Co-op Offers Mastery

BY MARY SPIRO

Many would argue that while the PhD program focuses a student toward a career in academic research, the purpose of a master’s degree is to kick start a student’s career in industry. However, most science and engineering master’s degree programs require university based laboratory research experience similar to that of their doctoral candidates; and industry co-operative education (co-ops) programs are mostly available to undergraduates, before they have even completed their bachelor’s degrees.

Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology Co-Operative Master’s Education Program offers a richer experience for master’s degree students interested in industry and provides more thoroughly trained candidates to industry partners. The INBT Co-Op is available to students in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and gives students intense industry training while allowing them to complete the requirements of their discipline’s degree.

Launched in 2016, INBT’s Co-Op takes the place of the usual laboratory research and thesis component of the traditional master’s program, explained INBT’s Director of Corporate Partnerships, Tom Fekete, who helps oversee the program

“Our co-op provides real-life work experience after they have completed the undergraduate training,” Fekete said. “The academic training is the same, but when the students gradate, they will have industrially relevant research experience and a better understanding of how work gets done in the industrial environment.”

At Johns Hopkins, the master’s degree program usually takes an additional year (or maybe two) after a student finishes their bachelor’s degree. Those interested in the INBT Co-Op may apply during their first semester as a master’s student. If selected to participate in the program, students are paired with a faculty advisor and a research mentor at the host company. Co-op experiences can last from six to nine months, and, at the end, students write their thesis on their industry experience.

So far, one student, Andrew Beamesderfer in Materials Sciences and Engineering, has completed the pilot program. He spent the summer and fall of 2016 working at BD Diagnostics in Sparks, MD. As of this writing, two more students are participating in coops at MedImmune in Gaithersburg, MD.

“Participating in the INBT Masters CO-OP program has been an invaluable experience,” Beamesderfer said. “I’ve been able to gain experience in a number of areas, while building upon the technical background provided by Johns Hopkins. Although I learned a lot about the technical side of my project, I feel that the power of this program is being immersed in a company to take away lessons about global product development, intellectual property, flexibility and prioritization, interacting with outside companies, and most importantly leadership. The INBT Master’s Co-Op program teaches much more than a classroom- or even an academic research-based program. (It) immerses you in a company, allowing you to take away a number of lessons that are simply not available in a traditional master’s program.”

Fekete said several other nearby companies are interested in hosting co-op participants, and he expects the program to expand as INBT adds more industry partners, who will, in turn, generate more interest from students entering these two departmental engineering master’s degree programs.

To find out more about the INBT Co-Operative Master’s Education Program, visit http://inbt.jhu.edu/education/graduate/ co-operative-co-op-education-program/