As Assistant Director of Entrepreneurial Practice, Nick manages and teaches in the Entrepreneurs Leadership Program, Global Treks, and TechLab. Nick is an experienced innovator and entrepreneur of manufacturing and advanced materials technologies and has often played the role of technical founder. He is driven by his dedication to share his entrepreneurial experiences with students and startups to benefit the greater entrepreneurial ecosystem.Previously, he co-founded Detroit Materials and helped develop a patented portfolio of high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) structural steels for demanding applications in the automotive, defense, off-highway, tooling, and transportation industries. Prior to Detroit Materials, Nick co-founded CSquared Innovations, a University of Michigan advanced battery and materials manufacturing spin-off. Nick co-invented the patented CSquared manufacturing technologies, effectively integrating a novel atomizing feeding spray with conventional thermal spray to create thin or thick films of materials important for use in energy storage or conversion for photovoltaics, lithium ion batteries, and antiferroelectrics, and acted as PI for multiple DOD and NSF SBIR grants. Nick was also President of Breakthroughs for Humanity Management, Inc., a research and development firm focusing on commercializing disruptive clean energy innovations for fuel management, plastics recycling, and hydrogen production. Nick earned his B.A. in Physics and Mathematics from Albion College in 2006, a BSE and MSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2008 and 2010, and completed his MSE and PhD in Materials Science Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2017. His doctoral research focused on the development of ternary and quaternary chalcogenide compounds featuring transition metal cations through careful engineering of the electronic and thermal transport as well as magnetic properties by traditional solid-state doping techniques and novel template structure synthesis methods for improvements in thermoelectric performance, diluted magnetic semiconductors, and photovoltaic conversion. Nick also received the 2014 Harry B. Benford Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership from the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.