Dean’s Blog: Entrepreneurism, Data Science and a New Building

On December 5, 2024, the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Board of Visitors (BOV) met and two major announcements were made by the School of Data Science (SDS). The first was to describe our undergraduate B.S. in Data Science (BSDS) program that began this academic year with 75 students who placed their trust in us. The students joined the new 3-year BSDS program after completing their first year in the College of Arts and Sciences, where they took two introductory data science prerequisites. The Data Science Minor continues to be popular and is by far the largest minor at the University approaching 1000 students with every major represented. Together, this speaks to our efforts to establish a first-in-class undergraduate program and our commitment to making data science accessible regardless of major and discipline. Credit goes to Undergraduate Program Director Brian Wright and team for their careful thought and strategic planning. More on that in a future blog. Here, I want to focus on the second announcement.

The School of Data Science has been extremely fortunate to have the support of Jaffray Woodriff and the Quantitative Foundation. Their initial gift, the largest single donation in the university’s history of $120M in 2019, established the School as the first of its kind in the nation and funded our lovely new building which we occupied in May, 2024. The gift also supports faculty endowments, scholarships for students, and support for visiting fellows. If that was not enough, Jaffray recently committed a further $20M in support of a second building, to be adjacent to our current home, further establishing the Discovery Nexus along the Emmet-Ivy Corridor. This new area of our University is roughly the size of the original Academical Village conceived by Thomas Jefferson and connects Central Grounds to the athletic fields and North Grounds. The new building will house our ever-growing faculty, staff and student populations and, importantly, will provide a focal point for UVA’s entrepreneurial activities which I believe is vital to SDS. Let me explain.

Entrepreneurism is important to me personally. Over the years, I have launched four companies and engaged with a number of others, both start-ups and those more established. Not only did I find the experience highly rewarding, it was also fun—an altogether different kind of rush than academia—with different people, timelines, priorities and goals. These new ventures promised a more tangible and immediate impact to society. It’s one thing to write an academic paper about the promise of a breakthrough new drug and quite another for a small biotech company to take that drug into Phase I clinical trials. That thrill and outcome is what I see for those in our School and beyond who have an entrepreneurial spirit, and the new building will be a hub for such ideas and activity as a flow-through from our current building which will be connected such that they appear as one.

Beyond my personal interest, I also think entrepreneurism will feature heavily in the future of higher education. There is pressure to be more product-minded and share expertise through public-private partnerships. Evolving economies and growing societal problems will drive this change.

Only recently has entrepreneurism taken on a more meaningful role at the University with the formation of UVA Innovates. Sure, there have been prior entrepreneurs. After all, Reddit originated from UVA students, and faculty, notably in medicine and engineering, have started companies. What we see now is a more concerted effort across the whole University. Credit for this change goes, in part, to Professor Michael Lenox, from the Darden School of Business, who leads the UVA Innovates program in a temporary role as the Donna and Richard Tadler Chair of Entrepreneurship.

Looking ahead, the future of data science and entrepreneurism looks exciting. Our new building will intermingle data scientists with those in the Solutions Labs (the idea of a maker space), and  entrepreneurs-in-residence will work alongside members of the Licencing and Ventures Group while yet others develop new products, services and ideas.

An early specification for the building will go to UVA’s BOV (aka the Trustees) early next year and if all goes to plan, occupancy will occur in 2028 if not before. When discussing the concept of the new building with President Ryan, he asked me, “What will actually go on in the new building?” I responded by drawing on two hypothetical use cases which I share with you. I hope these use cases excite you as much as they do me.

Use Case 1: Genetically Modified Seagrass

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Jack and Jill are Biomedical Engineering (BME) PhD students working on gene editing for potential treatment of Huntington’s disease, a rare genetic disease that leads to cognitive decline. At a neuroscience symposium reception in the data science building they happen to talk to a data scientist, Antonio, who has a joint appointment in environmental science and data science as a climate scientist. He asks whether they had ever applied gene editing to plants. The answer is no, but it gets the three of them thinking.

Knowing that seagrass is an environmental protectant, they wonder if it could be genetically improved to make it more robust, sequester greater amounts of carbon, and further improve water quality, all natural characteristics of the approximately sixty natural species of seagrass and of great need to society. During lunch with the dean of the School of Data Science, himself a biomedical researcher, Antonio mentions their seagrass idea. The dean suggests they discuss the concept with folks in the adjoining building as the idea has great commercial potential. Neither Jack, Jill or Antonio have any commercial experience but they are intrigued.

They visit the Foundry, a place where such ideas are brought to life. After touring the new building’s solutions labs—a mix of maker spaces, data scientists, entrepreneurs and policy makers working together—their excitement grows as they discover new possibilities. One lab is working on various aspects of carbon sequestration, another LEO (low earth orbit) satellite imagery. They learn that LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) or, more specifically, bathymetric LiDAR can penetrate to depths of 50 feet, ideal for exploring seagrass environments. Something they would never have learnt without seeing solutions in action.

The UVA Innovates staff suggest they bring their idea to Jim, an entrepreneur-in-residence in the new building, who has experience coaching teams who have innovative ideas of environmental significance. They meet in the building’s pitch suite, a place for small group consulting, and a presentation space to make pitches to 50-75 people.Jim recognizes Jack and Jill have the technical expertise to carry their idea forward but lack entrepreneurial experience to move the idea towards the possibility of commercialization. He comes up with a plan.

The three are assigned a shared maker space that sits between the decarbonization and LEO solutions labs where they can work, drink coffee, and chat with experts in different but synergistic areas. The space assignment is initially for one year with the understanding they must be present a few hours each week. Jim also invites them to the Entrepreneurial Fast-track Program, a semester-long program where they learn how to pitch ideas, and develop a business plan. Jim also takes them on as an ITE (Interns Towards Entrepreneurs), committing to meeting with them monthly.

At the conclusion of the Fast-track Program the group of Jack, Jill and Antonio has expanded to six with a business student joining the team and they have a road map for the genetic editing they believe will improve the robustness and capabilities of the seagrass, work undertaken with the help of data scientists in SDS. It’s time for them to pitch their idea at the evening pitch sessions held monthly in the new building, with serial entrepreneurs, investors, patent lawyers, and interested community members in attendance. Their idea is met with enthusiasm and it is suggested they form a company to further develop the concept. Jim, the entrepreneur-in-residence, agrees to meet with them weekly as the initiative gains momentum.

The new building also houses members of the Licensing and Ventures Group (LVG) and the three are approached to file a provisional pattern on the gene editing solution that has been determined by the group. Jim suggests they need a model that provides a visual representation of the concept. To that end, they create a 3-D printed version of the underwater landscape and a brief immersive (sic) video in the new buildings workspace and studio respectively.

At this point, with the help of Jim, the ITEs receive an angel investment to test the idea and provide experimental validation that a genetically modified and robust seagrass can indeed be grown. Jill graduates and becomes the CSO and first full-time employee of the new company. The investment is enough to lease a space in the BioHub Accelerator, a UVA Innovates initiative and, over the next nine months, grass is engineered and the results show great promise. Jill returns with the team to the new building to pitch for a second round of funding.

While perfecting the gene editing, they have been working with the neighboring lab researchers working on carbon sequestration and LiDAR. The carbon sequestration team provided the expertise and equipment to test the effectiveness of the engineered seagrass and, as it turns out, the LiDAR folks, looking at coastal erosion as part of a Commonwealth of Virginia initiative, have identified a place to field test the seagrass. A second round of funding is secured.

UVA Innovates staff working with corporate and foundation relations at UVA have identified Monsanto, an American agricultural biotechnology and agrochemical company, as a possible partner. Monsanto visits the new building and over two days of negotiations contract with the now SeagrassForALl LCC. Everyone wins and it was all done in less than two years.

Use Case 2: Affordable Housing

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At a meeting on affordable housing convened between the City of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, Jess meets Fred during the cocktail hour at the end of the meeting. Jess is a professor of data science who works at the intersection of data justice, urban government and technology policy whose work spans Brazil, Canada and the U.S. Fred is a professor in the School of Architecture who specializes in urban planning, specifically the motivation that leads to the development of new urban landscapes. They have an animated conversation triggered by remarks from the UVA president and the Charlottesville mayor around the question: How can we do better with less?

The answer seems to lie in the ability to create a value proposition for all stakeholders. Jess and Fred meet later to flush out ideas. They determine that value lies in low cost, a healthy environment, diverse tenants and engagement with the city and university. They decide to expand the group to include an urban environmentalist, an official from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, an economist, an urban landscape designer, a fellow from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences who studies the relationship between health and the design of city environments, and a data scientist from the UVA Biocomplexity Institute who studies complex systems.

Excitement builds and they decide to form a non-profit corporation, HomesForAll Inc. to pursue their work together. The company objective is to develop economically viable low-income housing models in a variety of environments and to partner with local, state and federal governments to instantiate the models and evaluate the success of the built environments.

Their first step is to approach UVA Innovates, a platform to catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship at UVA, and specifically their VentureHub located in the new building. They meet with representatives of LVG, the UVA Licensing and Venture Group, and are put in touch with Charlottesville angel investors. After several meetings and a presentation at a pitch event held in the new building, an initial round of funding is awarded to develop a prototype model for a redevelopment project of an existing public housing community on South First Street. The team takes up residence in one of the building’s solutions labs, using a fraction of the angel investment to pay the lease. They begin building the model with help from VentureHub while also seeking a second round of funding through relevant initiatives offered by foundations and through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). To inspire investors, the project team and city officials use an augmented reality (AR) studio located in the new building to fabricate the proposed facility. Investors are able to walk through the AR created model of the emerging project.

The power of the team is fully realized as they define the features of the model environment and realize it is excitingly different from what has happened before. Features such as:

• Walkways and staircases to maximize activity.
• Fresh food vendors on-site.
• Sustainable building materials, power, light and landscaping.
• Cost per sq ft.
• Green space and play areas that maximize a sense of community and well-being.

With the help of the SDS data science team and by working through SDS-Solutions, the non-profit arm of SDS, features are built into a predictive model that define spatial relationships and the relative weight that needs to be given to a host of features that define the environment. With this data the urban planners on the team set about laying out the urban environment.

Taking the resulting plans to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the project gains momentum and gets a happenstance boost when a philanthropist visiting the new building for a different purpose, sees the HomesForAll hub and the model on display. The philanthropist decides to invest in the project. HUD then gets involved, and the project gets built. Initial success at the Charlottesville site creates a model for low-cost housing across the country in what is known as the UVA-CVille Model for Affordable Housing. A win for UVA, the City of Charlottesville and its residents.

This article was originally published on The Dean's Blog.