by Nat Levy
At the Cockrell School, our engineers tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, and that means turning research into real-world products and building companies to disrupt industries.
The Cockrell School has graduated thousands of students who have gone on to start their own businesses all over the world. Faculty members regularly turn their research breakthroughs into startups. These companies run the gamut from high-tech startups to energy companies to homebuilders to food and beverage companies and more. But what unites them all is the courage to try, and even the courage to fail, in the pursuit of innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Our alumni, faculty and students are some of the most creative people on the planet. It’s exciting for us to help entrepreneurs while they’re on the Forty Acres and watch them go on to build and grow impactful companies.”
— Ashley Jennings, managing director of Texas Innovation Center, a venture studio at UT that helps researchers across the Forty Acres commercialize their work
Below is just a nano selection of the thousands of companies that our Texas Engineering alumni and faculty lead.
HQ: Los Angeles
Mission/Product: Reusable water bottles and takeout containers made from plastics recovered from rivers and coasts before they can enter the ocean.
BSE, biomedical engineering 1987
Fun fact: In addition to a long career in pharmaceutical manufacturing, Colesberry has also worked as a movie extra, standup comedian and comedy writer.
HQ: Mountain View, Calif.
Mission/Product: Easy-to-use sensors and a digital curriculum for science teachers.
B.S. mechanical engineering 2009
Fun fact: Starting in the pandemic, the company’s “Unconferences” have built a community for science teachers to learn from each other.
HQ: Chicago
Mission/Product: Fuel cells and other solutions to reduce cost of green hydrogen.
Chemical engineering professor
Fun fact: Celadyne got its start with the help of the Sputnik ATX Accelerator and the Chain Reaction Innovations program at Argonne National Lab.
HQ: Boulder, Colo.
Mission/Product: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning software to help transportation, aerospace and emerging tech companies with navigation challenges.
M.S. aerospace engineering 2022
Fun fact: Nichols was a two-time defensive athlete of the year and academic all-american as a soccer player at MIT, winning multiple conference championships as well.
HQ: Sunnyvale, Calif.
Mission/Product: Carbon-based materials for batteries and other energy storage applications.
Ph.D. materials science 1990
Fun fact: Mitra is a member of Mensa, the “High IQ Society.”
HQ: Boulder, Colo.
Mission/Product: 72-year-old restaurant chain with more than 30 locations in California and Texas.
Russ Harvey
B.S. aerospace engineering 1947
Fun fact: Harvey traded his 1948 Buick for a hot dog cart to launch his restaurant career.
HQ: Jakarta, Indonesia
Mission/Product: Uses technological advancements like AI crop monitoring via drones and seed biotechnology to support small rice farms.
M.S. petroleum and geosystems engineering 2018
Fun fact: In addition to using technology to improve farming, Ramadhan himself is a rice farmer.
HQ: Washington D.C.
Mission/Product: General contractor focused on institutional projects.
Fun fact: Co-founded by fellow Texas Engineers Bassem Boustany and Joseph Khoury, MCN worked on more than 150 K-12 campuses across the East Coast and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as healthcare, community, office, and higher education projects.
HQ: Paris, France
Mission/Product: Develops novel drug candidates and delivery mechanisms using quantum technology.
Biomedical engineering professor
Fun fact: Recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of the 100 most disruptive technology startups and acknowledged by the Prix Galien USA jury with a nomination for the Best Startup award in 2024.
Tell us your story
Have you built a company you’d like to tell us about? Reach out to us; we’d love to hear about it.
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