
U News | Belmont University expands Data Collaborative to include AI
Michigan seeks to reverse loss of significant jobs, talent, and investment opportunities with new early stage fund.
From Belmont University:
Belmont University has named Dr. Michael “Jeff” Donahoo as Executive Director of the Belmont Data & AI Collaborative (BDAIC), marking the transformation of the former Belmont Data Collaborative to include artificial intelligence alongside its data science initiatives.
Joining from Baylor University, where he served as Professor of Computer Science and co-creator of its interdisciplinary cybersecurity program, Donahoo brings more than 25 years of experience in computer science education and research. His expertise spans networking, cybersecurity, and computer systems design.
“Data and AI offer powerful opportunities to magnify impact in every domain,” said Donahoo. “The BDAIC focuses on contributing to Belmont’s remarkable efforts through collaboration and equipping students, faculty, and staff to innovate, inspire, and drive the future.”
From the University of Memphis:
The University of Memphis (UofM) announced the inaugural cohort of the Memphis Research Ecosystem Leaders (MREL) program, a year-long initiative designed to help connect research leaders at the university who have seen success in their individual labs to researchers with strategic focuses to create large-scale transformational research ecosystems.
Some of the greatest research successes at the UofM have been led by multi-disciplinary, decentralized centers that convene experts to address topics in collaborative, outcome-driven and responsive ways, including the National Science Foundatiom Industry-University Center for Electric and Autonomous Trucking (CEAT), Public Health – Informatics, Data, Equity, Analytics Systems (PH-IDEAS), and Center for Regional Economic Enrichment (CREE) as well long-standing centers such as the NIH-launched mHealth Center for Discovery, Optimization, and Translation of Temporally-Precise Interventions (mDOT Center).
From the State of Michigan:
Last week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bills 5651, 5652, and 5653 which will create the Michigan Innovation Fund, a $60 million initiative to provide critical funding to Michigan’s existing early stage evergreen venture funds, emerging evergreen funds, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
According to the announcement, recent studies show that Michigan is losing significant jobs, talent, and investment opportunities due to the lack of early stage investment capital available to would-be entrepreneurs. The $60 million Michigan Innovation Fund is a big step forward in giving Michigan a chance to become a leader in early stage, pre-seed funding, combining entrepreneurial support services and capital to create and nurture an entrepreneurial ecosystem that can grow over time, reinvest in new and growing assets and develop a sustainable network of support for entrepreneurial activity across the state.
Under the plan, funding would be awarded to nonprofit and university-backed funds with proven track records, and all investment returns would be recycled back into the respective funds for future investment in Michigan companies, ensuring long-term impact. Three of the five established, evergreen funds are operated by universities. They are:
- The Michigan State University Research Foundation;
- University of Michigan’s Accelerate Blue Fund; and
- Western Michigan University’s Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center.
The Governor also signed two other bills that created an R&D tax credit.
“Our brand-new, bipartisan Innovation Fund and R&D Tax Credit will empower Michigan entrepreneurs, lower costs for Michigan businesses, and create good-paying Michigan jobs,” said Governor Whitmer. “I’m proud that we worked across the aisle on these commonsense bills to grow our economy and ensure more people can make it in Michigan. We still have more work to do to make Michigan the best state to build your big idea.”
From Case Western Reserve University:
Case Western is now accepting applications for its Program Rewarding Innovation in STEM Entrepreneurship (PRISE), a cohort-based program for undergraduate women who are interested in entrepreneurship. The program is designed to support undergraduate women interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) innovation, discovery, and creativity. The program aims to address the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurial ventures.
Each week from February to May, PRISE students will be expected to spend 2 to 2.5 hours a week in related programming (learning sessions), meet with assigned teams, and attend professional development workshops. Students will present a pitchdeck presentation at the end of the program. Individuals do not need to be a STEM student or have any experience in entrepreneurship to be part of the program; all that is needed is an interest in learning about entrepreneurship.
From the State of Colorado:
To kick off the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in 2025, three Colorado universities in collaboration with Elevate Quantum have announced that a new facility for fostering quantum technologies is coming to Colorado.
The State of Colorado has taken bold action to help bring the advances in quantum physics out of the lab and into the real world through its investment into the Quantum Incubator and related quantum assets throughout the state.
The facility will be housed in a 13,000-square-foot space in east Boulder. It is funded by a state tax incentive and spearheaded by the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU Boulder), in partnership with Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, and Elevate Quantum, a coalition of 120 organizations, including the three campuses, in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Additionally, CU Boulder is providing leadership and staff resources for its development and launch.
In 2023, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) named Elevate Quantum, headquartered in Denver, as an official tech hub for quantum information technology. Since that designation, the coalition has secured more than $120 million in funding to grow the quantum industry in Colorado and the Mountain West.
As part of that effort, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law House Bill 1325 in 2024, which directed funds to create the new incubator. Today, the quantum industry supports about 3,000 jobs in the state, but that number could grow to more than 10,000 in the next decade.
The facility will include a collaborative office environment for early stage quantum companies and state-of-the-art scientific equipment—providing a testbed to transform ideas for quantum technologies into products that will benefit consumers in Colorado and beyond. Quantum technologies could include sensors for detecting signs of illness in human breath or networks that may one day send data that can’t be hacked over long distances.
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!