Embry-Riddle Relaunches Entrepreneurship Center With $7,000 Student Pitch Prize

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has relaunched its Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship with a new director, a new experiential lab and a student business competition carrying up to $7,000 in awards on Nov. 13. The relaunch, announced Nov. 4, 2026, lands under the David B. O'Maley College of Business.

The center's mandate is straightforward: help students develop ideas, test their commercial potential and turn promising concepts into actual businesses. The university is betting that a rebuilt physical space and a director with deep industry connections can accelerate that pipeline.

Who is running the center?

Dr. Sierra Pollard takes over as director. She arrives from the University of Florida, where she ran the Blackstone LaunchPad, a campus innovation hub inside the Warrington College of Business. She also taught there and built UF's Innovating 4 Space (i4S) program — a cross-disciplinary initiative combining business, engineering, design and strategy that fed startups into the space industry.

The i4S program, housed under UF's Engineering Innovation Institute, partnered with Blue Origin, Collins Aerospace and Raytheon Technologies. That corporate rolodex is a central part of what Embry-Riddle hired.

Pollard calls herself a "serial entrepreneur." She has started five companies plus a charitable foundation, and she sits on the board of the Women in Space organization with the Space Force Association, where she handles space education, outreach and advocacy.

"For me, this role at Embry-Riddle was a perfect melting pot of entrepreneurship and aerospace engineering and aviation," Pollard said.

What does the relaunch actually add?

The centerpiece is a new experiential lab on the first floor of the O'Maley College of Business. It features modern meeting and presentation spaces built to pull three groups into one room: students, faculty and industry collaborators.

Pollard's programming plan leans on her existing network. She intends to bring frequent guest speakers, workshops and events that connect students with industry partners, entrepreneurs and mentors — the kind of contact-building that turns classroom ideas into funded ventures.

"Embry-Riddle has an extraordinary opportunity to build a distinctive entrepreneurship ecosystem at the intersection of aviation, aerospace, space and emerging technologies," said Joe Gibney, dean of the O'Maley College of Business. "By bringing together students from across the university with entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors, we can help transform innovative ideas into real-world opportunities. Sierra brings the experience and industry relationships needed to advance that vision."

What's the first date on the calendar?

Nov. 13. That's when the center hosts TREP Expo, a student business idea competition with up to $7,000 in awards. It's the first concrete test of whether the relaunched center can draw student founders into the fold.

Gibney frames the stakes in graduate outcomes, not just startup counts.

"Our ambition is to make entrepreneurial experience a defining part of an O'Maley education while creating an innovation resource that serves the entire Embry-Riddle community," he said. "We want students to graduate not just with the knowledge to succeed in established organizations, but with the confidence and skills to identify opportunities, solve problems and create something new."

The structure is worth noting. One director, one lab, one competition and a stated goal of serving the entire university — not just business majors. If Pollard's Blue Origin- and Raytheon-tier connections transfer to Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus, the center could become a genuine on-ramp from aerospace coursework to aerospace startups.