About Headframes Innovation Network
Our Namesake and Mission
Headframes tower over our headquarters in Butte, Montana.
Built to hoist machines, materials, and people out of the depths of the earth, headframes symbolize ingenuity and persistence of engineers and innovators under the harshest of conditions.
The Headframes Innovation Network provides resources and strategies for the innovation pipeline, including strategy development, consultation, training, and shared development resources. We elevate the intellectual capital that enables innovation.
Our Values and Opportunities
Education to Position for Opportunity
We recognize the technical expertise within our academic community, and the role they play in supplying innovators to the workforce. STEM faculty have acquired deep technical theory, and many continually strive to drive cutting edge developments. Yet, we recognize that many STEM faculty—particularly those in rural and underserved areas—may lack the resources, connections, or bandwidth to engage with industry. The Headframes Innovation Network seeks to supplement the preparation of academics, so that they may more thoroughly engage in innovation, application, and practice. This both strengthens the practicality of their work, while serving the technical needs of small business.
Application and Practice
We recognize the technical know-how and deep process knowledge of practitioners, much of which goes beyond the textbook. We also recognize the challenges that many small and medium size businesses face in supporting full-time technical staff to research, develop, and adopt emerging technologies. Sadly, this shortfall leads to missed opportunities to drive the innovation needed to remain competitive.
Collaboration and an Integrated Innovation Ecosystem
Headframes thus recognizes the value of an integrated innovation ecosystem, both in expanding the practice of academics and extending the bandwidth of practitioners. We recognize, however, these communities have a gap in communication, timeline, and performance metrics. Synergies abound, and Headframes Innovation Network strives to provide connections, strategies, and cross-sector training so that they do not go unrealized.
Angela Lueking is the Founder and Principal of Headframes Innovation Network and the creator of PITCH, an AI-enabled platform for partnered innovation training and proposal development. She brings more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning academia, government, and industry, with a career focused on helping researchers translate high-potential ideas into fundable, decision-ready initiatives.
Angela rose through the academic ranks as an engineering professor at an R1 university, leading high-risk, high-reward research programs, before pivoting to research administration through a rotation as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. In that role, she made over 200 funding recommendations and developed deep insight into what distinguishes competitive proposals, particularly for early-career and first-time principal investigators. Her work emphasized constructive, actionable feedback—an approach that now forms the foundation of PITCH’s adaptive coaching and evaluation framework. After NSF, Angela held senior research leadership roles at multiple universities, where she built faculty mentoring programs, expanded applied research and technology transfer, and established external partnerships that drove measurable growth in research performance.
PITCH directly reflects this experience. It encodes the evaluative discipline, stakeholder perspective, and mentoring practices Angela refined over decades into a scalable, structured platform. Her technical background in process separations, gas storage, hydrogen, energy, carbon materials, and coal informs PITCH’s emphasis on translational readiness and stakeholder alignment, particularly for applied STEM fields. Through Headframes, Angela is extending one-to-one mentoring into a durable infrastructure that helps researchers move beyond obstacles, align with real-world needs, and accelerate the path from idea to impact.
JoAnn has a career of leadership experience, including being the department chair, dean of engineering, and Division Director at the National Science Foundation (CBET). While at NSF, JoAnn was responsible for $185M in funding within 16 programs and was one of the architects of NSF’s Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems initiative (INFEWS). Her leadership also involves professional organizations, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Western Section of the Combustion Institute, and the ASEE Dean’s Public Policy Committee. Her research focused on air quality considerations, including carbon capture, black carbon, and mercury from coal-fired systems. As Dean of Engineering at Boise State University, she was dedicated to building research and student success. As such, research expenditures nearly tripled during her time as dean and scholarship award dollars doubled.
As a chemical engineer, JoAnn is passionate about systems leadership and thinking, which embodies bringing a diverse team of creative thinkers together to solve our most critical engineering and science challenges. She brings this passion and energy to Headframes, backed by over 40 years as an engineer, with a focus on higher education (35+ years).
Kumar Ganesan is a Professional Engineer (PE) in Environmental Engineering in Montana and a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. He is the founder and CEO of Energy and Environmental Research and Technology (E2RTECH) and CEO and founder of Institute for Science, Engineering and Arts (ISEA). He has over fifty years of experience in developing and implementing innovative solutions to environmental problems in air quality engineering, pollution prevention, sustainability, energy and industrial ecology. His experience ranges from working in a research-oriented government agency (overseas), in a private consulting company and as private consultant to industry and government agencies. He is a recipient of the State of Montana’s “Eco Star” award for his work in pollution prevention and sustainable environmental management among other several professional achievements and awards. He was also a consultant to US EPA over ten years.
I bring 40 years of experience in teaching and research in management, information systems and technology, and entrepreneurship. In 2024, in preparation for a regional tech hub, I created a technology translation course in collaboration with a defense sponsored center. This course was designed to coach inventors through an assessment of the technology viability of a product, to better position the invention for licensing and commercialization. Through the Headframes Academy, I strive to work with burgeoning inventors and entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on training faculty inventors to cross the 'valley of death' and better market and assess their inventions.
I have been married 37 years to my wife Heidi and have ten children—yes 10!--the oldest a boy, followed by eight girls and a 15 year old boy. I am passionate about international issues since working and living in Hong Kong for three years. I now work with organizations in Southeast Asia and Africa. I enjoy playing sports, especially soccer, tennis and basketball, and getting to the beach whenever possible.
Kat is an experienced leader in instructional design, faculty development, assessment, and distance learning, with over 25 years of experience in higher education. Kat strives to integrate design thinking into education, and excels at fostering innovation, improving instructional effectiveness, and aligning digital learning with institutional goals. In an extremely resource-constrained environment, she spearheaded initiatives to enhance teaching, support faculty, and ensure the accessibility and quality of online education. She has developed professional development programs for industry partners, including in the mining industry and at a two-year college. With formal education in the humanities, she has coached STEM faculty for the past 10 years, and this this interdisciplinary approach makes her coaching -- and your student's learning -- more impactful. Kat is also an accomplished grant writer, having contributed to many of the grants on the 'Successes' page.
Through Headframes, Kat would love to help you improve your own effectiveness in the classroom. She approaches each coaching session with an eye (and an ear!) to listen to your goals, and where you seek to develop. She will then work with you to explore innovative new techniques and stand by you through implementation.
Kat holds an Ed.S. and M.S. in Educational Technology from the University of Central Missouri, as well as M.A. and B.A. degrees in English from the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
Jerry Downey, Ph.D., P.E. is a registered professional engineer with active licenses in Colorado and Montana. He is CEO and Founder of J.P. Downey & Associates, P.L.L.C. His 40+ years of professional experience includes industrial operations, applied process research and development, and corporate management. His technical expertise includes chemical and metallurgical thermodynamics, thermal processing, materials synthesis and processing, and hazardous materials treatment.
Over $70 million in project funds raised for customers.
74% success rate in raising funds for large research initiatives.
Headframes are a Mindset
Headframes symbolize ingenuity and persistence of engineers and innovators. From R1s to a PUI to federal program management, Headframes Founder, Angela Lueking, Ph.D., has spent the past decade mentoring faculty and fostering partnerships. Today, Headframes draws from a network of disciplinary experts to provide informed mentoring, coaching, team building, and research strategy development.