Fueling the entrepreneurial spirit
“We’re not businesspeople, but we are entrepreneurs.” In a simple sentence, Harvard Professor Gary King both described the gulf that separates university faculty members from the business world and provided the reason why some accept the challenge of crossing it: an entrepreneurial spirit that already guides their research and teaching. King, the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor, is a bit of an anomaly: a social scientist who’s also proven to be an entrepreneur. King leveraged research analyzing social media trends into a 2007 startup company, Crimson Hexagon, which was recently named by Fast Company as one of the 10 most innovative companies on the Web. He also collaborated with Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, to ally his data analytic skills with Mazur’s teaching technology and methodology to form another startup, Learning Catalytics, in 2011, focused on improving classroom education. King and Mazur are among a growing number of...