Professor Yiorgos Kostoulas has been selected to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award for the 2024-25 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Kostoulas, director of the Division of Engineering Science and Management, will teach and conduct research in Trinidad and Tobago at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus. He will offer courses in technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property and mentor student entrepreneurs at St Augustine Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (StACIE), the university’s equivalent to the Wond’ry at Vanderbilt.
The St. Augustine Campus is on the island of Trinidad, one of the two main islands and numerous smaller islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). T&T is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean and it is situated 6.8 miles off the coast of northeastern Venezuela.
“Trinidad and Tobago is navigating its way through economic diversification, moving away from an oil and gas-based economy toward technology and innovation,” said Kostoulas, a professor of the practice of Engineering Management. “This shift presents an opportunity to create an impactful project that supports this transition, leveraging the nation’s existing potential and facilitating its progress.”
Kostoulas hopes the Fulbright project—Empowering Technopreneurship: Fostering Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, in Trinidad and Tobago—can be a catalyst in establishing a formal program in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization in T&T. “The program would be modeled on successful initiatives at Vanderbilt and would help foster a culture of entrepreneurship among students,” he said. “In the long term, I see this program enhancing the link between the University of the West Indies and Vanderbilt.”
Kostoulas combines experience in technical marketing and in scientific research. He has launched a number of successful products in the semiconductor industry and led market expansion efforts for several product lines. His sales and marketing experience includes new business development, project management, product life-cycle management on a global basis, competitive and market analysis, and product pricing and positioning. He also is experienced in software project management techniques and metrics and has authored more than 30 technical, peer-reviewed publications.
Forging Research Partnerships
Fulbright U.S. scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.
Contact: brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu