Industry Immersion Seminar

The Immersion Course is a one-semester course intended for all Computational Science students in MS and PhD degree programs.  The course has 14 in-person meetings, one hour per week.  In each of 12 of the course meetings, a student engagement format will be conducted with one or more representatives from an organization external to the CSRC from industry, health care, government, or academia. In the first year of the course, two engagement formats will be offered: (1) a speaker format and (2) a round table format, with 10 course meetings allocated to speakers and 2 course meetings allocated to round tables. Speakers will present the background of their organization as it relates to computational and data science and profile a current or upcoming project concept within their organization that exemplifies strategic use of computational/data science methods or technologies.  Ideally, the project concepts presented during this course will progress over time into separate, limited-term, hands-on research opportunities in which Computational Science Research Center (CSRC) students can participate, individually or in teams, in order to gain valuable research and problem-solving experience. Discussion of the project concepts between speakers and students will be encouraged and moderated by the faculty course instructor.

Each round table format will include 3 or more partners as mentors, preferably attending in-person, to meet with students in discussion of prepared questions related to careers in computational and data science.  The round table discussions will be guided by the course instructor.

The first and last course meetings will not have a guest speaker or round table and will provide a discussion of the course format and objectives, computational science disciplines, student academic and career interests, and feedback regarding the course. All students are required to attend all meetings in person and provide a brief written summary/assessment of the project concepts presented and round table discussions, to be submitted at the last course meeting.  The structure and objectives of collaborative student projects that may develop over time from this course will be addressed separately, on an individual basis, following the course.

The primary course objective is to bring together advanced degree Computational Science students and mentors/role models from a broad diversity of organizations in which computational and data science is a critical component of the organization’s success.  The course will expose students to opportunities from the real world in which their Computational Science advanced degree programs can be applied, give students and partners a chance to interact and explore novel ideas, develop a dialogue that may seed new projects, pairings, sponsorships, or internships, and enable actionable opportunities by matching interested students with project concepts from CSRC partners.  The course will be repeated annually with an updated selection of speakers to keep the material current