Why these CMU students are launching a Nucleate chapter in Pittsburgh

Nucleate is a student-led, chapter-based organization that promotes the development of biotech companies in cities around the world. Michael Gee, who studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, was originally exposed to Nucleate through its Genesis venture creation program. He spent the summer in Boston and San Francisco, which have active Nucleate chapters, before deciding to launch a chapter in Pittsburgh.

“I really saw an opportunity for more students to [develop an entrepreneurial] mindset here in Pittsburgh,” he told Technical.ly, “to not only think about publishing papers, but also other career pathways like company building.”

Chris Aldrich also had experience with Nucleate chapters in other cities before getting involved with the Pittsburgh chapter. He joined as a co-managing director with Gee because he saw how members in other cities were “outside-the-box thinkers.”

“[I] felt that there was an opportunity to increase the student interest in Pittsburgh for biotech entrepreneurship and get to work with those likeminded people,” said Aldrich, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at CMU.

Over the last few months, Gee and Aldrich have been having conversations with experts in Pittsburgh about how to boost local interest in the organization.

“We’re really excited to getting more students thinking about other career paths,” Gee said. “We really want to build a strong foundation of bio entrepreneurship in Pittsburgh, which we can which we can then build upon to to serve some of Nucleate’s other educational programs.”

The co-managing directors are currently focused on partnering with local biotech companies, accelerators and VCs who are interested in supporting biotech entrepreneurship, as well as engaging with students and professors to get them involved in programming. (Psst — here’s a roundup of life science startup resources in Pittsburgh.) While both Gee and Aldrich are students at CMU, the chapter is open to all institutions in the city. Gee said they want to build a culture and community where students can connect with Pittsburgh biotech mentors and thought leaders — which could also look like connecting them to local biotech jobs.

“We have a lot of really great startups in Pittsburgh and we want to see students getting those jobs and supporting those startups and staying in Pittsburgh, rather than just coming in for their education, and then leaving afterwards,” Gee said.

The group is hosting its launch event on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at CMU’s Tepper School of Business. Attendees can expect a keynote speaker and three panels related to success stories in Pittsburgh, VCs and local resources. Following the launch, the leaders hope to host events monthly.

Craig Markovitz, entrepreneur in residence at the Swartz Center and assistant teaching professor in entrepreneurship at CMU, said Gee and Aldrich first came to him for background on the existing biotech entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pittsburgh. He’s now a resource to the chapter who can help with advice, promotion, strategy or anything else that might be helpful.

What he finds most interesting about Nucleate is that the chapters are student run.

“I love the idea that the students set the agenda, the students drive the content, the students work towards bringing attendees and sponsors and speakers into this forum,” he said. “Because then you know that these are things that really matter to them.”

Markovitz said the life sciences ecosystem in Pittsburgh is robust and active — the city ranks among the top 15 life science markets in the US, per a fall 2022 JLL report — and it’s important that people here have choices and different opportunities as they build businesses. The Nucleate chapter is one more community resource specifically focused on people who are just getting started, and he wants to see this chapter create connections and lasting impact.

“It’s about traction, it’s about substance — their ability to bring people together and begin that commercialization journey of bringing new and innovative technologies into the community,” Markovitz said.

Aldrich said he ultimately hopes to see more students who are interested in biotech entrepreneurship use Pittsburgh’s resources and focus their future ventures here.

“We just want to create more excitement in community from the students that are here,” he said.

RSVP here Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.