In today’s complex multi-disciplinary research ecosystem, the collaboration and partnership of universities and industries play a critical role in the overall progress of research and innovation, as the former creates the knowledge base for innovation and the latter can take the innovation into usable products. As the 2008 report prepared by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology put it, while the universities contribute to “advancing the state of the art in a field”, the industries contribute to “providing leading-edge research directions”. Studies reveal that a strong industry funding of university research strengthens key innovation variables such as high-tech startups, venture capital, and high-tech jobs. Also, even the interaction with industry in STEM disciplines is associated with a significantly greater likelihood of producing intellectual property, e.g., patents, invention disclosure, etc. As the employer of university students and graduates, the industry’s input on research directions is important for training purposes and skill development. The interaction with industry recruiters and research partners provides significant opportunities for the faculty in better alignment of their research for sponsored research activities. 

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We always seek for industry collaboration to achieve the objectives. Currently, three companies supporting our efforts:

• Cisco

• IBM

• ExxonMobil

• Amazon

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As a part of the I-RISE project, there will be faculty workshops (IRWs) with the cooperating and collaborating industries each year to develop new topics for the research that the students will become engaged in. This will also be an opportunity for the faculty mentors to begin to gain corporate support for their research as well as assist students with gaining internships and jobs with the various industries that recruit STEM students from Howard University.