The Instructors
Anurag Purwar, Ph.D.
Prof. Purwar directs Stony Brook's NSF I-Corps Site and co-teaches SBU's Lean Launchpad course. His company successfully completed the I-Corps Team program; its first-in-the-world design-driven robotics education platform is used in SBU's Manufacturing Extension Partnership robotics summer camp and many schools and colleges. Dr. Anurag Purwar is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University in New York and an award-winning teacher, researcher, TEDx speaker, and inventor of several technologies, some of which are available as products in the market. He has received several best paper and outstanding research awards, excellence in teaching awards, and the top 100 design awards for his inventions. He received the SUNY FACT2 award, two SUNY Research Foundation Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) awards, A.T. Yang award for Theoretical Kinematics, and Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is an elected member of the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee and a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Ann-Marie Scheidt, Ph.D.
Dr. Scheidt is the I-Corps Site's Co-PI and co-teaches SBU's Lean Launchpad course. She founded the Stony Brook Entrepreneurs Challenge for students and inspired the creation of the Long Island Angel Network of early-stage high-risk investors. She is the immediate past chair of the Business Incubator Association of New York State.
David Hamilton
Mr. Hamilton is the Chief Operating Officer of the New York State Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center of Excellence (AERTC) and the Executive Director of the NYSERDA-funded Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP), headquartered in the AERTC. He is an LLEP-certified instructor with long experience advising companies in NSF's New York City Regional I-Corps Node.
Robert B. Harrison
Robert (Bob) Harrison, CPIM, MBA is a Senior Business Advisor at Stony Brook's SBA/SUNY-funded Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which has the largest proportion of technology companies among New York's 22 SBDCs. He is an LLEP-certified instructor, works with clients on SBIR/STTR grant applications, and coordinates the Entrepreneurship Challenge business pitch event with Stony Brook student teams to advance them in the New York State Business Plan competition. Bob shares his business development experience from 40 years in both large and small manufacturing operations including a 2007 to 2015 startup.
Heidi Anderson
Heidi Anderson is CEBIP's Client Manager, and works closely with all client companies to monitor their business planning and technology product development progress and help them prepare investment pitches.
Shruti Sharma
Shruti Sharma is CEBIP's Program Manager, and is the principal developer of program support for client companies across all aspects of business strategy and planning, technology product development, and enterprise growth.