MAE Grad Student Named Beall Applied Innovation Fellow

Donipolo Ghimire

Oct. 7, 2021 – Donipolo Ghimire, graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been awarded a 2021 UCI Beall Applied Innovation Graduate Innovation Fellowship in the New Ventures – Develop and Implement Entrepreneurship Programs.

The yearlong program grants fellows a $5,000 stipend, access to special events and networking opportunities, and real-world experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship. Fellows participate in engagement tracks such as developing new entrepreneurship programs for graduate students, which is Ghimire’s focus.

Working with the UCI Beall Applied Innovation (BAI), Ghimire is creating entrepreneur workshops, programs and services for graduate students. The main goal is to help graduate students get involved in creative and innovative pursuits in order to translate and commercialize their research.

Ghimire is also collaborating with BAI and Graduate Division to create a new venture program aimed at nurturing an entrepreneur mindset among graduate students by providing resources to develop their ideas into products or services. Resources will include funding (Student Startup Fund), mentoring, legal advice and modes of gathering customer feedback and market research. Ghimire expects to begin launching programs this fall and is currently gathering data via a graduate student survey.

Ghimire says, “We are planning to enrich the entrepreneurial culture among graduate students as entrepreneurship and research goes hand in hand. Many graduate students are not aware of the available university resources that are dedicated toward commercialization and translation of their research. We want to encourage graduate students from every department to innovate and create new ideas by collaborating with their fellow students.”

– Tonya Becerra