THE OWEN/WILLARD STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR SCHOLARSHIP

In 2024, Ray Owen (BSEE, 1979) and Charissa Willard established the Owen/Willard Student Entrepreneur Scholarship. For Ray, it was the relationships fostered at Michigan State that connected him with the opportunity to contribute to speech recognition product development, an early application of what would later be known as generative AI. This experience was formative and later led him to Silicon Valley as a systems engineer. Most importantly, that move led him to Charissa, a cybersecurity architect and software engineer at several networking and storage startups. Both are now partners at Farallon Research, an investment and advisory vehicle. Their shared perspectives in deep tech inform the Scholarship in its mission to support MSU students working to advance society through innovation.

The Owen/Willard Student Entrepreneur Scholarship is intended to encourage students who have demonstrated capacity and motivation to achieve educational and professional goals and seek opportunities to further their progress.

ELIGIBILITY

To be considered for the Owen/Willard Scholarship, student recipients will be awarded to qualified applicants based on the following criteria:

A member of the Burgess Institute’s venture creation program
Demonstrated entrepreneurial engagement and capability in providing impactful solutions to substantial scientific or engineering challenges
In good academic standing at MSU
Preference for those pursuing a Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Additional preference for those with demonstrated financial need