ODESSA, Texas — At UT-Permian Basin, new Executive Director of Innovation and Commercialization, Brian Shedd plans on, "once we finish the renovation we’re gonna have some new spaces in the CEED building. "We’re going to have co-working space, we're going to have a maker space... miniature recording studio."
Shedd and his team have been working on the $8 million renovation project to bring more spaces and opportunities for all UTPB students, staff and even local startups in the community.
"I think our focus is really bridging the gap between the University and the industry and the local community so we really want to find ways for the outside community. For this to be a resource that is not only useful for them but also let's them better engage with the University," says Shedd.
With this project being this big, Shedd says they are still just in the early stages to make sure the needs of everyone are met, "now what we’re doing is the education and outreach phase so really just trying to meet with stakeholders at the university and in the community to try to understand what the needs are."
They are also receiving help from partnerships, we’re gonna have programs our office is running but then we have a lot of partners like Blackstone, the SBDC, these kind of external groups that are going to be part of the innovation ecosystem on campus," says Shedd.