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William Spears, founder and CEO of Dallas-based sustainability solutions firm Cenergistic, gave SMU its largest donation from a non-alum in its more than century-long history in 2022. The gift helped establish his namesake Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership within the Cox School of Business, as well as the Spears Accelerator and other entrepreneur-supporting efforts.[Photo: SMU]

SMU Lands One of its Largest Gifts Ever to Fund Entrepreneurship

by | Apr 28, 2022
William Spears, founder and CEO of Dallas-based sustainability solutions firm Cenergistic, has given SMU the largest donation from a non-alum in its more than century-long history.

The gift will be used to set up the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership within the Cox School of Business, as well as the Spears Accelerator, to help get student- and faculty-formed businesses off the ground, and other entrepreneur-supporting efforts.
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UTD Team Develops Rapid Virus Test That’s ‘150 Times More Accurate’—and They’ve Launched a Company to Commercialize It
by | Apr 21, 2022
A team of UT Dallas bioengineers has developed a rapid test for viruses that delivers results as accurate as PCR lab tests within 30 minutes. The test works by attaching gold nanoparticles to antibodies against the virus being tested, then scanning them with two lasers.

Three months after winning the grand prize at the MassChallenge North Texas pitch competition, the team's leader, Dr. Zhenpeng Qin, is working to commercialize the technology through a new company, Avsana Labs.
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zogo and Apex team up on next-gen financial literacy
Dallas ‘Fintech for Fintechs’ Teams Up With Texas-based Zogo for Bite-Sized Financial Literacy
by | Apr 20, 2022
“Millennials and Gen Z are reinventing investing," says Zogo founder Bolun Li. The company's next-gen financial education takes a Gen Z approach to covering financial literacy—gamification.
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Dallas College Job Training Cuts Turnover, Boosts Engagement
by | Apr 12, 2022
Dallas College, which received a $10 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to train workers in information technology, advanced manufacturing, and transportation-related skills, is on the verge of expanding its job training efforts to the national level.

Closer to home, five Southern Dallas County companies are taking part in the college's Skills Development Fund program.
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[Image: PopTika/Shutterstock]

Big D Can Be Davos for the Brain Economy

by | Apr 4, 2022
Brain health is at the forefront of an economy that's increasingly knowledge intensive. With innovation spanning precision diagnostics and treatment matching to economic policies and innovative investment models, there's a "golden opportunity" to lead the brain health revolution.

"Dallas is uniquely positioned to lead the way for the state, the country, and the world," according to these science, policy, and finance experts.
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ICYMI 2022: The Q1 Archive
by | Mar 31, 2022
TIAA is moving to The Star in Frisco, PeopleFun names a female CEO, DIFF readies for its first-ever spring preview of films, and more.
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EVERY LAST WORD 2022: The Q1 Archive
by | Mar 31, 2022
These quotable North Texans inspire, inform, motivate, or simply make us laugh.
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UT Dallas Researchers Study How Crowdfunding Campaigns Succeed (and Fail) With Social Media
by | Mar 31, 2022
UT Dallas marketing professor emeritus Brian Ratchford and his team explored the effects of social media on crowdfunding across nearly 440 GoFundMe campaigns.  They found that social media is most helpful in the first 10 days of a campaign. “If a campaign doesn't do well at the outset, it is unlikely to succeed,” Ratchford said.
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Danielle Moore (left) and Denise Strickland

Design Connect Create Names New Leaders, Plans Expanded Programming to Help Girls ‘Engineer Their Futures in STEM’

by | Mar 25, 2022
The STEM-focused nonprofit wants to help girls become the innovators of the future.
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With Adults-Only Nights on Tap Soon, the Perot Museum’s Speed Wall Beckons
by | Mar 16, 2022
Thursdays on Tap—a 6 to 10 p.m. experience exclusively for those 21 and up—is coming to the Perot Museum March 24 through October 13. It's the perfect time to race against the museum's newly revamped Speed Wall, featuring Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, Dallas Wings guard Moriah Jefferson, and other athletes with local ties.

The Speed Wall was reimagined by its original creators, Dallas-based 900lbs, to celebrate the Perot's 10th anniversary this month.
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Fort Worth’s Fulcrum Group Joins CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech Program
by | Mar 14, 2022
The IT managed services provider is the second Dallas-Fort Worth company in the last six month to participate in the program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. Apprentices will receive on-the-job and structured training, paired with mentorship and real work experience. With 18,600 DFW tech job postings last month alone, more talent is definitely needed.
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Real Estate Expert Joins SMU, Crow Holdings to Provide Industry Research to the Region
by | Mar 11, 2022

Mark Roberts is taking his expertise in the real estate space to two local organizations.

A fellow at the Real Estate Research Institute, Roberts has been jointly hired by Dallas real estate investment and development firm Crow Holdings and the SMU Cox School of Business’ Robert and Margaret Folsom Institute for Real Estate as a director of research....

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West Dallas STEM School. [Photo: Toyota/Driving Possibilities]

West Dallas STEM School Inspires Toyota’s $110M ‘Driving Possibilities’ Program

by | Mar 3, 2022
The program is based on the success seen at the West Dallas Stem School—supported by around $5 million in donations from Toyota and a collaboration between Dallas ISD and SMU. Now Toyota is taking the STEM-focused educational model across the country, to help prepare students in pre-K through 12th grade for the workforce, while providing a variety of other community engagement activities.
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Amazon Partners with Four North Texas Colleges and Universities on Fully Funded Tuition for Its Employees
by | Mar 3, 2022
Amazon's "Career Choice" partnerships with 140 universities and colleges across the country will provide fully funded college tuition opportunities to its 750,000 hourly U.S. employees. Today's announcement is part of Amazon's Upskilling 2025 pledge—a $1.2 billion commitment to upskill more than 300,000 Amazon employees by 2025.
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UT Southwestern’s New School of Public Health Lands $100M Gift—One of the Largest for a Public School of Its Kind
by | Mar 2, 2022
The University’s newest school in more than 50 years will be named after Peter O’Donnell Jr., the late local investor and visionary philanthropist. The School of Public Health will be "research-intensive,' says Interim Dean Celette Sugg Skinner.

The school plans to welcome its first class of Master of Public Health students in the fall of 2023, followed by classes for Ph.D. students in the fall of 2024.
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Justin Lonon Named New Chancellor of Dallas College, Aims to Create a Pipeline for High-Demand Jobs
by | Mar 1, 2022
After 16 years of executive and strategic leadership at Dallas College, Dr. Lonon is taking the helm as the eighth chancellor of one of the largest community colleges in the U.S. On its seven campuses across Dallas County, 125,000 students pursue 300+ degrees each year, with an economic impact of $204 million in payroll and operations spending. With workforce and upskilling demands at new heights in North Texas, he's positioned to play a key role in the region.
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