Eberly College of Science to host entrepreneurship seminars for Penn State Startup Week
As part of Penn State Startup Week, March 22-26, 2021, the Eberly College of Science will host two panels for current Penn State undergraduate and graduate students.
Inspiring Eberly Women Alumnae
March 22
4-5 p.m.
https://psu.zoom.us/j/95770064900
Therese Jones
Senior Director of Policy, Satellite Industry Association
Therese Jones is the senior director of policy at the Satellite Industry Association (SIA), a U.S.-based trade association representing over 50 satellite operators, manufacturers, ground equipment suppliers, and launch companies. In this position, she manages SIA working groups on regulatory, legislative, defense, space safety, cybersecurity, remote sensing, and export control-related issues.
Prior to working at SIA, Jones was an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, working on space policy projects in support of the U.S. government. Before transitioning into space policy, she worked as an astrophysics researcher focusing on galaxy formation and evolution. Jones is currently a doctoral candidate in policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She holds a master’s degree in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and bachelor’s degrees in astronomy and astrophysics, physics, German, and international studies from Penn State.
Lauren Kaskiel
Program and Alliance Management Leader, Spark Therapeutics
Lauren Kaskiel heads program and alliance management for Spark Therapeutics, a biotech company challenging the inevitability of genetic disease by discovering, developing, and delivering treatments in ways unimaginable until now. She leads a team that is responsible for managing Spark’s internal portfolio assets and for managing alliances for in- and out‐licensed programs and academic collaborations.
Prior to joining Spark in June 2015, Kaskiel was with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for 14 years, starting her career as a co-op and then rejoining GSK after graduating from Penn State, as a scientist within a drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics team. After graduating with an MBA from Drexel University, she transitioned from the lab into a business operations role before becoming an alliance director in worldwide business development at GSK. As such, she was responsible for managing a portfolio of GSK’s alliances with biotech, diagnostic, venture, and academic partners.
Kaskiel has her certificate of achievement in alliance management (CA‐AM) through the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) and is president of the ASAP Tri‐State Chapter. She is currently an adjunct professor at Drexel University, teaching business planning for entrepreneurs.
Shu Li
CEO and co-Founder, Petri Bio
Shu Li is CEO and co-Founder of Petri Bio, a Los Angeles-based biotech startup developing therapies and healthcare products using gut microbes. Previously, she co-founded Alpine Roads, a YCombinator-backed startup using genetically modified plants to produce animal proteins. Li has a doctorate in plant biology from Penn State. Over her academic and entrepreneurial career, she has generated seven peer-reviewed scientific publications and three patents, and served as a reviewer for four scientific journals. In her spare time, Li is serving as vice president of Graduate Women In Science (GWIS), advocating for underrepresented scientists, entrepreneurs, and leaders in STEM.
Li will also be joining Beatrice Sirakaya’s Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology class from 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. to discuss how she went from being a teaching assistant for that class to now a CEO and Co-founder of Petri Bio.
From Eberly to Startups
March 24
12-1 p.m.
https://psu.zoom.us/j/94893491669
Jason Goodman
Graduate Candidate, Cornell University
CEO and co-Founder, Antithesis Foods
Jason Goodman received his undergraduate degree in microbiology, with a minor in biochemistry and molecular biology, from Penn State in 2009. He is currently completing his doctorate in food science, studying the intersection of taste, diet, and the microbiome, at Cornell University. While at Cornell, Goodman co-founded Antithesis Foods, a food technology company working to make better-for-you foods through cutting edge food science. Their first product is Grabanzos, a crunchy chocolate snack powered by chickpeas.
Jacob Hanchar
CEO and co-Founder, Digital Dream Labs
Jacob Hanchar holds a doctorate in neurological sciences from UCLA and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. As co-founder, investor, and CEO of Digital Dream Labs, his insights into product development and vision for strategic partnerships have helped to define the company’s many successes.
Eric Kennehan
CEO, CTO, and co-Founder, Magnitude Instruments
Eric Kennehan is the CEO and CTO of Magnitude Instruments, which he co-founded in 2018 while working on his doctorate in chemistry at Penn State. The idea for the company was conceived when he and his colleagues discovered an innovative noise-suppression technology that enabled their spectrometers to be orders of magnitude better than any other competing instrumentation. Kennehan graduated from the Ben Franklin TechCelerator program, where he truly began his journey as an entrepreneur, in the summer of 2018. As CEO of Magnitude Instruments, he has led the team that successfully brought a technology to market in less than three months and created a business model that allowed the company to become profitable in its first year of operation. Kennehan is currently working to continue growing Magnitude Instruments at a rapid pace while also expanding the company’s product line to include new types of scientific instrumentation.
Caleb Meredith
Graduate Student, Penn State
Former Product Development Engineer, Tethis
Caleb Meredith is a graduate student in materials science and engineering at Penn State, working in the lab of Lauren Zarzar to develop new kinds of iridescent optical coatings for security and decorative applications. Before graduate school, he worked as a product development engineer at Tethis, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based startup manufacturing starch-based superabsorbent polymers used to improve the biodegradability of diapers and other hygiene products.
March 26
2:30 - 3:20 p.m.
Michael Myers is a co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Quoin Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to developing products that treat rare and orphan diseases for which there are currently no approved treatments or cures. He has spent more than 30 years in the drug delivery and specialty pharmaceutical sectors, previously holding executive positions with companies such as Elan Corporation, Fuisz Technologies, and Innocoll Inc. As CEO, he oversaw the successful initial public offering of the company on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Michael received his doctorate degree in chemistry from University College Cork, Ireland and is a proud Penn State parent.
Myers will being speaking in Shawn Xiong’s Elementary Biochemistry class to discuss his successful career in startups and outline how scientists make the best CEO’s.