The NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute introduces Pathways to Impact (P2I), a new non-credit, co-curricular pilot program designed to help NYU PhD students and postdoctoral researchers explore how their research discoveries can move beyond the lab and create meaningful real-world impact. P2I provides researchers with a welcoming, low-barrier opportunity to explore research translation, understand the commercialization process, and consider the different pathways through which their research might reach the people, businesses, industries, or communities that could benefit from them.

A Welcoming First Step into Research Translation

P2I is designed for researchers who are curious about how their research could help address real-world problems within their fields of study. Academic research traditionally produces important outcomes such as publications, conference presentations, and invention disclosures. P2I encourages researchers to consider an additional question: Could this research also become a product, service, technology, licensed innovation, or other solution that creates impact beyond academia?

Participants do not need to arrive with a startup idea or plans to become entrepreneurs. Instead, P2I provides an opportunity to explore the translational potential of their research and understand what may be required to move an idea or discovery toward real-world use. Through expert-led sessions, experiences shared by NYU alumni and founders, hands-on Translation concept activities, and engagement with a supportive peer cohort, participants will learn how to connect their research with unmet market and societal needs, identify potential stakeholders, test assumptions, and evaluate possible pathways for translating their discoveries.

Why Participate?

P2I offers researchers an opportunity to develop practical research translation understanding while remaining firmly grounded in academic and scientific research. Participants will:

• Understand how discoveries move from academic research toward real-world application
• Learn to identify and articulate stakeholder needs and develop compelling value propositions
• Gain exposure to customer discovery, intellectual property, legal and regulatory considerations, business models, and funding fundamentals
• Connect with NYU alumni, founders, commercialization experts, and fellow researchers from across the University
• Explore career pathways related to research commercialization, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Develop a Translation Pathway presentation that helps articulate the potential impact and next steps for their research
• Receive a certificate of completion and a priority pathway to additional NYU commercialization resources and support
• Enjoy food at every session!

P2I can also help researchers think more clearly about the broader impact and translational potential of their work - perspectives that may strengthen grant narratives, interdisciplinary collaborations, and future research directions.

Who Should Apply?

P2I is designed for NYU researchers who are interested in exploring how their work might create impact beyond academic publication, including:

• STEM PhD students from any NYU school
• Postdoctoral researchers from across NYU
• PhD students working in quantitative Social Sciences or Digital Humanities
• Researchers interested in learning about commercialization and research translation, even if they are not yet committed to pursuing either

No previous entrepreneurship or commercialization experience is required, and applicants do not need to have a specific invention, technology, or startup idea.

How to Apply

Bring your research. Bring your curiosity. Build your pathway to impact.

For questions about P2I, contact Syed Barizuddin at [email protected] or Rebecca Silver at [email protected].