Mission + Oversight
Mission
The Kavanaugh Fellowship is the first, and to date the only, competitive fellowship at MIT specifically funding technical scholars to broaden their skills in support of commercial translation and entrepreneurship. Aimed at graduate students and postdocs already expert in technology, the fellowship provides unencumbered time and mentoring at a critical juncture as they prepare to launch new innovations into the marketplace. The program seeks candidates who are both brilliant engineers and ambitious in their desire to see their technology through to impact. The goal is to support passionate technologists as they transition “tough tech” concepts into products that will improve human life, and to encourage a new generation of technical entrepreneurs who will make a career of nurturing their technology to its full commercial potential.
Oversight
Michael Cima
Program Director
Kavanaugh Translational Fellows Program
Michael Cima is involved in materials and engineered systems aimed at improving human health. He works on treatments for cancer, metabolic diseases, trauma, and urological disorders. He is a co-inventor of MIT’s three-dimensional printing process. His research has led to the development of chemically derived epitaxial oxide films for high-temperature superconductor, or HTSC, coatings for conductors. He and collaborators are developing implantable MEMS devices for unprecedented control in the delivery of pharmaceuticals and implantable diagnostic systems.