17 years, 79 courses, and over 1,200 students taught: Dr. Stuart Evans retires after an impactful career at CMU

The wide-ranging impact that Dr. Stuart Evans has had on the iii and Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley campus

Since 2008, Dr. Stuart Evans has impacted the Integrated Innovation Institute and the wider Carnegie Mellon University community, fostering innovation in products and services within his classrooms.

Before the iii, Stuart was a Senior Associate at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. There, he helped create the entrepreneurship program. His career journey at CMU started when Stuart was introduced to the institute via his friend, Dr. Jim Morris, who was a professor here at the time and whom Stuart had previously known through the venture capital community. 

Since Stuart previously taught MBA students, he was apprehensive about this switch to teaching an interdisciplinary technology degree. To settle his worries, he sat in on a class. During that class, he became engaged with the issues the students were tackling and the principles they were learning, and he realized it was a community he wanted to join.

“I said I would just teach a class, and it's been 17 years. It has been a lovely journey. I have had a great time full of so many memories and lots of friends.”

When Stuart started at the iii, most of the Silicon Valley students were part-time students in the Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM) program. The iii has undergone many changes over the years, and Stuart was part of that evolution. 

For instance, Dr. Jon Cagan, co-founder of the iii, asked Stuart if he would teach a class for the MIIPS program (then called the Master of Product Development program). This made him the only instructor in iii history to teach across degree programs.

As a bicoastal professor for the iii, Stuart also taught within the previous Master of Science in Technology Ventures (MSTV) program whenever the group came to Silicon Valley. Through this program, students would travel between both campuses in Silicon Valley and Pittsburgh, enriching their experiences with products and services by offering them a bicoastal experience. “It was great to bring together the two mindsets [of both campuses] together,” he said about the previous bicoastal curriculum. He loved this dynamic of cross-pollination that occurred between the two campuses because it offered students so many opportunities within the entirety of the iii.

Stuart’s teaching approach was to actively engage students in the learning process. Stuart’s teaching went beyond lecturing. He involved students in industry problems by offering them opportunities to get their hands on them. Additionally, he provided students with ways to grow their network by bringing in entrepreneurs and professionals to help them build an organic network in Silicon Valley and to learn about current industry problems.

Another part of the institute that Stuart was involved with was the development of the Emirates iLab. The Emirates iLab ran between 2015 and 2020 and had over 700 students contribute to projects and solutions for Emirates and the airline industry. 

The iLab served as an incubator of ideas within technology and innovation. “We looked at different ways of working with baggage, different ways of looking at data for vacations,” said Stuart about the project opportunities that students had through it. The iLab allowed students to get involved in significant business problems as they dealt with a growing brand. Stuart valued this connection for the opportunities it provided students, such as interning in Dubai for Emirates.

Stuart also helped develop numerous courses at the iii, such as Commercializing IP, a course he developed with Jon Cagan, and Innovation and Enterprise, a class that Stuart has taught recently with Professor Shantha Mohan.

Through this course, the two professors combined their knowledge and expertise. They also leveraged their networks to bring in valuable guest lecturers from the Silicon Valley ecosystem to explore AI and how it is transforming the industry. This class is just one of many that Stuart taught that have helped students reach their full potential within the product and service innovation. 

Teaching in Silicon Valley has always been special for Stuart because of the environment that it provides to innovators. Over time, he feels as though it has evolved to be the “epicenter of artificial intelligence around the world” as well as many other emerging technologies. Students learn how to adapt their solutions by “constantly pivoting and changing to do things differently. It is the proximity to the phenomena here that is crucial when looking at innovation in the modern world.”

To prepare for the cutting-edge world being built in Silicon Valley, he hopes his students carry with them the importance of curiosity. This natural curiosity cultivated within the iii is the true value of innovation. “Just ask questions. Now that knowledge has been institutionalized, the ability to be curious is the most important capability to have going forward.” 

At the iii, the fusion of business, engineering, and design perspectives keeps students engaged and eager to learn more. The curiosity nurtured at the institute, through Stuart and professors like him, is essential in today’s rapidly evolving world. Stuart understands that this ability to wonder and question is a skill that cannot be replaced by AI or emerging technologies.

“We are on the precipice of a brave new world, and it’s a privilege to be alive to witness the end of the old way at the beginning of the new one.” 

Additionally, he encourages students to embrace new technology and get involved in the innovation that is at their fingertips. He advises them to explore it first before they fully utilize it within the production of their products and services. When building products and services within a startup environment, he has always emphasized that his students focus on his three U’s: an urgent customer need, unique technology, and a unified team. The most important aspect of innovation lies in addressing urgent needs. This is the area of innovative problem-solving from which great ideas arise, and that drives demand for startup solutions.

Innovation is moving so quickly, even within the past year, but Stuart knows that the skills he has taught his students at the iii are helping them prepare for an evolving world.

“It has been a great privilege to teach almost 2,000 students over my time here and work with such great colleagues.” 

As for what is next for Stuart, he is excited to dive more into his research within flexible adaptation and to remain active in the technology and venture capital communities through his board positions. Personally, though, he is ready to be a grandfather. “I am looking forward to being a granddad. That’s a new phase of life that every parent is delighted to enter.” 

As Stuart steps into a new chapter, ready to embrace grandfatherhood, his legacy at the Integrated Innovation Institute remains deeply rooted through the impact he has left. His teachings and devotion to innovation have left an indelible mark on the school and his students.