Mike leads and collaborates with his team to advance partnerships at the university, industry, and government levels. He was previously the program director of UIDP, where he led partnership engagement of top universities, industries, and federal agencies. He served in leadership roles in academia for 25 years, and has historically held close partnerships with federal programs through the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the DOE, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. He holds a Ph.D. from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, as well as Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees from the University of South Carolina.