Stony Brook Advances Innovation Ecosystem with Presidential Panel on Entrepreneurship

The Presidential Panel on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, moderated by President Andrea Goldsmith, featured student and alumni entrepreneurs discussing their experience in translating bold ideas into real-world impact. Photos by Isabel Tumminello.

As the State University of New York at Stony Brook continues to strengthen a university-wide innovation ecosystem, a Presidential Panel on Innovation and Entrepreneurship during Inauguration Week offered a clear view of how ideas move from concept to impact and how Stony Brook is positioning itself to accelerate that process.

Held as part of a broader series highlighting the university's future direction, the panel brought together students, alumni and industry leaders whose experiences collectively traced the full arc of innovation, from early-stage ideas to scaled enterprises. Moderated by President Andrea Goldsmith, the discussion emphasized not only what innovation looks like in practice, but what it requires from institutions seeking to support it.

"As we shape a bold vision for Stony Brook, we are thinking about how to build on our momentum of discovery and innovation while training the next generation of leaders," said Goldsmith. "Workforce development is central to our mission, and we are creating pathways for our community to bring ideas to fruition through programs like WolfieTank and CEWIT. Innovation is about taking those ideas and translating them into real-world impact."

That framing anchored the conversation in a larger institutional goal: ensuring that discovery at Stony Brook does not end in the lab or classroom, but extends outward into industry, communities and the broader economy.

From a Single Idea to a Growing Network

The panel opened with a perspective grounded in student experience, illustrating how innovation often begins with a single idea and the willingness to act on it.

Kelly Kaon, a third-year medical student in the Renaissance School of Medicine, described how she founded Dermatological as a way to address gaps in skin health education. What began as a campus-based initiative has since expanded into a national organization with multiple chapters and hundreds of participants.

Her story reflected a recurring theme throughout the panel: innovation is not reserved for a particular stage of a career. Instead, it emerges when individuals identify a need and leverage the resources around them to respond.

Kaon pointed to the role of institutional support in that process, noting that programs designed to guide students from idea to execution helped transform an early concept into a scalable model. Just as important, she emphasized the mindset required to pursue that path, one that prioritizes curiosity and initiative over convention.

Innovation Beyond the Startup Model

While student entrepreneurship provided one entry point into the conversation, panelists quickly broadened the definition of innovation to include work happening inside large, established organizations.

Laurie Olson, a Stony Brook alumna and former executive at Pfizer Inc., described innovation in complex enterprises as both enabled and constrained by scale. Large organizations offer deep expertise and resources, but they also require intentional cultural shifts to ensure that new ideas can take hold.

A key challenge, she noted, is overcoming the fear of failure that can discourage experimentation.

Rather than treating failure as a setback, Olson argued that organizations must recognize it as a critical part of the innovation process - one that provides the insights necessary for future success. In practice, that means creating environments where employees are encouraged to take informed risks and where outcomes, even unsuccessful ones, are treated as opportunities for learning.

Her perspective reinforced a broader point: innovation is as much about culture as it is about ideas.

Building Companies, Teams and Momentum

For Derek Peterson, founder and CEO of Soter Technologies, innovation is rooted in problem-solving and execution.

Drawing on his experience launching and leading multiple companies, Peterson described the early stages of entrepreneurship as a process defined by uncertainty, iteration and persistence. Initial ideas rarely emerge fully formed, and success often depends on the ability to adapt quickly in response to new information.

Equally important is the ability to build and sustain a team aligned around a shared vision. Peterson emphasized that innovation is rarely an individual effort; it depends on assembling people with complementary skills who are willing to work through challenges together.

His experience underscored the reality that innovation, particularly in startup environments, is not a linear path. It requires both resilience and a willingness to refine or rethink an approach when conditions change.

Partnerships as a Catalyst for Progress

The discussion also highlighted the critical role of partnerships in advancing innovation, particularly those that connect academic research with industry application.

Loren Skeist, president and CEO of Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation, pointed to his company's long-standing collaboration with Stony Brook as an example of how such relationships can create value for both sides.

Industry partnerships, he explained, allow companies to engage with fundamental research questions that may fall outside the scope of immediate business needs, while universities gain opportunities to apply their work in real-world contexts. The result is a feedback loop in which research informs practice, and practical challenges, in turn, shape future research directions.

These collaborations are particularly important in fields where technological advancement depends on sustained investment and cross-sector expertise.

Connecting the Pieces of an Innovation Ecosystem

As the conversation progressed, a central question emerged: what does it take to build a fully realized innovation ecosystem within a university setting?

Panelists pointed to several interconnected elements, including access to mentorship, clearer pathways for commercialization and stronger alignment between academic research and industry needs. While each of these components exists in some form, the challenge lies in integrating them into a cohesive system that supports innovation from start to finish.

Goldsmith returned to this idea in her remarks, emphasizing that Stony Brook's strength lies not only in its individual programs and initiatives, but in its ability to connect them.

By bringing together students, faculty, alumni and industry partners, the university is working to create an environment where ideas can move more seamlessly from discovery to application, generating both economic and societal impact.

A Culture That Encourages Possibility

The panel concluded with a focus on the human dimension of innovation: the willingness to take risks, challenge assumptions and pursue ideas that may not yet have a clear path forward.

Across each perspective, from student founder to corporate executive, one theme remained consistent. Innovation begins with individuals who are willing to act, but it is sustained by institutions that create the conditions for those efforts to succeed.

For Stony Brook, that means continuing to invest in programs, partnerships and a culture that encourages experimentation and supports growth at every stage.

As the university advances its vision, the panel served as both a reflection of current progress and a signal of what lies ahead: a more connected, more accessible and more impactful innovation ecosystem built on the strength of its community.