Master of Science and PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
As the Drosdick Endowed Dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Marcolongo serves as the chief administrator of the College, providing vision and leadership for its long-term strategic and academic planning, faculty research and teaching innovation; strengthening the student experience; promoting community and industry outreach and partnerships; providing financial oversight; and overseeing fundraising and alumni relations.
Previous Speakers
Jennifer Elisseeff
Director and Professor of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering
"Regenerative Immunology – the Role of Technology Translation in Guiding Discovery"
Jennifer Elisseeff discussed regenerative immunology and the role of technology translation in guiding discoveries. She is currently working to understand the role of the immune system and cellular senescence in the biomaterial response and repair across different tissues. This new therapeutic target serves as the basis for the design of regenerative immunotherapies.
Kate Rosenbluth
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Cala Health
“What if Electricity Were a Medicine? An Entrepreneur’s Journey from Scientific Discovery to Category Creation”
Kate Rosenbluth shared the story of founding and building a growth startup from spin-out through product launch. She spun Cala Health out from Stanford on a scientific moonshot to deliver a new class of bioelectronic therapies that use wearable devices to deliver non-invasive neuromodulation for major chronic diseases.
Ken Gall
Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University.
“Translation of New Materials into Medical Implants”
Ken Gall discussed the translation of a diverse set of new material technologies into medical implants. In all the applications, the implementation of the new materials was accelerated by basic research leading to a new fundamental understanding of the relationship between processing, structure, and mechanical properties of the constituent materials.
