{"id":46639,"date":"2017-07-20T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=46639"},"modified":"2017-08-02T15:37:56","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T19:37:56","slug":"wright-state-grad-students-help-create-commercialization-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/07\/20\/wright-state-grad-students-help-create-commercialization-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State grad students help create commercialization success story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

From left: Amit Sheth, professor of computer science and engineering and executive director of the Kno.e.sis Center, and Alan Smith look on as Jeremy Brunn displays data gathered by Twitris on a digital monitor.<\/p><\/div>\n

Former construction worker Jeremy Brunn used to spend his summer months performing backbreaking work, such as installing roofing shingles in 95-degree weather.<\/p>\n

Last summer, Brunn and Alan Smith, his colleague at Wright State’s Kno.e.sis Center<\/a>, helped transform a sophisticated software tool into a Dayton startup company.<\/p>\n

Brunn’s transformation from pounding nails to commercializing technology started when he decided to lay down his hammer and pick up a textbook on programming languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, coming to Wright State has been one of the better decisions I\u2019ve made in my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that Wright State was here for me. I can\u2019t even imagine what I would have done with my life if I hadn\u2019t decided on this path.\u201d<\/p>\n

His decision point came shortly after the 2008 crash in the housing market. He and his wife had just become proud parents of their second child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I couldn\u2019t provide steady support for my family in the construction industry. I read a Forbes article which predicted that computer science would be one of the hottest growth jobs in the future,\u201d Brunn said. \u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed working with computers. When I was 10, I programmed a computer to check my math homework. So, computer science is what I decided on. And once I did, I went all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

After earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science<\/a> from Wright State, Brunn decided to continue on the path to earn a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids were one of my biggest motivations for staying in school,\u201d he said. \u201cMy son was born just before I started here, and I wanted to provide stability for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith had a similar motivation for pursuing a master\u2019s degree in computer science at Wright State \u2014 parenthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had my son, I made a lifelong commitment to do best by him, which meant not giving up on my educational goals,\u201d said Smith, who also graduated from Wright State with a bachelor’s in computer science.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Amit Sheth, left, and James Mainord, co-founders of Cognovi Labs.<\/p><\/div>\n

Together, Brunn and Smith became two important members of the Kno.e.sis team that transformed Twitris into a Dayton-based startup company.<\/p>\n

The product of years of research by Amit Sheth, Kno.e.sis executive director, and several of his Ph.D. students, Twitris provides actionable insight<\/a> into social media content, connecting real-time Twitter and other social media content with relevant news, Wikis and linked open data as background knowledge for deeper and more precise insights of collective social media intelligence.<\/p>\n

Twitris provides insight in three different dimensions: Spatio-temporal-thematic (where, when, what); people-content-networking (who and how); and emotion-sentiment-intent (perceptions, actions and impact). This combination of data and insight into social media content helps provide actionable information and better decision making for the end user.<\/p>\n

Twitris attracted a potential licensing partner, Ikove Venture Partners, to explore the marketability of the software tool with researchers at Wright State\u2019s Kno.e.sis Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized that Twitris was a powerful tool, but the challenge was making this tool accessible to a non-computer scientist,\u201d said James Mainord, COO of Ikove Venture Partners and Cognovi Labs.<\/p>\n

Ikove asked the Kno.e.sis team to help the firm unlock the power of Twitris for their targeted end users \u2014 a branding executive at Disney, a hedge fund manager, a political campaign or a social media marketing manager at Wendy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Therein lay the challenge for Brunn and Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe flew in potential investors from New York City and South America to attend our weekly meetings with the Twitris commercialization team, and every week, we\u2019d say, \u2018This is interesting, but can Twitris do this? Can it show it me this information in this format? Can it update even faster?\u2019\u201d said Mainord.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investment team was extremely thorough with their examination of the Twitris tool,\u201d said Mainord. \u201cWe gave Jeremy and Alan new technical challenges every week, and every week, they overcame every challenge we laid before them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The behind-the-scenes work of Brunn, Smith and the rest of the Kno.e.sis team started to generate national publicity. TechCrunch, a business blog focusing on startup and investment news, wrote several articles on the innovative Wright State-developed technology. On June 29, 2016, TechCrunch posted a glowing article on the use of Twitris to accurately predict the outcome of the contentious Brexit vote using sophisticated social media analytics.<\/p>\n

Based on the power of Twitris and the performance of the Kno.e.sis team, Ikove licensed the Twitris technology and, in the fall of 2016, launched a new Dayton-based company, Cognovi Labs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn business, timing is everything. We measure things like \u2018manufacturing velocity\u2019 and \u2018speed to market,\u2019\u201d Mainord said. \u201cWhat\u2019s amazing about Jeremy, Alan and the rest of the Kno.e.sis team is that they understand this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they say something will get done, you know it will get done,\u201d said Mainord. \u201cThat\u2019s the highest compliment you can say about someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheth, who serves as Brunn’s and Smith’s adviser, said he\u2019s not surprised by the feedback on his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m working with my students, I often feel like President Kennedy making the commitment that an American will land on the moon,\u201d Sheth said. \u201cI know there will be a lot of tough, technical challenges, but ultimately, I\u2019m confident that our students will find a creative solution, and they will succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbara H. Kenny, program director for the National Science Foundation\u2019s Partnerships for Innovation Program, said she was pleased that Twitris has made the commercial leap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Science Foundation\u2019s Partnerships for Innovation Program is an initiative designed to support the transition of NSF-funded fundamental research into market-valued solutions,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cWe are very pleased with the Wright State team\u2019s ability to transition its NSF-funded Twitris technology into a startup company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dean

Nathan Klingbeil, dean of the Wright State College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/p><\/div>\n

Nathan Klingbeil, dean of the Wright State College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a>, said he is proud of the graduate students\u2019 contribution to the Twitris commercialization success story \u2014 but not surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on making high-quality engineering and computer science education accessible to students from all walks of life,\u201d Klingbeil said. \u201cThe fact that a former construction worker can come to Wright State, earn both a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in computer science and play a critical role in launching a new, high-tech company is impressive, but this is what we\u2019ve grown to expect from our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remarkable success of Jeremy, Alan, Dr. Sheth and the Twitris commercialization team provides further testimony to our collective emphasis on access, affordability, and preeminence in engineering and computer science education,\u201d Klingbeil said.<\/p>\n

The commercialization of Twitris was supported by Wright State\u2019s Office of Technology Transfer, which was established in 2001 as a division under the office of Vice President for Research. The mission of the technology transfer office is to assist and guide students, faculty, and staff to commercialize the university\u2019s intellectual property to benefit society and the community. The office works to get inventions legally protected and then find commercial partners to take them to market by creating non-confidential summaries of the inventions and contacting parties that might be interested.<\/p>\n

Wright State became an independent institution in 1967 and has grown into an innovative leader in the Dayton region and beyond, capturing the spirit of the university\u2019s namesakes, Wilbur and Orville Wright, who invented the world\u2019s first successful airplane from their Dayton bicycle shop. It celebrates its 50th anniversary<\/a> as an independent public university in 2017, culminating with a special Homecoming celebration<\/a> Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Brunn and Alan Smith became two important members of the Kno.e.sis team that transformed Twitris into a Dayton-based startup company. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":46642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,4267,743,2060,725,715,18,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-computer-science-and-engineering","category-engineering-computer-science","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-research","category-special-categories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46639"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46948,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46639\/revisions\/46948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}