Becoming Science Innovators with Enventure
The 21st century is the time of rapid progress that requires a collaborative group of talents and innovators. It is a time when more and more doors open to those with professional degrees. Students and young professionals are no longer obligated follow a single career track.
With the knowledge and the training of a professional degree (M.S., Ph.D., etc) opportunities for jobs seem unlimited. Motivated by these changes, students are more eager to accept challenges and pursue non-traditional career paths. However, there is a lack of resources for those who follow this track.
Recognizing this need, the SACNAS Chapter and Graduate Student Association at UT Health San Antonio had invited Enventure to San Antonio.
Enventure’s Director Robert Williams ( 4th year Ph.D. candidate and UT Health Houston GSA president) and Business Development Lead Alec Santiago (2nd year Ph.D. student at UT Health Houston) took time out from their busy schedules to speak to our students and post docs.
What is Enventure?
They are a Houston based organization that is led by students that empowers the next generation of innovators. Their goal is “to provide free networking, education, and experiential learning opportunities to help students prepare for the real world.” Through their programs, they allow students to explore, to learn, and to launch.
What does this mean?
This means they provide students the opportunity to explore the field that they are interested in by meeting and discussing ideas, by going on site tours at local companies to learn about what jobs are available, and by sharing success stories of their alumni. Then, through workshops and paid fellowship in projects hired by biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, students learn the necessary knowledge and skills required for a job in industry. Additionally, they also have a match program that help land students into their job of choice. Lastly, for those who want to turn their ideas into products, they have Bioventures and Basecamp to assist the launching of Houston startups.
After a brief introduction about how their organization functions and what their goals and core values are, they divided students into groups to simulate a short version of one of their workshops. Students were given an exercise on CEO and Elevator Pitch Practice in which a scenario was given. Students had 20 minutes to research and analyze the market and then give a 30-second to 1-minute pitch on what is the most viable option they recommend. This hands-on session briefly introduced students to what consulting is. The guest speakers also provided insights for future improvement.
Enventure’s mission is to empower students to build a community that work on improving healthcare. More importantly, they are a community driven and student-led organization that offers free and open resources. They are enthusiastic that students in San Antonio share the same passion. Therefore, they have offered to mentor and guide students in San Antonio to create their own community of young professionals and innovators. We are delighted to announce that a group of UT Health San Antonio students are working together to bring Enventure to San Antonio.
For more information about Enventure, please visit: www.enventure.org
This article was written by Thu Duong and Jeffrey Kim.
