I am confident that under Mac Banks' leadership, entrepreneurship at WPI and the larger community will grow to achieve these objectives. Banks aims to take advantage of the wealth of inventiveness found among WPI students. After all, WPI has a strong history of entrepreneurship, and we want to reinvigorate that. For the past several years, WPI has brought industry leaders to the University for a one-year collaboration. He has earned a B.S. degree from the University of Utah and a J.D. degree from Northwestern University School of Law and has served on the boards of directors of numerous companies and organizations.
Berry looks forward to guiding young entrepreneurs with big ideas.
So their value to industry is very high, higher than they know. Created in late 1993 by former University Relations Vice President Donald F. Berth and Management Professor Arthur Gerstenfeld, WPI's Entrepreneurs Collaborative was designed to focus on combining scientific and technological study with business opportunity. As the collaborative continues to grow, an array of projects has involved WPI undergraduates with entrepreneurs in a variety of business settings. To date, about 150 undergraduates have participated in at least one element of the collaborative's offerings. Diran Apelian, WPI's Howmet Professor of Engineering, has served as director of the collaborative for the past year, providing leadership following the retirement of Donald F. Berth.