Fellow:Jonathan Spiegel

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Jonathan Spiegel, inducted into UIF during Fall of 2014, is a student at the University of New Haven (UNH) in Connecticut. He is pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering and aspires to have a significant impact on society by coming up with ways to improve what we already have or solve problems that people normally face each day. He is a very creative individual with a strong passion for innovation and is always thinking outside the box. Throughout his life he has been identifying problems and writing them down in a journal to keep track and brainstorming possible solutions.

Jonathan continuously strives to improve the innovative and entreprenurial ecosystem at the University of New Haven. Over the summer of 2015, Jonathan conducted a research project on centers that promote innovation and entrepreneurship to see what makes these centers so succesfull, and help UNH recreate this success after building a center of its own. Jonathan is now on the task force for designing this new building. Also Jonathan was the lead organizer of 3 Day Startup at UNH. This was the first 3 Day Startup not only at UNH but in the state of Connecticut. Jon is an active member of his schools Society for Mechanical Engineers, a co-founder and current VP of a club that will promote engineering majors to have an entrepreneurial mindset called EMpwr, and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He is a member of 3 national honor societies and is a recipient of his schools Presidential Scholarship Award. During his freshman year, Jonathan received 3rd place in a community sponsored Entrepreneur competition in downtown New Haven, called Start Up Weekend New Haven (similar to TV’s Shark Tank). This one event is what really helped an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship.

He is currently in the process of designing the new innovation building at his school and looks forward to further being a catalyst for change and working closely with University administration, faculty members and students to advance innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity at UNH.