RIT Graduate Student Receives Kauffman Fellowship in Entrepreneurship

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A. Sue Weisler

Adam Walker, an RIT graduate student, is the winner of a prestigious Kauffman fellowship. The Kauffman Foundation awards just 30 fellowships to young entrepreneurs a year.

Adam Walker, a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate student, has been awarded a fellowship through the Kauffman Foundation. Walker will receive executive mentoring and serve as an apprentice with a venture capital firm in entrepreneurship through this fellowship.

Walker, a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., native, is studying science, technology and public policy in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts. He earned bachelor’s degrees in physics and philosophy from Carnegie Mellon University. Alongside his academic studies, Walker serves as executive director of Kosovo Wind Gardens, a clean-energy business venture involving students from RIT and American University in Kosovo.

Walker was selected to join the Society of Kauffman Fellows based on his involvement with Kosovo Wind Gardens. Kosovo Wind Gardens is a venture that plans to construct and sell 5-kilowatt wind turbines to individual families, businesses and farms throughout the rural areas of Kosovo.

“Wind power is cleaner and cheaper,” he says. “Our turbines have the capacity to offset energy costs, mitigate the effects of blackouts and generate income for our customers from the sale of excess electricity.”

The Kauffman Foundation identifies, develops and networks the next generation of leaders in the venture capital industry. The Kauffman Fellows faculty works to combine leading venture capital investors with entrepreneurs, limited partners, thought leaders in science and engineering, corporate chiefs and policy experts in government and academia. Only 30 Kauffman fellowships are offered each year.