UNH's First Cohort of University Innovation Fellows

The University Innovation Fellows (UIF) is an international program of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and is part of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation grant from the National Science Foundation that UNH received in early 2016. The goal of the UIF program is to empower students to be agents of change and innovation at their respective schools.

Innovation is one of the six brand pillars of UNH, and our students demonstrate this everyday. A priority of UNH’s Fellows is to expand the utilization of innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) resources to all disciplines. I&E is for everyone, not just the engineering and business-minded students. Training to be a University Innovation Fellow provides students with the opportunity to have a lasting impact in the UNH community, influencing future innovation and entrepreneurship at their school.

The first cohort of the UNH UIF took place during the fall semester of 2016. The cohort consisted of Sam Warach (‘17, Paul College of Business), Matt Griswold (‘18, College of Engineering), Christin Badylak-Reals (‘19, College of Engineering), and Shawn Venti (‘17, College of Engineering). They were nominated by UNH and accepted by UIF, and they focused their efforts on the UNH Durham campus. Through the UIF training program, the students developed the practical skills necessary to effectively connect UNH students to campus innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives. The UNH Fellows will travel to Silicon Valley in March 2017 to further develop skills and connect with Fellows from other institutions. UNH is one of 164 universities with a UIF program. The next cohort will start in the spring semester of 2017.