Industrial Internships & Entrepreneurship Option:
Industrial Internship
As part of the training program, all students are expected to work at an industrial biotechnology laboratory of their choice for a period of 2-4 months, or take two entrepreneurship courses if they are interested in possibly establishing their own small start-up companies (see "Entrepreneurship Option"). As part of the industrial internship, the students have the opportunity to be trained in techniques that are not directly available to them as part of their PhD program. In addition, the students become exposed to the industrial biotechnology research culture, they form valuable contacts for future employment, and finally, they gain an appreciation of how commercial research and development works on a day-to-day basis. For these reasons, we view industrial internships as an important and integral component of the training program. An internship is an incredible learning and networking opportunity -- remember to consider the broader overall educational experience.
In most cases, the students will work on a project in an area related to their specialty field or with a company with whom they already collaborate as part of their research. However, an effort is made to accommodate students desiring to obtain experience in another area. Salary support and travel expenses are traditionally covered by the sponsoring companies. In the past, companies have typically provided a stipend about equal to the fellowship stipend, to compensate the students for the additional costs incurred while living and working away from Austin.
The students will identify potential internship opportunities via the assistance of the Industrial Liaison Committee, consisting of Drs. Shaochen Chen and Andy Ellington. In addition, as mentioned earlier, Dr. Judith Hempel in the Department of Biomedical Engineering serves as that department's Industrial Liaison. She will also be available to assist our trainees in their efforts to successfully establish industrial internships.
An evaluation of the summer internships will be conducted by the student's PhD supervisor and the training faculty in charge of the internship program (the Industrial Liaison Committee, again, consisting of Drs. Shaochen Chen and Andy Ellington). The Industrial Liaison Committee will also maintain monthly contact with the students throughout their summer internship. Subsequently, the committee will interview the trainees and also seek feedback on the student's performance by the hosting scientists. Finally, the trainees will be required to write a short (five page) summary describing their experience and give a summary presentation to the other trainees and training faculty during an informal lunch get-together.
"Entrepreneurship Option"
The "Entrepreneurship Option" for the student trainees (as an alternative to a traditional industrial internship) is a novel addition to the program, and one which should tremendously enhance the overall flexibility in training future professionals for the growing biotechnology industry. Our students will therefore now have the option to do the traditional industrial internship (or perhaps an internship with a small start-up biotechnology company), or be able to take two professional development and entrepreneurship courses, which are offered in the regular and summer sessions by the College of Engineering, the School of Business, and the Graduate School. Students will be expected to take a minimum of two of the different classes described below.
In the College of Engineering, there are several entrepreneurship courses that are offered as part of the Free Enterprise program, which is overseen by Dr. Steven Nichols (http://www.engr.utexas.edu/cofe/mission.cfm). The Free Enterprise office was created to provide formal links between the free enterprise system and areas such as business management, governmental affairs, social sciences, technological development and entrepreneurship. Courses offered through this program are hands-on and are based on real technologies. In these courses, the students develop an understanding of the role of intellectual property and licensing, learn to develop a business plan for technology commercialization, and learn how to create a technology-based venture. Two courses that would satisfy the requirements for this component of the training program include: (1) Engineering Entrepreneurship (EE 367L), and (2) The Enterprise of Technology: From Mind to Market (ME 397 or CH 380M). The latter course is cross-listed in Engineering, Natural Sciences, the Law School, the Business School, and the IC2 (Science and Technology Commercialization Program at UT); therefore, this course provides a truly interdisciplinary team learning environment.
The top-ranked Red McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas is home to an award-winning MBA Entrepreneurship Program. As part of this program, they offer a number of courses that would satisfy the Entrepreneurship Option requirement, including (but not limited to): (1) The Entrepreneurial Process (MAN 385.23) and (2) Managing Entrepreneurial Growth (MAN 385.24). In addition, the School of Business is home to the internationally renowned MOOT CORPÒ program, overseen by Dr. Gary M. Cadenhead (http://www.mootcorp.org/aboutmc.htm). This program simulates the real-world process of raising venture capital. As part of this program, Dr. Cadenhead offers a course (Moot Corp.) that focuses on marrying theory and practical application by providing hands-on experience in developing a growth-oriented venture. Students work in teams to write a business plan and then present it to a panel of faculty and businesspeople in the actual competition. The Spring class competes against other business schools nationally while the Fall class competes internally. Winners from the Fall class get an automatic one-year invitation to start their company at the Austin Technology Incubator upon graduation.
In addition to courses offered through the College of Engineering and the School of Business, the Graduate School also offers professional development courses as part of its Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Program (http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/development.html). These courses are designed to teach students how to adapt to a variety of audiences -- so that they can write scholarly articles, develop grant proposals, use knowledge to generate informed and responsible public policies, facilitate innovation in commerce and business, and effectively communicate with a variety of different populations. These courses are open to all University graduate students. Two GRS courses in particular will count toward the Entrepreneurship Option for the training program: (1) Entrepreneurship (GRS 390G) and (2) Academic and Professional Communication (GRS 390S). In GRS 390G, students learn entrepreneurial vision, marketing, and resource development. As part of this course, they develop an Entrepreneurial venture plan. In GRS 390S, students learn techniques for organizing information, visual display of knowledge, and thinking on their feet. The students in this class will have active practice at developing effective presentations for different audiences. The trainees will be required to write a short (five page) summary describing the information they learned in their courses and discussing their venture plan.