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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Retail, Tech, and Innovation Leaders Join North Texas AR Startup’s New Advisory Board
by | Apr 6, 2022
Spacee, a computer vision- and AI-powered augmented reality company, has unveiled a new three-person advisory board in a moment that founder and CEO Skip Howard calls “critical.”
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Frisco EDC’s First Director of Innovation Will Focus on Startups, Tech, and Venture Capital
by | Mar 25, 2022
Entrepreneur Jasmin Brand will take on the newly created role. The goal? To make Frisco a “major national hub” for venture capital and innovation.
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From Automated Airport Parking to On-Demand Rides, North Texas Boosts Autonomous Vehicle Capabilities
by | Mar 24, 2022
NCTCOG's Regional Transportation Council believes autonomous vehicles are part of the solution to North Texas' future.

From autonomous parking at DFW airport to self-driving DART shuttles to medication deliveries in McKinney—along with local hubs for Kodiak Robotics, Aurora, and TuSimple—the region could prove to be the "most robust, automated, and connected vehicle ecosystem in the country," says one official.
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Local Innovators Take Home Awards at Dallas’ State of Entrepreneurship 2022 Event

by | Mar 14, 2022

At the Dallas Entrepreneur Center’s State of Entrepreneurship event last week, individual innovators and local startups were recognized for their accomplishments over the past year. And, according to the numbers, there was a lot to celebrate.

Last year, the region saw more than $2 billion in funding go to more than 90 seed- and early-stage entrepreneurs in North Texas—nearly double the amount in 2020....

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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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SMU Study Uses Drones and Machine Learning to Find ‘Infrastructure Desert’ Neighborhoods in Dallas
by | Feb 22, 2022
The study by a team of SMU civil engineering researchers was supported by a five-year, $584,000 National Science Foundation grant. The team hopes that their study will lead to equitable improvements in the identified neighborhoods—with better groceries, internet access, noise walls, crosswalks, hospital access, bike trails, and more.
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Starship Technologies Launches Robot Food Deliveries at SMU

by | Jan 24, 2022
A fleet of 16 autonomous robots from San Francisco-based Starship is now rolling across the SMU campus, delivering food from nine campus eateries. The app-controlled, on-demand robots have Mustang branding and can deliver up to 20 pounds of food in "minutes." Starship, co-founded by a former Skype founding engineer, has made over 2.5 million autonomous deliveries worldwide.
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’58 Alum Gives SMU $50M Toward New End Zone Complex for Gerald J. Ford Stadium
by | Jan 21, 2022
The gift by Weber, a 1958 alum and former Mustang football player, is the largest in the history of the SMU Athletic Department. It launches a $100M facility drive to build the 192,500-SF complex—which will house a team auditorium, new locker rooms, a weight room, position-specific meeting rooms, and more.
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Dallas Startup Week Slated for August with 5 days, 100+ Events, and 200+ Speakers
by | Jan 13, 2022
Hosted by The DEC Network and powered by Capital One, the five-day showcase is North Texas’ largest event focused on driving entrepreneurial success, economic impact, and innovation.
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SMU Collaborates on High-Res Cameras That See Around (and Through) Hidden Objects
by | Dec 2, 2021
Southern Methodist University and Northwestern researchers are working on technology that lets cameras record holograms of objects beyond the line of sight. The technology has defense, hazard identification, and medical applications.
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$11.5M NVIDIA Collaboration Will Put SMU ‘in the Fast Lane for Artificial Intelligence’

by | Nov 11, 2021
SMU is investing $11.5 million into a powerful new supercomputing research system featuring an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD. Connected with the NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand networking platform in SMU's data center, it will produce a theoretical 100 petaflops of computing power—enabling the university's network to perform "a blistering 100 quadrillion operations per second." The new capability will supercharge SMU's AI and supercomputing exploration, boosting North Texas' growth as a technology hub.
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SMU Announces All-New Business Accelerator to Support Next-Gen Entrepreneurs
by | Aug 10, 2021
Students and recent alumni of Southern Methodist University will have the opportunity to be a part of an "intense and enriching" 6-month program—and a chance to compete for funding.
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Is Your Pet Family? SMU Sociologist Says “Multispecies Families” Impact Birth Rates, Job Location, Disasters, and More
by | Jul 13, 2021
SMU sociologist Andrea Laurent-Simpson says treating pets like family has changed our laws, the number of children we have, and even where we choose to work. Her new book could make the fur fly for pet lovers and detractors alike.
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SMU Professor Gets $315K Grant To Create New Disaster Evacuation Models
Catastrophes like Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey can cause massive human misery and death. With the National Science Foundation grant, SMU Professor Halit Üster will explore ways to use data to help move millions safely out of harm's way—with enough supplies available to meet their needs.
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