Monday, March 19, 2007

Just finished working on my Corporate Finance case and am about to see what I need to read for Marketing Strategy tommorrow morning. Given that its about 1130pm and I'm blogging, I'm not sure how much I am going to get done :) Tommorrow looks to be a long day. My Small Business Consulting Program group is meeting with our client to figure out our scope of work and I'm also meeting my Corp Fin group to prepare our case submission.

A couple other things going on...

1) I am applying to be a Science and Technology Ventures Fellow. Here's the details I received about the program:

Science & Technology Ventures is seeking highly-talented, scientifically-trained graduate students to assist in managing Columbia's invention portfolio.

Compensation will be $20 per hour and assignments can be completed remotely at any point during the week (minimum 10 hours a week).

Columbia STV is the technology transfer division with Columbia University, assisting in the commercialization of innovations that are developed by our researchers. STV generates over $100M in revenue, developing 275 inventions a year and employing over 35 staff.

Science and Technology Ventures is responsible for:
Identifying and evaluating innovations emerging from Columbia researchers;
Patenting the most commercially viable innovations;
Generating revenue from Columbia’s intellectual property via research and/or licensing agreements with industry or the formation of start-up companies.

The STV Fellows Program is a regular internship program run by the division. A new team of successful applicants will be chosen in May to match our representative areas of coverage. Graduate (Masters/PhD/MBA) students from medicine, biology, pathology, engineering, chemistry, biotech, business, and computer science are encouraged to apply.

8-10 students are selected for each academic term – we are currently taking applications for the Fall Term (Sept-Dec 2007). Students will be expected to commit up to 10 hours a week, but assignments can be completed remotely. Payment of the fellowship ($20 per hour) will be made at the mid-point and end of the program, contingent upon successful completion of the work.

Selection for this program will be based on:
Academic performance
Experience and willingness to engage in extensive business research
Interest in technology transfer
Commitment and availability for 10 hours per week (for the full term)
Prior experience (if any) in business or in commercial environments

Students will be responsible for writing reports assessing the commercial viability of inventions submitted to STV, identifying potential investors or licensees, developing marketing materials for our inventions, and potentially financial analysis support for negotiations

Training will be provided in August to the new team. Students will also be invited to attend internal STV staff presentations and engage with the Directors at STV. At the end of the term, if work has been completed to a satisfactory level, students will receive the designation “STV Fellow.”

I am _really_ hoping I get this as it really dovetails quite well with my future ambitions of starting a company and getting into VC at some point. I better get moving on that application!

2) I am applying to be a part of Hermes, CBS's student admissions liason team. As I understand it, Hermes folks accompany prospectives on school visits and spend time with them during admit weekends/open houses. Again, another application to be filled out and a selection process to be completed :) I thought all of that ended once I got in!

In other news, we have a rugby tourney on Saturday out on Randall's Island. This will be my first domestic match. My guess is that we will have a couple of teams playing, which means I will get plenty of playing time. Luckily I think all my bumps and bruises from Spring Break are gone, so I'll be good to get a few more!

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