FAQs

By January 1, 2022, the candidate should hold at least a B.S., in a physical sciences or engineering field relevant to the proposed energy storage project. Successful candidates will demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset, leadership capabilities, communication skills, and technical expertise to advance the development of a transformative technology.

Applicant should propose and have the technical background to carry out a well-framed milestone-based project with a defined outcome focused on technology development with potential for significant long-term impact in the field of energy storage.  The project should focus on a technically sound, differentiated, and transformative technology. Applicant should hold or be able to obtain intellectual property rights to the technology.

No, the focus of the fellowship program is specifically on advancing energy storage and battery technologies, and projects outside of this area will not be considered.

Fellows will be expected to conduct appropriate R&D activities based on the proposed project resulting in a proof of concept to advance their battery technology projects, publish and present relevant research findings, seek and apply for additional funding (including SBIR/STTR), and undertake other activities to advance the IP protection and commercialization readiness of their battery technologies. Concurrently, fellows will be expected to participate in regular entrepreneurship and customer-discovery training workshops to assess unmet market needs and develop business models and strategies for the commercialization of the battery technologies.

Early-stage startups are welcome to apply. Preference will be given to those having obtained less than $5M in private investments.

As the fellowship represents a full-time position, the fellow will be expected to be located predominantly in Binghamton for the duration of the program. If the project will involve other team members not covered by the fellowship stipend, they do not have to relocate to Binghamton, but can still participate in virtual programming.

Applicants will be selected at the end of 2021. We expect fellows to begin their two-year appointments in February 2022.

Fellows are expected to be committed to the proposed project full time. 

The background IP of the company when coming into the program will remain solely with the company. However, with the Fellow being an employee of Binghamton University, IP developed as an employee or at Binghamton will follow SUNY IP Policy, and we propose to use a pre-negotiated simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) as up-front payment for a license to IP developed under the project.

Contact Olga Petrova at opetrova@binghamton.edu