By EPIIC Web Team

Next month, Cal Poly Humboldt will pilot a networking event that is designed to connect, for the first time, a broad group of stakeholders—faculty, alumni, and local businesses—around computing, data and technology needs. Organized with support from the NSF-funded EPIIC grant, the gathering marks an important step in strengthening partnerships between the College of Natural Resources and Sciences—specifically the math and computer science departments—and the broader professional community.

“This October 3rd event that we’re doing is something new,” says Bori Mazzag, associate dean for the College and principal investigator on Humboldt’s EPIIC cohort, Increasing our Innovation SCOREs: Symbiotic Collaboration of Regional Ecosystems. “The purpose of the event is to spur collaboration between the faculty in these two departments and external community members.”

Making Connections

Since becoming a polytechnic institution in 2022, Humboldt has launched new engineering and data science programs. While some, like Environmental Resources Engineering, already enjoy robust ties with state agencies and industry, the newer programs are still building those bridges.

There’s no question that academia–industry partnerships can be powerful. Yet for many faculty members, finding time to cultivate them is difficult. “With this event, we’re trying to jumpstart that process,” Mazzag says.

Participants will include faculty, alumni working in tech, and local businesses with data and computing needs—from analytics to website development. Among them is Dan Phillips, a graduate of Humboldt's Business and Computer Information Systems program who had a distinguished career in tech, including serving as Chief Technology Officer at Hulu and VP of Technology and CIO at TiVo.

To underscore the two-way nature of the exchange, students and former clients of projects will showcase their skills through short presentations. “The impetus was essentially knowing that this is something we want for our programs in order to provide better career outcomes and more opportunities for our students,” says Mazzag.

Most of the event, however, will be devoted to networking. “We’ll have tables set up around various themes, like class projects, mentoring students, internships, or speaker engagements.”

Conversations First, Outcomes Next

The October gathering is meant less as a one-time showcase and more as the beginning of a longer process.

“Our idea is that the only thing that will be happening at this session is conversations between faculty and our invitees,” says Mazzag. “There would be follow-up later, depending on interest—whether that’s class projects, a speaker series, or internships.”

Asked what success would look like, she is clear: “Having some concrete outcomes like a speaker series established, class projects, or internships—that would be our measure of success.”

While the first event will focus on faculty, alumni, and industry professionals, Mazzag sees room to expand. “This is our pilot,” she says. “Depending on how it goes, perhaps in later years we can bring students in as well. The idea is that this would be a planning meeting for future engagement.”

Challenges

As with most first-time events, logistics loom large. Coordinating across alumni relations, marketing, faculty networks, and the Chamber of Commerce has been tricky. “Being able to identify where the contacts are and collecting them has been a challenge,” Mazzag admits. Some outreach, such as connecting with local tech professionals, is likely to spread more through word of mouth.

Looking Ahead

If the pilot succeeds, Humboldt hopes to make it a recurring effort. “We’ll build the template for the logistics and have a sense of the costs,” says Mazzag. “We’d probably run this again with EPIIC support before the grant expires, and then transition it to the college and departments.”

Ultimately, the event is about sparking conversations that lead to collaboration. “We want to leverage our polytechnic designation and lean into our community to elevate our programs and work together for the benefit of our whole community,” says Mazzag. “Our students have an incredible potential to make a positive impact on Humboldt County and our state, and our networking event will be a first step in unlocking this potential.”