Michael Fountain
Director
Michael Fountain holds three faculty appointments at USF, serving as the John & Beverley Grant Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship, a professor in the College of Engineering, and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine. He currently serves as founding director of USF’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the director for university-wide, interdisciplinary entrepreneurship educational programs. The Center’s national prominence is evidenced by receipt of top national awards in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and is ranked in the top percentages by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine for the USF graduate entrepreneurship educational programs in 2007, 2008, and 2010. Dr. Fountain also, serves as the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Research and Innovation Center (TBRIC) housed at the USF Center for Advanced Medical and Learning Simulation (CAMLS) located in downtown Tampa.
An expert in creating, financing, and growing biotechnological, medical device, and life science companies, Dr. Fountain founded or cofounded seven new ventures (three later publicly traded companies) and patented and commercialized numerous innovative medical and diagnostic products (including sustained release anti-cancer drugs, genetically engineered diagnostic products for autoimmune diseases, microencapsulated dermatologic products and vaccine products for prevention of human and animal infectious disease). He was a pioneer in the development and application of the use of phospholipids in micro- and nano-particle technologies for drug encapsulation. Dr. Fountain has been instrumental in the development and deploying of entrepreneurial programs on an international level. He has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation overseeing strategy, venture capital and private equity, and life sciences entrepreneurship.
Fountain received an Honors BS from Samford University, MS and PhD from Auburn University, and MBA from Bristol University. He also completed advanced studies in education theory at USF. During his corporate career he served in leadership roles including chief scientific officer, chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Currently, Dr. Fountain serves on numerous advisory boards relating to the fields of biotechnology and life sciences.
- Vita (pdf)
room: BSN 3520 | phone: 813.974.7825 | fax: 813.974.6175 | fountain@usf.edu
Teaching
- GEB 6930/EIN 6935 - Strategic Market Assessments for New Technologies
- GEB 6930/EIN 6935 - New Product Development
- GEB 6930 - Advanced Topics in Entrepreneurship
Current Research
- Application of nano-engineering to development of new drug delivery systems to treat Alzheimer’s disease and adult dementia.
- Application of nano-engineering to enhance the ability of drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier.
- Development of new business models to enhance the effectiveness of internet commerce by application of demand aggregation and yield management.
- Application of thermodynamic theories to growth of entrepreneurship.
Service
- Executive Director, Tampa Bay Research and Innovation Center at the Center for Advanced Medical and Learning Simulation
- Boards of Directors: Intezyne Technologies, Inc., Startec Business Accelerator, Youth Empowered to Achieve
- Advisory Boards: USF Students in Free Enterprise, Nanosolutions, LLC., Transgenex DDS and Proteacel, LLC.
- Business and Scientific Advisor: Dermazone Solutions, Inc., NanoSolutions, LLC.
- Community Service Boards: Tampa Chamber of Commerce
- Research Advisory Board: Auburn University
