For postgrads and academics doing research, formatting for publication is a nightmare. Even for students, managing citations and deadlines still feels like a hassle. With detailed rules about punctuation, abbreviation and text formatting for citations, it can take more time to format correctly than to write the paper. To put it plainly, formatting is something no one really wants to do.
“That’s where the idea of Formatr was born” says Kyle Griffith, 2016 alumnus and current professor at Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. After struggling with the back and forth of scientific publication during his PhD studies at UNO, he knew there had to be a better way.
Fast-forward to the more recent explosion in AI models, and his concept of an AI-powered academic formatting assistant became a reality. “Formatr is a productivity tool that lets you focus on being brilliant.” Griffith said. “It saves students and researchers time and stress by automating academic formatting.”
Griffith had never visited New Orleans before committing to UNO’s Planning & Urban Studies MS/PhD program. He credits the faculty’s passion in the recruiting process as one of the main reasons he chose UNO. “I had applied to other programs, but UNO was the only university to make me feel wanted and valued,” he says. “Plus, New Orleans was a hot spot for planning activity.” He instantly fell in love with the city and credits the program for helping to sharpen his critical thinking skills. Griffith found all the faculty and staff very supportive, but he says dissertation committee chair Dr. Bethany Stich was especially so. “Dr. Stich was instrumental in helping me win national fellowships, attend international conferences and publish my first research article. She even helped me navigate travel to Cuba to conduct research for my dissertation.”
Griffith currently teaches entrepreneurship courses. He is sure that teaching will always remain a part of his life but is appreciative of the first-hand startup experience. His advice for Privateers interested in entrepreneurship is to start with an everyday problem, design a solution and seek like-minded people who can serve as co-founders or mentors.
Formatr is free to sign up and free to use on your smartphone or on the web. They offer weekly passes, semester subscriptions and premium subscriptions for unlimited use and advanced features. If you are interested in investment opportunities, Griffith can be reached at kyle@formatr.ai.
Since the launch, Griffith has seen growing interest across their social media pages with 1,200+ followers in just a few months plus steady growth in app downloads. He is starting pre-seed investment fundraising to help grow the app, improve features and expand the journal formatting database.
With his young family, courses, students and a recent launch under his belt, you might think Griffith could relax a bit, but that doesn’t seem to be in his nature. He is already working on more apps with European partners. We can’t wait to see what he does next.
We are #UNOPROUD of our innovator and entrepreneur, Dr. Kyle Griffith, and we wish him continued success in all his endeavors!
You can find more information at their main website https://formatr.ai, at the mobile-friendly website for students https://formatr.app/m/savemyessay or the mobile-friendly website for academics https://formatr.app/m/publishfast.
