The Co-Lab provides micro-interns that help organizations spin-up new projects quickly while helping students learn how to innovate.
Over 40 local businesses and nonprofits have signed up to work with the micro-intern program, and students are building:
Online portals to help manufacturing companies become more efficient
For companies and nonprofits to get started on a project, they sign up online. Then, the Co-Lab’s Executive Director schedules ongoing one-on-one coaching with them via web conference and trains them on innovative practices that they can use.
If the company or nonprofit is interested in working with the students, the Executive Director helps them define their initial projects and holds an introductory meeting with the interns. Then the Co-Lab assembles an army of interns from a variety of majors to help the organization pivot and launch new products or services.
With over 10 years of experience in startup acceleration, small business development, and technology transfer, Adam is an expert at building initiatives that support innovators, entrepreneurs, funders, and their communities.
Since November of 2015, Adam has worked for the Alaska Small Business Development Center where he helped early stage innovators and startups acquire over a million dollars in funding, ran a program to help innovators win Small Business Innovation Research grants, won a SBA Portable Assistance Grant to help companies struggling with the economic recession in Alaska, and created the Alaska Seed Fund competition.
During this time, he co-founded Alaska’s first startup accelerator, Launch Alaska, to provide funding and training to high-tech entrepreneurs in Alaska. The program has won several SBA Accelerator grant awards as well as funding from the Office of Naval Research. Several graduating companies from the accelerator program have raised additional funding after the program.
Previous to his work at the SBDC, Adam worked within the University of Alaska system to commercialize intellectual property. Through this work, he helped the university by developing a research foundation and assisting inventors with patenting, licensing, and creating startup companies.
Adam earned his juris doctor from Duquesne University and a bachelor's degree from Penn State University. He will be joining OSU-Cascades from Fairbanks, Alaska.
When not collaborating on Hackathons, facilitating Startup weekends, or advising startup companies, Adam likes spending time with his wife and 2 sons, hiking, and reading.
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Reduce the time it takes to work with a student
We pay our students for this work. Our members pay to access these interns for $17 an hour, and we pass almost all of that on to the students. This allows the student to work here while going to school, it makes it easy for you to get the interns you need, and it makes the program sustainable.
We find the interns, hire them, provide the space, training, and help you manage the work. All you need to do is signup as a member of the Co-Lab and help us mentor the next generation of our workforce.