Chris Houghtaling coaches Biovalor, Launch Blue UAccel Graduate, to National I-Corps Program

October 30, 2024

Chris Houghtaling has served as an Advisor in Residence with Launch Blue for the past year, providing guidance and mentorship to program graduates. Through Launch Blue, Chris connected with the Biovalor team, graduates of the UAccel Program. The team was seeking a coach for the National I-Corps Program. Chris shares his experience coaching a team at the national level and serving as their mentor.

Chris, CEO of RaiseLink shares, “My favorite reasons for mentoring entrepreneurs are helping others achieve more than their goals and the constant learnings of something new. The past couple of months I have been an Industry Mentor, in partnership with David Etten from UK's Center for Applied Energy Research as the Technical Mentor. Serving as a mentor for a University of Kentucky team completing a National I-Corp program is an absolute honor and exhilarating experience."

It was an exciting mentoring opportunity. "You are mentoring a team on the cutting edge of technology, validated by leading NSF reviewers from across the country. And you don't just pop-in for an hour once a month. Unlike most mentoring where you want to guide the entrepreneur, the National Science Foundation I-Corp program is so demanding that you can and to a degree should embed yourself with the team. In addition to helping bring UK born intellectual property to the market, you are part of a cohort of 20 plus teams from around the country, expanding your impact, network, and exposure to the latest technologies in various fields," said Chris, UK Alumni.

"Working with Dr. Ning Wei has been a complete pleasure. He is a powerful researcher who is hungry to connect his work to real-world applications, and revenue. Ning is supported by Dr. Jian Shi, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioprocess Engineering. Ning is a Research Scientist at the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering & Center for Applied Energy. Ning's team name is ‘Sustainable Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) Technology for Critical Metal Recovery from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries.’ Keep your eyes and ears open as you will be hearing more about the great work that Ning and his team is doing."

If you are interested in serving as an Industry Mentor in a NSF National I-Corp program, please contact us via email.