Center for Entrepreneurship & Economic Innovation, UTA

Dr. Kim Mayer is our inaugural (interim) Executive Director and is leading the launch of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington. Kim brings to this role her previous experience as the Statewide Technology Commercialization Director at the NC Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), affiliated with The University of North Carolina system. Under Kim’s leadership from 2011-2015, the NC SBTDC’s Technology Commercialization Services team received client attribution for directly contributing to economic impacts with over 125 companies, including: 258 SBIR/STTR awards totaling nearly $102 million, 24 business starts, 38 investments and the creation of over 140 new jobs. Kim also spent four years, from month one through to acquisition, as a senior scientist with a successful agricultural biotechnology startup company in NC’s Research Triangle Park.

Kim also serves as an Associate Vice President for Research at UTA. She uses her expertise to serve the community as a knowledge broker for interdisciplinary projects, facilitate relationships between groups that don't typically have an opportunity to work together, and identify opportunities where combined expertise can lead to greater success. Prior to joining UTA, Kim was the inaugural Executive Director of the endowed Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology, where she worked with faculty, staff and students across the Institute doing innovative research in multiple fields at the intersection between biology and engineering.