Internships
United States
An important commitment of this new program is to provide students with the possibility of domestic internships. For students in the Business Economics track, summer internships are principally in investment banking, hedge funds, and asset management companies. For students in the Organizational Studies track of COE, summer internships are in a variety of consultant companies and non-profit organizations. For the Entrepreneurship and Technology Management Track, students often intern with new ventures and in consulting firms.
What students tell us about their internships…
Ngange Akale’08
The summer of 2007 and winter break of 2007-2008 I interned for the African Broadcasting Network America, ABN-America. This is a media company based in St. Paul, MN that broadcasts programs from outlets in Africa, North America and Europe. It seeks to portray an accurate, dynamic view of the African Continent to Africans and friends of Africa throughout North America.
My work spread across the financial, marketing and everyday operations. I became familiar with futures and short sales and was introduced to the concept of fundamental analysis. I also analyzed securities and financial markets to formulate investment strategies.
This internship helped me build on my academic work. My courses in organizational management, sciences, engineering and finances are invaluable in that they offer me a broad knowledge base. The internship added a level of professionalism and application that my coursework couldn’t possibly replace.
Brian Asher ’08
Over winter break this year, I worked as an intern for Tritec Real Estate Company in Chevy Chase, MD.
I helped conduct market research on commercial real estate. This assisted my supervisor in valuations of potential real estate acquisitions. I also worked on efforts to rezone a property in Ashburn, VA. I researched the effects of multi-use developments on surrounding real estate.
My internship gave me a great learning experience in the business of commercial real estate, which is a field that I may pursue as a career. My internship built on my experience in Professor Mittleman's class "Land Use and the Built Environment". My internship gave me a glimpse of the everyday routine for a real estate developer that I did not get in class.
Clementine Knight ’08
In the summer of 2007 I worked as a market research and project strategy intern for the Innovation Chain Partners branch of Item Group.
Item Group was founded in the 1980s by two RISD graduates as a design consultancy and has since grown into an international company that employs over 100 designers, researchers, and engineers in its three branches. Item New Product Development is the continuation of the original design consultancy; Ximedica specializes in bio-medical devices; Innovation Chain Partners (ICP) works with large retail chains to find market opportunities and develop products for their private labels.
I performed many tasks, including: broad based product and market research, concept brainstorming, first stage product prototyping, and in-field research. My research entailed customer-intercept interviewing, running focus groups, and store observations – I helped collect as well as analyze the data of these events. My experience was extremely rewarding.
Kirk Lepke '08
Throughout the Spring 08 semester, I worked with Professor Rodney Clifton of Engineering to analyze the management of bookstore inventories. Organized as an Independent Project, my study focuses on using advanced operations research techniques to scientifically determine an optimal inventory system.
The bookstore model was chosen due to the unique problem it poses as a store with buy, return-to-vendor options. Essentially, this means that the inventories of a bookstore can be sold back to the distributor at a discount from the originally purchased price, as well as remaining on the shelves for traditional customer sales. However, the return-to-vender option is only available during limited time periods. The goal was to develop a mathematical programming model to help determine an inventory system and shelving layout that maximized store profits.
The project is a valuable supplement to my COE coursework. It is an example of how my mathematical and engineering skills can be applied to real business situations.
Katherine Montgomery ’08
At Item New Product Development, 5 industrial design students from RISD and Mass Art and I explored opportunities to re-think and re-design critical care spaces in the emergency department. We used Rhode Island Hospital as our stage and performed extensive ethnographic research including first-hand observations within resuscitation bays, focus groups with physicians and nurses, and site visits to other critical care centers. By the end of the summer we had devised a variety of design concepts and ways to standardize the space across hospitals. However, in order to push the project to the next level we needed to find a corporate partner to fund the project.
My job during the internship was to build a book which outlined the entire research and design process completed during the summer. This information would then be “sold” to a potential partner since it detailed both the findings and potential design concepts. Another aspect of my project was to build and format a small brochure to give as a “teaser” for potential partners. Finally, I built PowerPoint presentations for pitches to corporations and explored the industry market for the best potential partners.
The internship added to my academic skills by honing in on my presentation and communication skills, as well as document preparation. It was exciting to see the day-to-day activities inside a growing industrial design/product development consultancy.
Robert Neville’08
I was an intern at the Rhode Island Business Innovation Factory– a non-profit organization that promotes collaborative innovation.
I helped three experienced Providence entrepreneurs create a seed venture platform targeting young technology and design entrepreneurs who are ready to build a product and launch a company. The project is called BetaSpring. I helped design and build its website, and searched for prospective participants at Brown and Providence.
While my academic courses at Brown and experience with entrepreneurial student projects helped prepare me for the work, I learned new lessons that shaped the way I view young companies and entrepreneurs, as well as the way I evaluate my own opportunities.
Shou Yi Poon ’08
At Rhode Island's Business Innovation Factory, my project involved analyzing the existing problems in the health care industry (such as the large numbers of uninsured, the lack of personal health records, etc.) and their existing solutions. By exploring the trends in the healthcare solutions and by mapping out the existing stakeholders in Rhode Island, I developed a set of innovative healthcare experiments for BIF to carry out.
The internship allowed me to apply the theoretical concepts learnt in class to real world problems. For instance, I was able to identify and offer my view of the possible 'disruptive innovations' in the healthcare industry. Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend healthcare conferences, and interview doctors, professors and authors. These valuable interactions with experts in the healthcare industry gave me new perspectives and fresh insight into the healthcare industry, which is an industry I plan to join upon graduation.