Yazmin Feliz, Ph.D., the GEM Outstanding Young Alum Award winner at the 2021 Women of Color STEM Conference, has been named a lead mentor by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Northeast Hub.
The NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub is part of a nationwide NSF-funded network of universities formed to accelerate the economic impact of federally funded research – delivering benefits in health care, the environment, technology, and other areas – while building skills and opportunities among researchers from all backgrounds, including those historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship.
As an NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Fellow, and National Consortium of Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering (GEM) Fellow, Feliz pushed technology from the lab to market and supported commercialization efforts for early-stage companies at Columbia University in conjunction with Columbia Tech Ventures.
The role of lead mentors in the NSF I-Corps is to recruit, vet, and train Hub mentors, match I-Corps teams with appropriate mentors based on the needs of each team, provide mentoring during the regional I-Corps programs, and take on other responsibilities that will promote growth and success of the Hub. Feliz will focus on recruiting new teams and mentors through various forms of outreach and content development. She also serves as an adjunct instructor for the Hub.
Feliz currently serves as chief of staff at Investors of Color Network, an investment group focused on diversifying startup capital. She also sits on the investor panel for PitchForce, a weekly pitch event for high-tech, clean-tech, medical device, and biotech startup entrepreneurs.
She previously participated in the regional and national I-Corps programs as an entrepreneurial lead, and is actively involved with diversity student recruitment. She also previously served as an adjunct instructor for the Columbia Start Me Up Bootcamp.
Feliz recently completed a postdoctoral research position in biomedical engineering at Columbia University Medical Center, where she focused on developing low-cost ultrasound prototypes.
She holds both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s in mathematics of computation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
