Cornwell, Andrew, PhD

As the FES Center’s primary contact for external collaborations, my objective is to strengthen existing and forge new relationships with groups outside the center to build the FES Center’s visibility and impact.

I pursue and manage relationships with other academic centers interested in working with FES Center investigators, and also with industrial partners.

Strategic Collaborations

The FES Center believes strongly in collaborative research, and works closely with many groups across the country on a wide variety of research projects centered around neuromodulation, neural rehabilitation, neural prostheses, brain-computer interfaces, deep brain stimulation, and more. We strive to stay at the front of new fields of neural stimulation research and frequently partner with other groups where our collective expertise might dovetail.

FES Center investigators regularly compete successfully for major funding initiatives from federal sources, such as NIH and DARPA, as well as industrial and philanthropic agencies. The most successful of these projects are those with source experts from worldwide institutions, and we actively seek– and are responsive to– outside collaborations.

Industrial Relations & Partnerships

Much of the mission of the Center is to bring technologies to those who need it, and this work is accomplished through partnerships with existing industry partners or through formation of new companies. By partnering early with prospective partners, the Center can de-risk the technology transfer process by designing solutions to regulatory, documentation, and reimbursement hurdles. Tackling these problems early in the development cycle greatly facilitates the adoption of university technology by new or established industry partners.

In addition, the FES Center can leverage years of device expertise and neural technology research to de-risk early stage research for companies. Differing from a traditional sponsored project, these types of explorations combine industrial development, academic research, and federal funding opportunities to answer specific questions relevant to both the academic investigator and the industrial partner. These types of collaborations have been enormously successful and represent a new model for rapid advances and transfer of academic research.