James D. Sterling brings a fairly traditional portfolio of academic credentials to his role as vice provost and founding dean of the Kummer College. But he’s also an entrepreneur, and he sees no reason the two should be mutually exclusive.
“I’m an academic entrepreneur,” says Sterling, who began his role June 1.
The Kummer College is not the first academic institution Sterling has helped start. He’s worked in labs and research organizations and launched a biotech startup. He brings to every conversation a seemingly irrepressible curiosity about the art and science of transforming discoveries into ventures. Even his resume radiates an entrepreneurial spirit.
Sterling earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1987. He joins S&T from the Keck Graduate Institute, a member of the Claremont College consortium in California, which he joined in 2000 as a founding faculty member. In addition to serving as director of the school’s intellectual property and technology transfer committee, he helped launch Minerva University, started by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in 2014, as founding interim dean of natural sciences and director of Minerva Labs. Sterling traces his interest in product development and entrepreneurship to the roles he held at Los Alamos National Laboratory, TRW and Advanced Projects Research.
Not surprisingly, entrepreneurship and innovation figure prominently in his vision of what the college can become.
“The Kummer College can be of service to the entire university by teaching entrepreneurship,” he says. “Through curricular offerings and active engagement with our alumni network, academies and advisory groups, we will help S&T leverage STEM expertise to translate discoveries into ventures, whether those are startups or innovations with corporate partners.”
“…not only are you creating ventures that provide value to humanity, but you’re also educating students in the process.”
A key part of the facilitation process Sterling envisions is providing real-world, hands-on class projects, drawing on innovations underway both in Rolla and the region. By collaborating with alumni who are leaders in their fields, students will draw on insights and mentorship to bridge the gap between academic learning and practical application.
He cites Delbert Day as a great example of the connections between S&T and its surrounding communities. Day, who earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Missouri S&T in 1958, is a Curators’ Distinguished Professor emeritus of materials science and engineering. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he played a pivotal role in developing radioactive glass microspheres that are being used at sites around the world to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer. He was also instrumental in forming Mo-Sci Corp. in Rolla, which manufactures glass microspheres and other glass products used in the health care industry.
“One important characteristic of the entrepreneurial mindset is that not only are you creating ventures that provide value to humanity, but you’re also educating students in the process,” Sterling says.
Sterling says his decision to come to S&T was driven in part by the opportunity to play a key role in translating discoveries into societal benefit. He believes the Kummer College is uniquely positioned to build an entrepreneurial culture that spans S&T, from disciplines and departments that have been innovating for 150 years to the school’s bioengineering initiatives, which represent the intersection of the physical sciences and engineering with biological sciences and medicine. That confluence, according to Missouri S&T Chancellor Mo Dehghani, is poised to become one of the greatest areas of academic and scientific research ever imagined — and Sterling is intrigued by the possibilities.
For now, his priorities include adding faculty to support research, teaching, and participating in S&T entrepreneurship, growing impactful programs with global impact, and developing a college culture that involves all stakeholders in the planning and implementation processes.
“We have a unique blend of engineering management and systems engineering, along with economics and business and information technology, which complement the robust historical base of engineering management,” Sterling says. “The departments fit well together and provide building blocks for innovation and entrepreneurship.”