Goal #1: Provide Hands-On Student Research Experiences

Summer Research Fellowships-

PIE offers 10-week-long bioscience/biohealth/bioengineering-related summer research fellowships for undergraduates, Masters, and dental and medical students from partnering organizations. Students carry out basic, translational, or clinical research in the laboratory of a host faculty mentor at a partnering organization. The summer research experience is complemented by an Innovation Summer Series and an end-of-program Research Day symposium.

See the 2018 summer Innovation Seminar Series here. See the 2018 Innovation Research Day program here.

Academic Year Research as Independent Study-

After the summer, students are encouraged to continue their research during the academic year for school credit, as Independent Study.  Long-term research experiences can be developed into honors, capstone, or master’s theses, and may even lead to future opportunities like conference presentations or publications.

Goal #2: Disseminate Education on Innovation Concepts

Summer Seminars and Workshops-

Technology: Seminars on cutting-edge technology are part of the seminar series. Students will develop technical research skills through their research projects. Specialized training is offered through a hands-on lab technology skills workshop.

Scientific Presentation: Students learn how to prepare and communicate their research through a poster or short research talk at Innovation Research Day.

Innovation Concepts: A focus of the program is to understand how research discovery becomes real-world clinical benefit.  Through the program’s seminar and workshop series, students learn about patents and intellectual property, and business and entrepreneurship concepts. The program seminar series includes “Start-up Stories” from some of Connecticut’s successful biotech entrepreneurs.

Career Development:  The PIE experience will help students with developing leadership, career paths, resume-building, interview skills, and networking. We are committed to diversity and value supporting women and minorities towards entering careers in bioscience/biohealth/engineering. We additionally offer cross-program career days.

Summer Research Symposium:

At the end of the summer program, we hold a Research Symposium where every fellow gives a presentation on their research. This further encourages collaboration and interaction among the fellows throughout the course of the program.

Goal #3: Establish a Community of Innovation

Cross-Registration of Courses:

We offer cross-registration of courses for our participants through the Hartford Consortium, a collaboration between CCSU, USJ, U Hartford, Trinity College, and UConn Hartford. PIE participation provides additionally access to courses between Tunxis, USJ, and U Hartford.

Matriculation Pipeline Among Partner Institutions:

Among the partner institutions, we offer rotating seminars and workshops. We also host Career Days.

Investigator Collaboration Across Institutions: 

We offer cross-mentorship for students across the partner institutions, as well as collaborations with other startups or investigators.

Institutional Resources:

Participants have access to resources including the UConn TIP Program (business mentoring and advice), accelerator programs, and startups looking for academic partners.