at the helm

Research-based innovation accelerator with Houston presence names new CEO

Activate announced Cyrus Wadia as its new CEO. Photo courtesy of Activate

A national organization that helps accelerate scientists into entrepreneurs has named its new CEO.

Today, Activate announced Cyrus Wadia as CEO of the organization. Based California, Activate recently expanded to Houston. The two-year accelerator provides funding and support for its selected cohorts.

“Wadia personifies so much of what Activate is about,” says Activate’s founder and former CEO, Ilan Gur, who now heads ARIA, the UK’s multibillion-dollar innovation agency. “He is impact-driven, entrepreneurial, and cares deeply about people, family, and community. He’s one of the few people on the planet that I’d be proud and excited to have lead the next phase of what we started.”

Wadia’s new role takes effect on October 16. Todd Johnson has served as interim CEO for the past year, and he will return to his role on Activate’s board of directors with the transition.

Wadia most recently served as director of worldwide product sustainability at Amazon. He also oversaw sustainable business and innovation at Nike and was appointed assistant director of clean energy and materials R&D at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Barack Obama.

"I’m thrilled to join this incredible team at such an exciting moment for the organization. Because of Activate, scientists are designing new products, accelerating the creation of new businesses, and becoming leaders who will transform our future," Wadia says in the news release. "I look forward to building on this momentum to expand the role science leadership plays in solving society’s most pressing issues.”

As CEO, Wadia will lead the organization as it expands and operates its five communities. In eight years, Activate has advanced 188 fellows and 145 science-based startups, which have gone on to raise nearly $1.4 billion and create over 1900 jobs.

“Activate has transformed into one of the most impactful science innovation communities in the world in less than a decade,” says Liesl Schindler, Activate board chair. “The extraordinary people and culture of Activate give us nothing but confidence as we transition into the organization's next phase of growth—with Cyrus Wadia now at the helm.”

Next year, Houston will have its inaugural cohort. The program's led locally by Jeremy Pitts, managing director for Activate Houston, who was named to the role last month.

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A View From HETI

UH's $44 million RAD Center is the first mass timber building on campus with a dramatically lower carbon footprint compared to other buildings of its kind. Photo via uh.edu.

The University of Houston recently completed assessments on year one of the first mass timber project on campus, and the results show it has had a major impact.

Known as the Retail, Auxiliary, and Dining Center, or RAD Center, the $44 million building showed an 84 percent reduction in predicted energy use intensity, a measure of how much energy a building uses relative to its size, compared to similar buildings. Its Global Warming Potential rating, a ratio determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows a 39 percent reduction compared to the benchmark for other buildings of its type.

In comparison to similar structures, the RAD Center saved the equivalent of taking 472 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year off the road, according to architecture firm Perkins & Will.

The RAD Center was created in alignment with the AIA 2030 Commitment to carbon-neutral buildings, designed by Perkins & Will and constructed by Houston-based general contractor Turner Construction.

Perkins & Will’s work reduced the building's carbon footprint by incorporating lighter mass timber structural systems, which allowed the RAD Center to reuse the foundation, columns and beams of the building it replaced. Reused elements account for 45 percent of the RAD Center’s total mass, according to Perkins & Will.

Mass timber is considered a sustainable alternative to steel and concrete construction. The RAD Center, a 41,000-square-foot development, replaced the once popular Satellite, which was a food, retail and hangout center for students on UH’s campus near the Science & Research Building 2 and the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

The RAD Center uses more than a million pounds of timber, which can store over 650 metric tons of CO2. Aesthetically, the building complements the surrounding campus woodlands and offers students a view both inside and out.

“Spaces are designed to create a sense of serenity and calm in an ecologically-minded environment,” Diego Rozo, a senior project manager and associate principal at Perkins & Will, said in a news release. “They were conceptually inspired by the notion of ‘unleashing the senses’ – the design celebrating different sights, sounds, smells and tastes alongside the tactile nature of the timber.”

In addition to its mass timber design, the building was also part of an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) reduction effort. It features high-performance insulation and barriers, natural light to illuminate a building's interior, efficient indoor lighting fixtures, and optimized equipment, including HVAC systems.

The RAD Center officially opened Phase I in Spring 2024. The third and final phase of construction is scheduled for this summer, with a planned opening set for the fall.

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