International immersion for graduate student education: EMPS IGERT, a graduate student perspective

POLY 455

Stacy M. Trey, stacy.trey@usm.edu and Lisa K. Kemp, lisa.kemp@usm.edu. School of Polymers and High Performance Materials, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr, Hattiesburg, MS 39406
The NSF funded IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) program in Entrepreneurship at the interface of Medicinal and Polymer Sciences (EMPS) was formed by professors at USM and UM in order to give traditional science graduate students the skills and knowledge to translate our lab research and discoveries into viable commercial products. As if they didn't have enough on their plates, they also decided to take these newly hybrid science/business students on a trip through China. 4 students and 2 faculty from UM along with 8 students and 4 faculty members from USM went to Shanghai for two weeks to visit Tongji University Materials Science and Business departments and Beijing for one week at Tsinghua and Beijing Universities. Our immersion experience in China has opened avenues of communication for collaborations and friendships, and it has provided us with the skills to function more efficiently and knowledgably in a global business/science community.