By: Sandra Flores, UCI Beall Applied Innovation
Article Illustration by: Elisa Le, UCI Beall Applied Innovation

THE PROGRAM DRAWS FROM ALL SCHOOLS AND FIELDS ON UC IRVINE’S CAMPUS TO PROMOTE CROSS-COLLABORATION AND STIMULATE CAMPUS CONNECTIONS USING UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION’S RESOURCES.

On the UC Irvine (UCI) campus, world-class faculty connect with each other and build the campus community in the name of innovation, all thanks to the Faculty Innovation Fellowship program. Faculty Innovation Fellows are selected based on their record of innovation at UCI and are chosen to be ambassadors for UCI Beall Applied Innovation.

Each year a new cohort is recruited to bring a new opportunity for fellows to cross-collaborate with one another across different disciplines and cohorts. In December 2020, the program recognized its second cohort of 18 fellows who will join the program’s first cohort, which was recognized in January 2020.

To become a fellow, the faculty describe the work they do, their research and how innovation affects what they do in their field and their interaction with students during a nomination and review process.

Spearheaded by David Tiemeier, Ph.D., managing director of the Research Translation Group at  Applied Innovation, fellows can access Applied Innovation’s network of advisors, entrepreneurs, mentors and companies.

“They can use these resources to enhance the innovations they generate and to move those innovations toward commercialization,” said Tiemeier. “In turn, as they become more familiar with those resources, they’re in a better position to share that information with the faculty around them in the schools in which they operate.”

This latest cohort will serve from 2021 through 2022:

• Maksim Plikus, Professor / School of Biological Sciences
• Nia Dowell, Assistant Professor / School of Education
• Mo Li, Associate Professor / Henry Samueli School of Engineering
• Alex Borucki, Associate Professor / School of Humanities
• Theresa Tanenbaum, Assistant Professor / Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences
• Yama Akbari, Assistant Professor / School of Medicine
• Kevin Beier, Assistant Professor / School of Medicine
• Hamid Djalilian, Professor / School of Medicine
• Michael Oh, Professor / School of Medicine
• Raj Vyas, Associate Professor / School of Medicine
• Shawn Xiang, Associate Professor / School of Medicine
• Young Jik Kwon, Professor / School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Shane Ardo, Associate Professor / School of Physical Sciences
• Matthew Harding, Professor / School of Social Sciences
• John Crawford, Professor / Claire Trevor School of the Arts
• Holly Poe Durbin, Professor / Claire Trevor School of the Arts
• Vincent Olivieri, Professor / Claire Trevor School of the Arts
• Kelli Sharp, Assistant Professor / Claire Trevor School of the Arts

With the addition of the second cohort, the program now has 35 faculty members from across campus.

“It’s making them more familiar with the resources that are available to them and with each other. It’s empowering them to become ambassadors for innovation to other faculty,” said Tiemeier. “And, it’s creating an opportunity for ‘innovation synergy’ by bringing innovators from quite different disciplines together.”

Learn more about UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s resources.  Read full issue of UCI Beall Applied Innovation “Rising Tide.”