Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, discussing PureLi at Celebrate Princeton Innovation 2022. (Photo by Kevin Birch.)
Princeton faculty are invited to join the Princeton-Wharton Entrepreneurial Executive Education course, which returns in January. During the week-long program, Professor Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania takes the class through a progressive series of topics related to entrepreneurship, including idea generation, building and scaling an organization, raising funds, and more.
Faculty with entrepreneurial ideas related to their research and scholarship are encouraged to join, as well as those faculty members with a general interest in entrepreneurship. Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, took the Wharton course in June and applied his experience to PureLi, a spinout based on his research on lithium extraction.
“The course provided many helpful concepts and practical tips on forming a startup company,” said Ren. His advice to people considering the Wharton course is to “give some thought on what you want to do, and come to class with questions.”
Ren and his co-founder and START Entrepreneur Sunxiang “Sean” Zheng have since made more progress with PureLi in the NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub’s Propelus four-week customer discovery program.
Molecular biology lecturer Laurel Lorenz also took the Wharton course in June. She used her learnings to develop Project Leadership, which aims to increase the diversity of STEM leadership through empowering all individuals to develop leadership skills in themselves and others.
Molecular biology lecturer Laurel Lorenz presenting Project Leadership at the Keller Center's 17th Annual Innovation Forum. (Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy.)
“When I took the Wharton Entrepreneurship course, I came with a product that I created, but I lacked the experience and knowledge of how to sell the idea within the market,” said Lorenz. “Attending the Wharton class helped me to think about the market and how to frame the product to meet the needs of both consumers and investors.”
Using ideas from the Wharton course, Lorenz won second prize at the 17th Annual Innovation Forum in December hosted by Keller Center, Humanities Council and the Office of Technology Licensing. “I think that anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur can benefit from taking the class. The class can help you both develop ideas for the market and bring your ideas to the market.”
The January 2023 Wharton course runs on January 16, 17 and 19 online from 9 am to noon ET, and for the first time, in-person on the 20th from 1 to 4 pm ET on campus. The Friday session will be followed by a networking reception with Prof. Mollick for all current and former Wharton course participants.
For more information about the Princeton-Wharton program or other programs in entrepreneurship for Princeton faculty interested in translating their research into real-world impacts, please contact Anne-Marie Maman at PEC or Tony Williams at Princeton’s Office of Technology Licensing.