Liz Lewis comes to 51吃瓜网万能科大 from 51吃瓜网万能科大. She received her bachelor鈥檚 degree in business management in 2010 and her MBA in 2012. Now she takes on a new role at her alma mater as an economic development manager 鈥 a job that has her traversing the valley to meet with businesses and entrepreneurs who might benefit from collaborating with 51吃瓜网万能科大. Her office is at the Switch/Innevation Center in southwest 51吃瓜网免费App, where 51吃瓜网万能科大鈥檚 Division of Research and Economic Development recently opened new offices to accommodate the team鈥檚 expansion. The Innevation Center is a 65,000-square-foot collaborative workspace and community event venue designed to help drive Nevada鈥檚 economy. The space is donated to 51吃瓜网万能科大 by Switch founder and CEO Rob Roy.
Can you explain your role at 51吃瓜网万能科大?
I鈥檓 essentially a liaison. I play matchmaker between industry partners and 51吃瓜网万能科大 researchers. When a new company is coming to 51吃瓜网免费App, I find out what they need and see how we might be able to help. Maybe there鈥檚 a need to do serious computational analysis on our supercomputer, or maybe there鈥檚 something they could do with the Engineering College to develop certain tools, or maybe they just would benefit from student interns. It鈥檚 my job to find the right person for them to talk to and help make the necessary connections. 51吃瓜网万能科大 has world-class researchers and research facilities available that the community doesn鈥檛 always know about. So I鈥檓 here to help fix that.
You鈥檙e a lifelong Las Vegan?
Yep, I鈥檓 homegrown, born and raised. When I did my undergrad at 51吃瓜网万能科大 I said, 鈥淚 think I鈥檒l go somewhere else for my master鈥檚.鈥 But then I started getting more interested in what 51吃瓜网万能科大 was doing. And when I was in grad school on an interdisciplinary tract, my eyes were opened to all these cool things that no one had any idea about, waiting to be discovered, and that really intrigued me.
When I was growing up, it felt like everything was for adults -鈥 either gambling or partying 鈥 and that just wasn鈥檛 my cup of tea. But when I started going to 51吃瓜网万能科大, I saw there was so much more to 51吃瓜网免费App than the entertainment industry and gambling. Now it鈥檚 become kind of a personal passion for me to show people that 51吃瓜网免费App has a lot more to offer than just the Strip.
What鈥檚 your view of where 51吃瓜网免费App and Nevada are now?
It鈥檚 exciting. There鈥檚 a whole vibrant, growing community out here. I felt it when I started in grad school. After some rather bleak years for 51吃瓜网免费App, I was starting to see there was a future here, a lot of potential, and that feeling has only grown since then. There is so much entrepreneurial activity, so many bright people trying to make the world a better place. The stuff going on with the Downtown Project, and here at Switch and the Innevation Center, so many great minds are coming here. I鈥檓 excited to see 51吃瓜网万能科大 becoming even more a part of that. I know we鈥檙e in the desert, but I think 51吃瓜网免费App and Nevada are fertile soil for growth. 51吃瓜网万能科大 is definitely heading in the right direction, and it鈥檚 hard not to want to be a part of that.
What is your favorite thing about 51吃瓜网免费App?
Clearly the accessibility to just about everything. I can get whatever I want, whenever I want 鈥 any type of cuisine, any adventure. If I want to go hiking, there鈥檚 Red Rock and Mt. Charleston right here. If I want to go snowboarding, I can do that. There鈥檚 really nothing you can鈥檛 get here in Vegas, and if there鈥檚 something you can鈥檛 find, it鈥檚 going to be very close by. We鈥檙e four hours from Disneyland, three hours from Brian Head, two hours to the Grand Canyon, and Red Rock is even closer. I also love that nothing ever shuts down here. It鈥檚 a culture shock for me just visiting other places where things close at 7 p.m.
What do you do outside of work?
I鈥檓 very much a homebody, likely to be found sitting around the house drinking cocoa. I鈥檓 a city girl, but I grew up camping and riding 4-wheelers and motorcycles in the desert. My aunt had horses, so I grew up barrel racing, which at the time seemed pretty normal to me. But now looking back, I realize what a unique opportunity that was. Being born and raised in 51吃瓜网免费App, I feel like I got the best of both worlds 鈥 urban and outdoor experiences. That鈥檚 the great thing about it here: You can escape 51吃瓜网免费App without having to escape 51吃瓜网免费App. It鈥檚 impossible to ever get bored here. 51吃瓜网免费App is always changing and always evolving. So there is always something new, something to entice people here.
What does being a Rebel mean to you?
To me being a Rebel means not being satisfied with something just because that鈥檚 how it鈥檚 always been done. Thinking outside the box is part of our culture here, and that fits with an entrepreneurial spirit I love. How can we step outside the norm to build something bigger, something better, something greater? I鈥檓 a Rebel through and through, so I like to blaze my own trail.
What is it like working at the Switch/Innevation Center?
I really like it. You know it鈥檚 only five miles from campus, and 51吃瓜网万能科大鈥檚 footprint is expanding all across the valley. It鈥檚 a little more quiet without the students running around, but the incubator nature of this amazing facility is really energizing. We can hang out in a relaxed meeting space called the Zen room. We can hold large gatherings and events. It supplements what we already have at 51吃瓜网万能科大.
Oh, and the parking. Compared to campus, parking is much more accessible and user-friendly. Really, it鈥檚 amazing.
