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Description

These workshops are for graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty.  The goal is to inspire you about the impact that your careers/research can have and introduce you to the “entrepreneurial mindset."  By expanding your mindset, we can help you see new possibilities for your research and/or careers. By exposing you to diverse examples of impact and cultivating ecosystem connections, you will be more likely to find your passion and have a support system to help you pursue it.  

Participants are not expected to have a commercialization project in mind nor is there an expectation that you will have had any commercialization experience.  Therefore, the topics and exercises are meant to be relevant to a wide audience of PhDs, postdocs, and early faculty not just those pursuing the commercialization of an idea.

Objectives

  • Inspire researchers to think about the impact of their work and to think beyond the publication. Said another way, we want researchers to think beyond their curiosity and desire to understand something new and ask the question, “Assuming I figure this out, so what?”
  • Have researchers think about their personal goals and what roles in innovation best fit their interests and talents. Expand their understanding of the different careers that they can have in multiple contexts:  academia, industry, government, consulting, non-profit/NGOs, etc.
  • Provide a set of tools for researchers to shape their research objectives to be more use-inspired and impactful.
  • Reduce psychological barriers and conceptual misunderstandings about innovation that prevent people from seeing themselves as inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
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Enroll Now - Select a section to enroll in

Section Title
Pathways to Impact: Getting the most from your PhD
Type
Workshop
Days
T
Time
4:00PM to 5:30PM
Dates
Apr 07, 2026
Campus
Twin Cities (US Central Time)
Building
Walter Library
Schedule and Location
View Details
Contact Hours
1.5
Location
Course Fee(s)
Class Fee $0.00

Section Details

This workshop was designed for a primary audience of 1st and 2nd year PhD students and Master's students intending to pursue a PhD as a secondary audience.  The purpose is to get students thinking about the potential impact of their research, what problem it solves, how that problem fits into world, and who might be involved in translating that impact beyond the lab.

Objectives:

  1. Have student reflect on their own goals, skills and personality.  Introduce them to different roles within innovation and have them consider what fits best with them.  Specifically, we want them to learn the broad definitions of being involved in: research, invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
  2. Have students consider the impact of their research beyond increasing human knowledge (a.k.a publication) or some vague future use.  Introduce the concept and characteristics of "use-inspired" research and get them to articulate their "Why do I do what I do?" cocktail party pitch.
  3. Have students think about what problems their research can address and who is involved in those industries/communities.  Students should identify potential stakeholders, articulate possible value propositions, and make a plan for reaching out to them.  This section should also explain why it is important to build your innovation network and gain an appreciation for the wide variety of roles and responsibilities.
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