URIs_MOMENTUM_Research_and_Innovation_Magazine_Spring_2026_M

The Impacts of Student Research

LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

By Chris Barrett ’08

Patrick McCarthy (’01) brings scientific breakthroughs to market. He’s the rare executive who is just as comfortable discussing first-quarter financials as he is explaining the finer points of chromatography. And his success all started as a doctoral chemistry student at the University of Rhode Island (URI). “URI gave me a strong foundation in science. This foundation gave me judgement, judgment I wouldn’t have if I had just taken an MBA,” says McCarthy, who later earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. “As an entrepreneur most of the time you’re making a decision without full information. If you have the full information, you’re probably too late and you’ve already lost. A science foundation gave me the ability to understand technology risk closer in on a decision curve.” After graduating from URI, McCarthy faced complex decisions as an executive and later business founder. At each step of his career, he can point a clear line back to his URI research days. During his first semester at URI, McCarthy enrolled in a required physical chemistry class taught by chemistry Professor Sze Yang, whose research group leveraged concepts and processes from biology to create synthetic materials. McCarthy, seeing endless possibilities, abandoned his initial plan to research therapeutic drugs from natural sources and joined Yang’s lab brimming with young researchers and sophisticated equipment. Yang created a culture that “allowed you the freedom and creativity to explore any topic,” McCarthy says.

Patrick McCarthy ‘01 CEO, McCarthy X Enterprises

“A research foundation gave me the ability to understand technology risk closer in on a decision curve.”

- Patrick McCarthy

Page 10 | The University of Rhode Island { MOMENTUM: ANNUAL REVIEW OF URI’S RESEARCH IMPACT }