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= Meet our fellows<br/> =
'''Julia Morris''' is an incoming fourth year majoring in Science & Technology Studies (STS): the study of how society, politics, and culture impact scientific R&D and technological innovation, and how these forces in turn affect society, politics and culture. More specifically, her interests lie within sociotechnical governance and a sub-field of STS called Sociotechnical Imaginaries: imagined forms of social life and social order that center on the development and fulfillment of innovative scientific and/or technological projects (as well as the ethical implications of these developments). On campus, she's President of the Science & Technology Studies Club and a member of Design for America. She's also part of the EQUIP Program out of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and has become an intern for Venture Catalyst, the branch of the Office of Research that facilitates the translation of University research and technology by providing the resources and tools for university entrepreneurs to successfully launch startups. In addition to her efforts on campus, she works as a video editor for Davis Media Access, with a special interest in documentary filmmaking. When she's not working, she spends her free time playing the piano, reading, hand-building clay miniatures, playing video games, and going on walks to visit the cats that live on her street. She's half Brazilian, has a fat black & white cat named Nina, and is also an identical twin (so don’t be alarmed if you come across another very similar-looking profile...).
'''Livia Morris''' is an undergraduate student at UC Davis double majoring in Cognitive Science and Science & Technology Studies, the latter of which is an interdisciplinary major that explores the relationship between scientific knowledge, technological systems, and society. She recently reinstated the Science and Technology Studies Club alongside her identical twin sister (who is also a part of the UC Davis UIF team) and a handful of other STS Students. The club will play a key role in one of the UIF projects Livia is most excited about; a future-focused speaker series. Professionally, she works as a video editor at the community media center in town. She's also a part of the Entrepreneurship Quest: Undergaduate Internship Program (EQUIP) on campus. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, watching TV, browsing Reddit, baking, and playing video games (and yes, it was difficult to write this bio when the one right above is so similar... twin problems).
In addition to being a University Innovation Fellow, '''Lisa Illes''' is a fourth-year Biological Systems Engineering undergraduate, a Genentech intern, and entrepreneur. She has co-founded a company and the BioInnovation Group at UC Davis, the only undergraduate-run research group on campus. Lisa is particularly interested in using her time as a Fellow to improve the entrepreneurial opportunities available to undergraduates on campus, especially in biotechnology.
= Project outlines<br/> =
== Project 1: STS Club / Speaker Series<br/> == '''Project lead: Julia Morris''' (co-leading STS Club with Livia Morris) What it is: A Futuresa futures-oriented speaker series that will bring together experts from academia, government, and industry to discuss new and emerging fields of research and employment. The STS Club would be the springboard for this event.
The talks will take two forms:
#A one-on-one between a professor and an industry professional/public servant
#A panel of professors and industry professionals/public servant.
Each pair will be matched based on how well their areas of interest align (i.e. a cognitive science professor who studies artificial intelligence could be paired with someone who founded an A.I. startup).
Professors and industry professionals will answer the same questions, but from different frameworks (ex. the lens of an academic vs. the lens of a startup founder, or the lens of an academic vs. the lens of a public servant); professors and industry professionals will also have the chance to interview each other.
<br/>''Why it matters'':
*Goals are twofold: informational/educational, and inspirational.
**UC Davis’ innovation efforts would be greatly enhanced by introducing initiatives that seek to bring the humanities in contact with STEM. As such, the UC Davis startup ecosystem should better harmonize technology with the social sciences and humanities.
<br/>''Key tactics required to bring this project to life'':
*The STS club would be the springboard for this speaker series, responsible for defining the scholarly themes of these talks and handling logistics (reserving a venue, securing speakers, managing funds, etc.).
*Recruited STEM Professors will need to have demonstrated an interest and dedication to the values upheld by Science & Technology Studies • Students in the club – particularly those in management positions – will use whatever resources/contacts/networks they have to find whatever top-tier professionals/public servants they can find.
<br/>''Potential Topics for the Speaker Series:''
*3-D Printing
*Technology and the Human Body (BCI’s, Wearable Technologies, Cyborgs)
'''Project lead: Livia Morris'''
#First 20 minutes: discussing an assigned weekly reading (selected articles on interdisciplinary studies, alternative education, college majors, etc.).
#Last 30 minutes: informational sessions on how to create an individual major.
During the last 2 weeks – in-class work time for creating your individual major: work with your peers, collaborate and discuss your ideas, prepare your final individual major prototype.
*Q&A panel from students who have successfully created their own majors.
<br/>''Assignments'':
*Write a list of the top 5-10 subjects/disciplines you find interesting (no more than 10, no less than 5) – they don’t need to be specific to any particular school. Then, refine that list to the top 2-4.
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<br/>''Key tactics'':
*Find a professor who will be the "instructor on record" (they will be responsible for assigning grades). This professor will also vouch for the academic rigorousness of the course.
*Document everything rigorously, so that another student can teach the course at a later date in a similar fashion.
= Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship= Project 3 - Lightning Talks<br/> = Students who wish to engage with the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem both on and off-campus (or who simply wish to learn more about entrepreneurship) have a wide variety of resources available to them. Among these include student clubs, specific classes, on campus organizations, on campus events, supportive academic departments, and access to external organizations. There has been a growing administrative interest in student entrepreneurship with the passing of an Assembly Bill which created additional funding. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an ongoing effort though, as well as further encouraging true student-run efforts (which could be aided by the addition of more independent project opportunities for students, more opportunities to talk to individuals outside of one’s college, more bio lab training for STEM students, and more hands-on coding opportunities). Clubs are a driving force for entrepreneurship on campus - unsurprising, as UC Davis currently fosters more than 800 student clubs. Notable examples of clubs on campus that encourage entrepreneurship include the Business Career and Networking Club, the Start-up Hub, Net Impact Davis, the Society for Women Engineers, Consult Your Community, the Davis Consulting Group, Design for America, and various business fraternities, to name just a few. Campus organizations also have a sizeable presence, with organizations such as the Student Academic Success Center, the California Aggie, Aggie Studios, the Internship and Career Center, the Center for Leadership Learning, the Undergraduate Research Center, and most notably, the Student Startup Center standing out from the crowd. The Student Startup Center is a particularly effective hub in this space - it’s one main entrepreneurial program is PLASMA, a program for undergraduate and graduate students alike to incubate their ideas. Many of these organizations on campus not only give students the chance to learn more about innovation and entrepreneurship, but provide them with an environment to apply their learning through hands-on projects - the inclusion of 3D printers for prototyping free of charge (courtesy of the Student Startup Center) has aided in such efforts. In addition to these on campus clubs and organizations, several classes geared towards entrepreneurship are offered at UC Davis - examples include Design Thinking for Food, Agribusiness Marketing Plan Development, Marketing for the Technology-Based Enterprise, and Financing New Business Ventures. UC Davis hosts several events as well that help stimulate an entrepreneurial spirit on campus: hackathons are held by clubs such as HackDavis, Information sessions on a wide variety of topics are given at the Memorial Union, and welcome events are set up to help integrate out-of-state and international students with the campus culture. Last year, the business school piloted an event called the “Aggie Innovation Symposium,” geared towards exposing students and other community/campus members to startups, innovation resources, and entrepreneurial activity in the Sacramento Region. Academic departments supportive of student entrepreneurship efforts include the Design Department, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science, and the department of Electrical Engineering, all of which have a number of professors currently engaged with various innovation and entrepreneurship ventures in some way. = Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship = Several faculty members at UC Davis are a part of the Davis Entrepreneurship Network (DEN for short) - a network formed to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at UC Davis. As a cross-campus collaboration of UC Davis entities (and a network largely unknown to undergraduates), DEN serves as one of the primary channels of communication for faculty members interested in entrepreneurship. The Blum Center for Developing Economies, the Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education, the Center for Science and Innovation Studies, CITRIS and the Banato Institute, the Clinical and Translational Science Center, the Energy Efficiency Center, the Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Program for International Energy Technologies are all connected to DEN. Several makerspaces are available as well to help both students and faculty members looking to experiment with their ideas; among these are the Beta-Lab, BME TEAM Lab, and the MASTeR LabModLab. Finally, faculty members have been increasingly encouraged to interface with both students and other faculty members who are interested in supporting or creating entrepreneurial ventures and startups. Several competitions and funding programs exist to support this goal - among these include the Big Bang! Business Competition, the Blum Center for Developing Economies Grants, the CITRIS Tech for Social Good, Hack Davis, Science Translation and Innovative Research (STAIR) Grants, the PLASMA Accelerator, and Data, Informations & Application Launch (DIAL) Grants. The UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship as well as UC Entrepreneurship Academy (both discussed below) also serve as highly valuable resources for faculty members looking to reach outside of their academic bubbles and pursue entrepreneurial projects while still remaining grounded in the UC Davis sphere.
*The UC Davis Office critical '''super basics'''**How to participate in a professional email chain***When to reply all***What to put in your email signature***How to politely ask for something**Dressing in the STEM field***Interviews will rarely be in a laboratory space-- but can always ask if you need to wear specific clothing if it is***Here is a bare bones interview outfit that works in the California context for all genders***Ask whether or not you will be doing lab work, and if you need any special clothing*The overall '''roadmap of Research provides career building as an undergraduate'''**Participate in student projects and organizations***Pick a detailed summary specific student organization to focus on, and put extra time into it. Good way to learn a lot of stuff quickly and develop leadership skills.**Start informational interviewing***Informational interviewing is where you ask someone for 20-30 mins of their time either over the Technology Transfer Process:phone or in person to tell you about their career or what they know about your industry of interst***Can find people to interview using LinkedIn***Always ask who else you could talk to**Seek out opportunities from the various admin-run orgs on campus (see change model canvas for a few ideas)**Obtain a student position on campus in line with some of your interests**Leverage learnings from student projects/orgs, student position, and network for a SMALL or MEDIUM sized company***Will also go over how to find these types of companies**Leverage learnings and network to secure internship or laboratory position aligned with your interest that may be more selective**Repeat cycle until you have graduated*'''Finding companies''' you are interested in**Using LinkedIn**Subscribe to publications**Use Google**Use your peers*How to '''use LinkedIn to build your network'''**Asking for an internship straight out the gate doesn’t work**Ask for informational interviews**If given an appropriate opening, mention that you are looking for a job or internship***Ask if they know of any openings*How to succeed in an internship**Checklist of things to do on your first day**Dealing with minimal management**Dealing with micro management**Networking at your internship***Ask if you can conduct informational interviews within the organization!**Checklist of what to do on your last day