Steven P. Nichols
Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Fellow of the Clint W. Murchison Sr. Chair of Free Enterprise
Phone: (512) 232-4102
Fax: (512) 232-4128
Email: s.nichols@mail.utexas.edu
Dr. Nichol's
Web site
Dr. Steven Nichols earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1975
and his law degree in 1983, both from The University of Texas at Austin.
He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 1976. He
left the university in 1978 to form a successful engineering consulting
company, but returned to the faculty in 1985 after earning his J.D. He
directs the
Clint W. Murchison, Sr. Chair of Free Enterprise, a role in which he
develops programs focusing on professional responsibility, product
development, technology innovation, and creativity. He is also the director of the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
Dr. Nichols is an expert on design and manufacturing systems, with a
particular interest in technology commercialization. Much of his work at
the university has encouraged entrepreneurship education and
commercialization experiences for students from the College of
Engineering as well as other schools and colleges within the university.
To this end, he has promoted a graduate course that teaches how to turn
research into marketable products, instituted a similar seminar and
helped foster the
Idea to Product
(I2P) technology competition. Several hundred teams have
participated in I2P since its creation in 2001 by developing new ideas,
going through the process of technology commercialization and sometimes
creating new companies or patent applications.
Dr. Nichols served as the university’s associate vice president for
research from 2002 to 2006. In this role, he oversaw the activities of
the university-wide Office of Technology Commercialization, which is
responsible for activities related to technology transfer, protection of
intellectual property and commercialization.
Research interests:
- Product development and technology commercialization
- Entrepreneurial development of students
- Engineering professional responsibility
- Engineering design and engineering design education