Universities can be hubs for innovative thought, products and even spin-out businesses. The University of New Hampshire is no exception, and has actually created an ecosystem to accelerate future high tech leaders, companies and socially responsible nonprofits. 

For this latest episode of Get Tech Smart, I feature three guests from UNH:

• Marc Eichenberger Chief Business Development and Innovation Officer, UNHInnovation
• Jeffrey Lapak, Director, UNH InterOperability Lab and COVID Lab Operations
• Dot Sheehan, Founder, President, and CEO, OPERATION HAT TRICK.

Watch the latest episode and read on to learn about UNHInnovation and its vision to create a thriving innovation ecosystem with the University of New Hampshire as the thought leader and center of a vibrant and diverse economy.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

Flo Nicolas:

Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Get Tech Smart. I am your host, Flo Nicholas, lawyer and tech founder, and we are talking about all things tech happening right here in New Hampshire. Today we have three guests from UNH:  Marc Eichenberger, associate vice president and chief business development and innovation officer at UNHInnovation — which advocates for and manages the transfer of UNH-derived ideas to the public to maximize their social and economic impact. We also have Jeff Lapak, director of the UNH InterOperability Lab — which tests networking and data communication products; and Dot Sheehan, founder, president and CEO of Operation Hat Trick, a nonprofit with a mission to generate awareness and support for the recovery of wounded service members and veterans through the sale of OHT-branded merchandise and products. Welcome, everyone.We’ll start with you, Mark. Tell us more about the UNH Innovation Center.

Mark Eichenberger:

We do a lot of different things at the UNH Innovation Center to help innovation across the state, both with large companies and the startup community. What’s most relevant to tech is that UNH is an R1 university. That means we are one of the highest-performing research universities in the country. At the Innovation Center, we help connect companies with a variety of shared equipment. You can come and get access to equipment that is typically in the million-dollar amounts, and you can do that on an hourly basis. We provide mentoring and access to government grants for small businesses. We have access to small business innovation grants from the government. And we also help with patenting and technology transfer for the university. It’s one of those things that I always say, just ask, and let us know what your needs are. And we’ll facilitate it. 

Flo Nicolas:

Jeff, we’ll loop you in … tell us more about what you are doing at the UNH InterOperability Lab.

Jeff Lapak:

We operate like a little business inside the university. We work with about 200 global partners. To us, data communication is anywhere bits (of information) are traveling back and forth. So, it could be software, could be databases, or it could be electrical or optical testing. Our name, interoperability, comes from companies working together. If a business is interested in or is developing something in a space where data is going back and forth between things, we can help you out. The InterOperability Lab is a very large student employer on campus: we have about 120 undergraduate or graduate students working with us, doing engineering for companies. So, they’re gaining three to four years of job experience by graduation. We work with any technology company you can think of — from big names like Apple, Microsoft, and Dell. Plus, folks in the networking traditional networking space, such as Cisco Systems or Juniper Network Solutions.

Flo Nicolas:

This is fabulous because the kids get hands-on experiences with these companies (and can lead to) full-time employment.

Jeff Lapak:

Exactly. We have a 99.99% placement rate. Most of our students have a great opportunity to get out into a job in their late junior or senior year (when they are), finishing up their academic career and jumping right into something exciting.

Flo Nicolas:

I’m seeing a lot more universities and colleges starting to be more hands-on. Why are we seeing this big push for colleges to go out into the community and work with businesses and other organizations to get their students more involved with hands-on training?

Mark Eichenberger:

This economy has a high demand for students who can transition quickly into the work world. So, we’re seeing more and more companies want to get more of an intimate relationship with students — to train, do research and work with those students so they can come into the companies right afterward. 

Jeff Lapak:

My take on this is very similar. There’s a recognition of the difference between a four-year and a trade (school) program. Trade folks are coming out ready to hit the ground running. In the academic universe, you are learning this huge depth of knowledge but don’t necessarily have that job experience. There’s a lot more focus now (on students getting hands-on experience) because of the need. And there’s a huge shift in people leaving the workforce. 

Flo Nicolas:

So, Mark, I’m going to have you do the honors and introduce Dot Sheehan to our audience so we better understand how she fits into the UNH Innovation Center.

Mark Eichenberger:

Two kinds of startups come out of universities — and that’s true for UNH as other universities. One is intellectual property, and usually, faculty is part of that. Then we also have a number of entrepreneurship students who also create companies. And Dot’s startup, Operation Hat Trick, falls somewhere in between those two, actually. It is a social impact startup. And I’ll let Dot explain. 

Dot Sheehan:

I am the founder of Operation Hat Trick, and our mission is to generate awareness and support for the recovery of wounded service members and veterans through the sale of OHT-branded merchandise and products, proceeds of which are donated to selected organizations that fulfill the OHT mission. Some background: I worked at the university for 20 years. I was in athletics, and I don’t think you’d expect a spin-out to come out of athletics. But, one day, I heard a radio broadcast on a Boston station asking a trivia question: “What is the one thing head-wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan want the most?” The answer was a baseball cap. It hides wounds and covers swelling, treatment, and bandages. And until I went to Walter Reed, I had no idea how much that’s true.

Flo Nicolas:

Tell us more about what you saw at Walter Reed.

Dot Sheehan:

The first time a group of us — that included the president of the university and a couple of US senators — went to Walter Reed, the first guy I meet in the exercise room, he’s 25. He has a wife, a five-year-old and a five-month-old. He was a triple amputee. He had shrapnel in his face, and he had been burned. I happened to be talking to this 25-year-old, and he said to me when I handed him a hat, and he started to cry, and he said, “Ma’am, you’ve almost made me feel normal again today. And maybe, just maybe, my five-year-old won’t be afraid of me when he comes in to visit.” If you cry at Walter Reed, you have to go out in the hall. I probably spent most of my day in the hall.

Flo Nicolas:

Could you explain how Operation Hat Trick’s nonprofit model works? 

Dot Sheehan:

If a hat costs $12 that they’re going to sell it wholesale to Dick’s Sporting Goods. If it’s got the UNH logo on it, we get 10%. If it’s just the OHT with the American flag, we get 12%. This past year we donated over a million dollars to 65 organizations in 39 states. We do things that not many people do (for wounded service members and veterans). We adopt service dogs. We own part of a food truck in San Diego. We support four or five entities here in the state of New Hampshire. I will tell you; I sleep well at night.

Flo Nicolas:

As you should. This is a business model you’ve essentially created; I think it just fits in line with what they are trying to do at the Innovation Center, even though OHT is not technically “tech.” Innovation doesn’t necessarily have to be something technical.

Mark Eichenberger:

The business model of UNHInnovation is for innovation opportunities. And we have two examples: what Dot is doing and what Jeff is doing with the interns. It’s not just true tech; it’s innovation where it needs to happen.  

Flo Nicolas:

But how can we get these well-trained students to stay in New Hampshire?

Mark Eichenberger:

Of course, if you’re 22, going down to New York or Boston is exciting. But there are ways to attract people to stay. I think it’s making those students aware and showing them that the state does have some fantastic work opportunities for students. So, that mix of life and work is a good one here. 

Jeff Lapak:

I don’t know that people know how much high-tech and cool things happen in New Hampshire. Aerospace is enormous. There are a bunch of small-scale startups with a focus on next-generation space technologies right here in the state.

Flo Nicolas:

And salaries? A lot of people might say, “Oh, I’m gonna make 30% more in Massachusetts.”

Mark Eichenberger:

You’re going to spend it as well. Salaries are sometimes tough to match, but the quality of life and what you get for your money are much higher.

Flo Nicolas:

What about bringing more tech events to the state?

Jeff Lapak:

There’s been a big focus on us bringing industry-level events together at UNH. Again, we’ve had several focused on the blue economy, future blue economy, space, aerospace and et cetera.

 Flo Nicolas:

 Lastly, what is UNH working on in terms of having more women and diversity in tech and innovation?

Jeff Lapak:

Diversity has been a focus of the Lab for at least 10 years. And we pinch well above our weight as far as diversity. Our pool in New Hampshire at large is somewhat limited — we’re not a very diverse state at the moment. But my department is always looking to bring in diverse folks — that could be race, gender or career. So, in addition to obviously, we have a lot of tech-focused majors that work with us in engineering or physical sciences. But we also bring business, art, and philosophy majors. And all we need is for them to have an interest in tech. And we’ll train them the rest of the way. Some of our most successful folks coming out of our program are non-engineering majors because they have the excitement and the depth to move things forward.

Mark Eichenberger:

Within the last two years, UNH hired a chief diversity officer to pull together programs and have them become more impactful. Also, in my world, we track all these companies and whether they fall into underserved and minority communities. So metrics is one way that we try to do that to make sure we’re having an impact.

Flo Nicolas:

Thank you all so much for being here. So much going on at UNH, and I love all the work you are doing with our veterans; thank you so much for that. And for everybody else who’s watching, thank you so much for us coming here and watching another episode of Get Tech Smart. Stay tuned for more.

Flo Nicolas is a technologist, lawyer, speaker, mentor, writer, tech startup Founder/CEO of CheapCheep & Director, and Creator of Get Tech Smart. She is a dedicated professional with a passion for technology and creative innovation, intent on helping her community to become more tech-savvy and forward-thinking. Get Tech Smart is being shared with members of The Granite State News Collaborative.