{"id":4334,"date":"2019-06-19T14:53:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T14:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/?page_id=4334"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:57:16","slug":"sierra-pollard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/sierra-pollard\/","title":{"rendered":"Sierra Pollard, PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"title-block w-100\"><div class=\"container-fluid page-title-container\"><div class=\"title-wrapper\"><h1 class=\"font-heading\">Sierra Pollard, PhD<\/h1><hr\/><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<nav class=\"section-navigation\"><div class=\"section-navigation-inner\"><div class=\"section-menu\"><a class=\"section-navigation-back\" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"#\" style=\"display:none;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/plugins\/section-nav\/includes\/section-nav-back.svg\" \/> Back<\/a><ul class=\"\" id=\"section-nav-ul\"><li class=\"current-page\"><a class=\"menu-parent-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/\">About<span class=\"caret\"><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"page_item page-item-3808 page_item_has_children dropdown\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/\" class=\"dropdown-toggle\" data-bs-toggle=\"dropdown\" role=\"button\" aria-expanded=\"false\">Meet the team <span class=\"caret\"><\/span><\/a>\n<ul class='dropdown-menu' role='menu'>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-1184\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/director\/\">Director<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-1536\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/assistant-director\/\">Assistant Director<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-4306\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/melissa-white\/\">Melissa White, PhD<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-4334\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/sierra-pollard\/\">Sierra Pollard, PhD<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-5873\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/ron-stein\/\">Ron Stein<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li class=\"page_item page-item-5537\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/meet-the-team\/elif-akcali\/\">Elif Ak\u00e7al\u0131, PhD<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-146\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/faculty-innovation-council\/\">Faculty Innovation Council<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-5905\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/annual-activities-summary\/\">Annual Report<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-170\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/partners\/\">Partners and Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-6039\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/about\/engineering-innovation-institute-logo\/\">Engineering Innovation Institute Logo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div><a class=\"section-menu-btn section-navigation-toggler\" href=\"#\" type=\"button\" aria-controls=\"sectionNavigation\" tabindex=\"0\"><span class=\"open-btn\">Menu<\/span><span class=\"close-btn\" style=\"display:none;\">Close<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/nav>\n\n\n<section class=\"fullwidth-text-block\"><div class=\"container px-0\"><div class=\"row align-items-start\"><div class=\"col-12\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2026\/04\/Sierra-Pollard-Headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Sierra Pollard, Ph.D.\" class=\"wp-image-8729\" style=\"width:auto;height:150px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2026\/04\/Sierra-Pollard-Headshot.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2026\/04\/Sierra-Pollard-Headshot-288x300.jpg 288w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adjunct Lecturer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Email:<\/strong> <a href=\"mailto:spollard@eng.ufl.edu\">spollard@eng.ufl.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:6px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Education:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ph.D. Curriculum Design, Liberty College<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Sierra Pollard is an innovation expert, educator, and entrepreneurial ecosystem builder who thrives at the intersection of design, space, technology, and community impact. She currently serves as Director of the Blackstone LaunchPad and entrepreneurial programming at the University of Florida, where she architects entrepreneurial ecosystems, industry partnerships, and cross-disciplinary experiences that reach thousands of students across business, engineering, design, and emerging technology programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Pollard\u2019s work extends into the global space industry, where she champions space innovation and leads programming that connects academic talent pipelines with aerospace partners. She frequently speaks internationally on innovation, emerging industries, and the future of work. She is recognized as a global keynote speaker and advocate for students to think critically, prototype boldly, and collaborate across disciplines. Her work demystifies innovation and makes it accessible, actionable, and deeply human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond academia, Sierra is the founder &amp; CEO of Winnovation Agency\u00ae, a strategic innovation consultancy, and the Women Summit, a rapidly expanding community and grant\/scholarship initiative dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs. As a community builder and philanthropist, Sierra has launched scholarship programs that support women, first-generation students, and nontraditional learners in pursuing education, entrepreneurship, and specialized training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sierra\u2019s expertise spans innovation strategy, space entrepreneurship, design thinking, entrepreneurial education, program architecture, partnerships, cross-disciplinary research, and community storytelling. She is driven by a belief that innovation is not a talent reserved for a select few. It is a skill that can be taught, nurtured, and scaled across industries, regions, and communities. Her work centers on building ecosystems where great ideas have room to grow and where future leaders have the support, structure, and courage to create meaningful change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"parent":3808,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4334","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4334"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8735,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4334\/revisions\/8735"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}