April Burrage, Ph.D.

This week in my social entrepreneurship class: Kareem Saleh, CEO of Fairplay AI - World's 1st Fairness-as-a-Service company helps banks ensure fairer lending while boosting profits. Insights from his talk:
🔹Fairness through Awareness, not blind neutrality
🔹Addressing blind spots in models is crucial

Last Thursday in my Social Entrepreneurship class (MS&E 176), students heard from Anna Goldstein, Director of Impact at Prime Coalition on catalytic capital & impact investing, and from Miz Bernardo from the College of Engineering on public speaking. #SocialEntrepreneurship #Stanford

Praying for those affected and the greater Tallahassee community. My brother is a graduate student at FSU. He is ok and was not on campus at the time. #FSU

Started teaching my Social Entrepreneurship course today! Over the next 10 weeks, students will design ventures that tackle real-world challenges—combining innovation with impact. Guest speakers from the field are joining us too. Can’t wait to share more soon! #Teaching #SocialEntrepreneurship

Getting tons of student emails with the quarter starting next week 😅. I’m basically saying the same thing over and over: repeating my absence policy located on the syllabus.

Yes, the innovation Econ community is great!

Exactly lol

Yes, she is definitely the exception to the rule.

This is true. I am realizing this is a universal opinion.

Social scientists and business disciplines.

One thing academics have in common is their disdain for economists. When I introduce myself at non-economics conferences as an economist, the conversation inevitably steers towards their disdain for the profession. It's interesting.

Excited to teach this Spring quarter starting in late March, but managing time is a concern. My main goal this quarter is to submit a paper and make significant progress on another project. Any other tips on balancing research and teaching effectively? Is it possible? #econsky

Timely paper about the impact of funding gaps in science. #econsky

"There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. – MLK

I study disparities in innovation and entrepreneurship

Check out my thread on our paper exploring how social impact framing inspires women in STEM to pursue entrepreneurship👇

Happy #MLK Day!

I would think boots would be the only option in Toronto.

Twitter isn’t what it used to be—#EconTwitter has slowed down. Algorithm tweaks likely play a role amongst other things, and many X users share the frustration. My FYP is full of people I don’t follow and topics I don’t engage with. Hoping for better updates! #econsky

The Waymo taxis are weird, interesting, and cool all at the same time. Idk how I feel about it but it was an experience.

Gender diversity in academic entrepreneurship: Social impact motives and the NSF I-corps program This study examines gender differences in the social impact and commercial motives for academic entrepreneurship using the National Science Foundation…

You can find the paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

7/ The takeaway: Simple, low-cost changes in messaging—like emphasizing societal impact—can attract more women to pursue entrepreneurship. 🌟 #econsky

6/ Key Result 3: Our email experiment found women were significantly more likely to respond to recruitment emails emphasizing social impact vs. commercial goals. #econsky

5/ Key Result 2: In NSF I-Corps projects (2011–2019), women PIs emphasized social impact more in their abstracts compared to men. #econsky

4/ Key Result 1: From our survey, women expressed significantly stronger social entrepreneurial intentions than men. #econsky

3/ Our three-part study:
1️⃣ Survey: Measured entrepreneurial intentions by gender.
2️⃣ NSF I-Corps abstracts: Analyzed social vs. commercial framing in project summaries.
3️⃣ Experiment: Tested how social framing impacts interest in entrepreneurship by gender. #econsky

2/ Women make up ~20% of NSF I-Corps participants. Emphasizing social impact over commercial goals can boost women’s interest in entrepreneurship, addressing gender gaps in innovation. There is a similar gap in patenting. #econsky

Gender diversity in academic entrepreneurship: Social impact motives and the NSF I-corps program This study examines gender differences in the social impact and commercial motives for academic entrepreneurship using the National Science Foundation…

🚨 New Paper 🚨

1/ What drives STEM researchers to pursue entrepreneurship? Our new publication in Research Policy, @inaganguli.bsky.social, Nilanjana Dasgupta, and I explore this question.

Key Takeaway: Social impact framing increased women's interest in entrepreneurship 🧵 #econsky

6/ Key Result 3: Our email experiment found women were significantly more likely to respond to recruitment emails emphasizing social impact vs. commercial goals.

5/ Key Result 2: In NSF I-Corps projects (2011–2019), women PIs emphasized social impact more in their abstracts compared to men.

4/ Key Result 1: From our survey, women expressed significantly stronger social entrepreneurial intentions than men.

3/ Our three-part study:
1️⃣ Survey: Measured entrepreneurial intentions by gender.
2️⃣ NSF I-Corps abstracts: Analyzed social vs. commercial framing in project summaries by gender of the PI.
3️⃣ Experiment: Tested how social framing impacts interest in entrepreneurship by gender.

2/ Why it matters: Women only make up ~20% of NSF I-Corps participants. Our research finds that emphasizing social impact over commercial goals can dramatically increase women’s interest in entrepreneurship. There is a similar gender gap in patenting.