Students present experiential research project findings at Mayo Clinic

April 4, 2018

Four students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University recently concluded their work in the Mayo Innovation Scholars Program (MISP).

CSB junior accounting and finance major Morgan Craig (Alexandria, Minnesota), SJU senior integrative health science major Donovan Inniss (Nassau, Bahamas), SJU senior global business leadership major Matthew Miller (Annandale, Minnesota) and CSB senior biology major Kristina Rudin (Maple Grove, Minnesota) presented project research.

The interdisciplinary program provides research opportunities to teams of undergraduates from Minnesota private colleges, under the guidance of select master’s-level business students. Students in this collaborative program work at the interface of science, medicine and business. Through teamwork, they learn the practical aspects involved in bringing an idea to the marketplace.

The CSB and SJU students worked as a team on the project on campus throughout the 2017-18 academic year. They presented their findings in March at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and in a written report. On average, each student put in roughly 175 hours of work during the program.

Support and praise from advisors

The students were supported by Andrew Tewksbury, an MBA student at the University of St. Thomas. CSB and SJU faculty members Lisa Lindgren, associate professor of global business leadership, and Jennifer Schaefer, associate professor of biology, served as project advisers. Lindsey Gunnerson Gutsch, program assistant in the Student Success Center at CSB and SJU, provided administrative support.

“The MISP requires students from different majors and academic disciplines to work together to study a real-world innovation from both scientific and business perspectives,” Lindgren said. “Over the five months of the program, they become a cohesive team in which the individual team members each gains a new perspective to examine an issue.”

“This year’s team did a great job of taking a project that was especially undefined and constructing clear criteria for evaluating and suggesting improvements to the product,” Schaefer said. “The interdisciplinary and ambiguity of the Mayo Scholars program are tied as the two best aspects of MISP for students. Both challenge students to become better academically, professionally and as people.”

Now in its 12th year, MISP aims to assist high-achieving students from private colleges in Minnesota gain real-life experience of innovation and commercialization under the auspices of Mayo Clinic Ventures. The students help in the assessment of new products submitted by Mayo researchers.

The program was designed in 2006 by John Meslow, a retired Medtronic executive. Together with Mayo Clinic Ventures and the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC), Meslow created an innovative model for student experiential learning.

Mayo Clinic staff members and program administrators were impressed by the quality of the students' work, including the project’s inventor.

In total, there were 11 presentations over two days by MPCC member institutions.

MISP students

From left: Andrew Tewksbury, Kristina Rudin, Donovan Inniss, Morgan Craig and Matthew Miller.

Student Reflections

Morgan Craig: “The Mayo Innovation Scholars Program had an enormous impact of my academic and career goals. It expanded my skills on market research and teamwork. For future plans, this program introduced me to in-depth product analysis and now it is something I could see myself having a career in. It was extremely challenging and frustrating at times, but the end product was exciting and an amazing accomplishment. The ability to have a group of people with business and science mindsets come together for six months was a great experience to see how the two fields are dependent of each other.”

Donovan Inniss: “The program has solidified my decision to pursue an MD/MBA in the future. Additionally, it has given me the mindset to take risks and continually brainstorm, troubleshoot and develop the ideas that I have to potentially bring them to market. In doing this, I hope to eventually create a product or service that can help clinicians or other large populations of persons, especially through translational research. Finally, the program has fostered my leadership skills both in academics and economics. This project strengthened my teamwork and collaboration skills, and has given me an idea of the process behind pursing a business venture, within medicine. It has also taught me how to think critically from different points of view, using and understanding approaches outside of my discipline to answer and ask questions. Finally, I fostered my public speaking and presentation skills from all of the practice that our group had.”

Matthew Miller: “The Mayo Innovation Scholars Program is an amazing opportunity for any student to get the chance to see where the respective fields of business and science intertwine. MISP allows participants to work alongside one of the most respected hospitals in the world, and the experience and skills developed along the way is something you cannot put a price on.”

Kristina Rudin: “This program provided a fantastic out of the classroom opportunity that challenged us to stretch our thinking and view a problem from different perspectives. Throughout this experience, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration that comes with the program. While challenging at times, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at CSB/SJU.”