industry relations
"Skills training and industry-preparedness are the distinct advantages these students have. At the completion of their degree they have been trained to be biotechnology professionals.”
— Lynn Dickey, Vice President, Research, Biolex Therapeutics
"The emerging industrial biotechnology field needs graduates who not only understand the underlying technologies employed, but also know how to "connect the dots" for new businesses, often employing new business models. This unique MMB program at NC State fills a large 'gap' between more traditional MS/PhD and MBA programs. Industry Case Studies are a valuable tool to help students learn by actually doing business planning and strategy development, including dealing with marketing and intellectual property issues. Having students intern at sponsoring companies for the summers is also valuable - they not only can and do contribute real results, but also they gain a sense of the company culture and get insights into how the companies are approaching this rapidly emerging area. And the companies get a good look at potential new employees with strong technical and business skills. It's a real 'win-win'."
— Ray W. Miller, Business Development Director, Dupont Bio-based Materials
"The program ensures that NC State will continue to supply trained professionals to our biotechnology industry. The internship program teaches students to focus on the problem at hand and fix it. The close cooperation of the program with industry provides training that is relevant to the biotechnology industry. This relevance goes beyond chemical engineering and into good manufacturing practices and facility-management-matters systems.”
— George Koch, Chief Scientific Officer, Diosynth Biotechnology
"North Carolina State is at the cutting edge of the education of a new generation of scientist-managers who understand both the business and scientific aspects of the biotechnology industry. The practical hands-on aspects of the program mean that students leave the program with significant real-world experience to compliment their academic achievements. I am pleased to have the opportunity to interact with these talented students and future business leaders during their training."
— Bill Barrett, Vice President, Intellectual Property, Advanced Liquid Logic
"One of the most essential skills in our business world today is collaboration which is a core strength of the NC State PSM/MMB program. These students are acquiring and improving skills by collaborating between themselves and industry representatives throughout the case studies. These collaborative skills were previously learned only through on-the-job training."
— Michael Stocum, Managing Director, Personalized Medicine Partners
"This program enabled Embrex to view first hand the quality of the students. We hired two of them based on more knowledge than is usually available from the interview process.”
— Catherine Ricks, Former Vice President of Research, Embrex/Pfizer