University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dedric A. Carter, PhD MBA
Dr. Dedric A. Carter is the Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development & Chief Innovation Officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Carter was previously at Washinton University in St. Louis since 2013, serving as a Vice Chancellor and officer since 2016. His roles have included service as the Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Chief Commercialization Officer at Washington University in St. Louis (current), where his faculty appointments are as professor of engineering practice at the McKelvey School of Engineering and professor of practice in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the John M. Olin School of Business. In this capacity has responsibility for the entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization portfolios at the University and teaches courses in systems applications to technical, business, and policy issues with an emphasis on the entrepreneurial process, innovation, and new venture creation. Dr. Carter was the founding Co-principal investigator of the $5M grant supporting the Missouri Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM program. In this capacity, Dr. Carter helped to launch CuriMeta, a real-world evidence company, and served as the founding investor director on behalf of the University. As principal investigator, he helped frame a vision and lead a team toward a successful inaugural NSF Engine Type-1 Award (one of 44 in the country) to catalyze the impact of neuroscience and neurotechnology translation toward impact on cognitive wellness. This award in addition to co-PI roles on an NSF ART ward with the University of Missouri account for over $6.5M of funding where Dr. Carter has been either PI or co-PI. From 2016-2021, Dr. Carter served as the senior executive officer for many key operations functions including dining and food services, campus card services, Whittemore House, parking and transportation, summer programs and conferences, procurement and resource management, and environmental health and safety
Prior to joining Washington University, he served as the senior advisor for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in addition to serving as the executive secretary to the U.S. National Science Board executive committee. At NSF, Dr. Carter launched and oversaw the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program to impact the speed of basic research commercialization. In the decade since launching, NSF I-Corps has become a national and international model for basic research translation and new venture creation.
In 2021 Dr. Carter was appointed chair of the Missouri Technology Corporation by Governor Parson where he has been an appointed member and elected vice chair since 2017. During his time at MIT the MIT budget grew to $125M fund for investment in new ventures and entrepreneurial infrastructure in the state of Missouri. He launched and lead and the Mo Innovation and Entrepreneurship Steering Committee which produced the 10-year investment plan for MTC, “Catalyzing Innovation.” Dr. Carter is a member of the Carnegie Mellon Presidential Advisory Committee on the CMU Experience and an appointed member of the MIT Visiting Committee on Research. Additionally, he is a member of the board of the Center for American Entrepreneurship, the Lemelson Foundation International Advisory Board, and Junior Achievement. In September 2023, Dr. Carter was awarded with the Science Leadership Award and inducted into the group of Fellows for the Academy of Science St. Louis. Dr. Carter was appointed by the US Small Business Administration as a member of the of the inaugural Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Federal Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Council on Competitiveness National Competitiveness Inititiave Working Group on The Future of Work and the Workforce.
Dr. Carter has been an assistant dean of Engineering at MIT, a senior principal consultant in IT strategy and management, and an entrepreneur, having helped to start a venture backed company with a presence in the US and UK, and investor/advisor. Dr. Carter has an undergraduate and graduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Nova Southeastern University.
B27 - [IN-PERSON ONLY] Building and Growing an Innovation Program
Monday, December 4, 2023
2:15 PM – 3:15 PM ET