Marquette is Sparking Innovation Through Collaboration
When he became Marquette’s 24th president in July 2014, Dr. Michael R. Lovell found many examples of faculty, staff and students working to advance knowledge and address critical human and community needs. He also found many outstanding ideas waiting to be put into action. Now, under Lovell’s leadership, Marquette is unleashing this pent-up ingenuity through a range of efforts promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.
Having a particularly catalytic effect is a new $6 million Strategic Innovation Fund providing seed money for new ventures that advance priorities in Marquette’s strategic plan. Just months after the fund’s creation, members of the university community and their partners have already submitted 275 ideas for preliminary consideration and review by a new Innovation Council. Explore the submissions at marquettte.edu/innovation.
As new projects launch at Marquette, innovation and entrepreneurial activity are already flourishing in promising ways.
CLEAN WATER
1. Marquette will soon occupy the sixth floor of Milwaukee’s Global Water Center. The space will be custom designed for faculty, staff and students as they partner with leading water technology companies to pursue solutions to the world’s water needs. New activity at this world water hub builds on momentum already established in the field of clean water, including:
- MeterHero, a startup launched at Marquette that is working to change how the world conserves water, one person at a time.
- A partnership with Badger Meter to license efficient water-flow metering technology developed by a Marquette professor.
- Research projects exploring the use of electricity and bio-organ-isms to treat wastewater; improved detection of water-borne contaminants; and the accumulation of common household chemicals in the environment and their possible role encouraging antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
2. To support the boost in campuswide creativity, the Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship is expanding beyond its traditional base in the College of Business Administration with added resources and programming and a planned move to a campus location that’s accessible to all members of the Marquette community and their partners.
- Marquette Law School’s new Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic will be the first program in the Milwaukee area to offer free legal services to startup businesses and entrepreneurs, with a focus on clients who can’t afford qualified legal counsel. The clinic will be staffed by Marquette law students who receive hands-on training in business law under the supervision of a licensed attorney and member of the faculty.
IMPROVED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
3. More than 100 Marquette researchers have joined partners from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and other institutions in work turning biomedical science into improved patient care through the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin. To facilitate similar partnerships with leading institutions and firms, Marquette will grow its presence at UW–Milwaukee’s Innovation Campus.
- Supported by more than $7.5 million in federal awards in the past 18 months for research into neuropsychiatric disorders, Marquette biomedical sciences faculty are making Marquette a leading center for better understanding addictions, depression, schizophrenia and related disorders — and for pursuing improved treatments. Particularly promising are trials being conducted by two pharmaceutical companies launched at Marquette, Avi-Med and Promentis. Fellow biomedical scientists are researching potential remedies for spinal cord damage. Complementing these efforts will be a newly announced mental health research center, made possible by a $5 million grant from the Charles E. Kubly Foundation.
- The Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center supports research and development projects generating technologies for children with orthopaedic disabilities, caregiving adjustments for spinal cord injury, rehabilitation research training and other advances. The center is supported by more than $7 million in extramural funding.
- Obesity, autism and stroke are additional challenges around which Marquette faculty collaborate on research, treatments, app development and robot-assisted therapies.
INNOVATION EVERYWHERE
4. A fresh approach to academic inquiry and beyond-campus engagement can be found in everycorner of campus:
- Through $2.6 million in support from the Templeton Religious Trust — Marquette’s largest humanities grant to date — the university has become a center for study of the role virtue plays in human identity and endeavors. Bringing together scholars from around the world for conferences and interdisciplinary research, this virtue project extends Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit educational traditions.
- Through a new collaboration — the Near West Side Partners — Marquette, Harley-Davidson, the Potawatomi Business Development Corp., MillerCoors, Aurora Health Care and other stakeholders are focusing on housing, commercial development and safety on Milwaukee’s Near West Side. The partners envision this neighborhood becoming the kind of place where employees choose to work, live, shop and become members of the community.
- Marquette is planning Marquette is planning supporting intercollegiate and professional athletics, academic research, and campus health and wellness initiatives. Created in partnership with the Milwaukee Bucks, the new facility and its research activities will help athletes from near and far perform at the highest possible levels in their sports.
