Paid Fellowship: Spartan Innovations Venture Fellows

Spartan Innovations Venture Fellows

Information sessions:

  • Thursday, June 16th @ 12:00; Engineering Building – Room 3405; Free pizza
  • Friday, June 17th  @ 12:00; BPS 1425; Free pizza

SUMMARY

The Venture Fellows program assists in launching startup companies based on inventions by MSU faculty, staff and graduate students and to provide graduate students experience in technology commercialization. The program runs from September through the end of April. Fellows will have a direct impact on scaling MSU technology for commercialization and have access to top-ranked faculty as well as industry experts. Fellows are grouped in teams of three – a business student and two STEM students – who are responsible for developing and executing a plan for moving the technology towards commercialization. 

The projects will be selected from the pipeline of MSU technologies currently being commercialized. While there is a general alignment of people to projects based on their area of study, the technical background of the Fellows has little relevance since the focus is on commercial development. Therefore, graduate students from a range of disciplines and experience levels are encouraged to apply. Past projects have included development of a roadside testing device for THC, commercialization of a repurposed drug for the treatment of tuberculosis and product/market definition of a wearable device for measuring human interaction. 

REQUIREMENTS

  • Graduates to have completed their course work for their PhD, preferably finished comprehensive exams but at least a year from completing their dissertation 
  • Preference for students in life sciences, physical sciences, computer science and communications
  • Commitment of 8 to 10 hours a week
  • Weekly team progress meetings with the Program Director 
  • Monthly group meeting  

BENEFITS

  • Paid a fellowship of $6,500 in addition to existing support
  • Unparalleled experience with an experienced team of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists

APPLICATION AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Applications for the 2016/17 Venture Fellows program will be accepted until June 30, 2016 at:https://spartaninnovations.formstack.com/forms/venture_fellows_app

If you have questions regarding the program, please contact the program director: Andrew McColm, Managing Director – Venture Creation

O. 517-884-4542   C. 734-748-7859 

asmccolm@spartaninnovations.org

www.spartaninnovations.org