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

Christopher Schuh
Program Director
Kavanaugh Translational Fellows Program

Christopher Schuh is the Danae and Vasilis Salapatas Professor of Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.  His group uses experiments, analytical theory, and computer simulations to explore the processing-structure-property relationships in structural metals.  Professor Schuh has successfully transitioned many technologies to the marketplace, and is founding scientific advisor of Xtalic, Veloxint, and Desktop Metal among others.