The W.E. Cornell program helps STEM PhDs and postdocs commercialize their innovations and overcome the challenges of leading a growing technology-based business. Combining a proven entrepreneurship curriculum with a focus on leadership development and empowerment, participants will finish the program prepared to take the next steps in their entrepreneurship journey.
The Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on researching the entrepreneurial climate in the United States and supporting entrepreneurship programs, identifies some of the key barriers facing women entrepreneurs:
- Mentors are in short supply
- Implicit biases exist against women entrepreneurs
- Lack of access to venture capital
The W.E. Cornell program is a guided entrepreneurship and leadership program. Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Meet experienced mentors
- Build their network
- Hone their market fit and customer base
- Launch their innovations and pitch to investors and community members
Program Structure
W.E. Cornell is open to all students at Cornell doing research at the graduate level and higher including women, female-identified, and non-binary people.
The program is comprised of two workshops: Workshop 1 in January and Workshop 2 in February.
Workshop 1 – January
Participants will engage in a full-day, on-campus workshop focused on fostering entrepreneurial skills and community building with the cohort. The workshop will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Workshop 2 – February
Participants will engage in a full-day, on-campus workshop focused on fundraising, operations, and next steps, as well as a pitch session to the W.E. Cornell advisory board members.
Advisory Board Pitch Session (Optional)
A select group of participants will pitch virtually to the W.E. Cornell advisory board members.
Why Investing in Women is Just Good Business
A growing body of evidence shows that institutional investors should consider female fund managers to improve their investment outcomes. The evidence suggest that women-led funds perform better, in part because they are more likely to invest in women-founded companies. Read more in this research brief, Why Investing in Women is Just Good Business.
Alumni Spotlights
Firehiwot Gurara ’24
Since completing W.E. Cornell, Gurara has continued working on her power converter startup, ICoN Energy, as a member of the inaugural cohort of the Green Technology Innovation Fellowship, and she was awarded an Ignite Innovation Acceleration grant from Cornell’s Center for Technology Licensing. Now, Gurara is a semifinalist for the American-Made Solar Prize, a multimillion-dollar competition administered by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Cátia P. Dombaxe ’26
With her startup Nakwaha Beauty, a skincare line targeting hyperpigmentation in black women, Dombaxe aims to help women who struggle with hyperpigmentation by leveraging her chemistry and biomedical engineering expertise and her Angolan heritage. Dombaxe employs farmers in Angola to source essential plant material used in Nakwaha Beauty’s hydrogel skincare products. Now a member of the Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship, Dombaxe’s entrepreneurship journey was recently featured through a series supported by the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW).