In early April, Emory Global Engagement welcomed a delegation of South Korean undergraduate exchange students from multiple U.S. universities for a site visit focused on biomedical sciences and innovation. The two-day visit was a part of a program between the Institute of International Education (IIE) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology that funds STEM Korean students to study for 1-2 semesters in the U.S.
IIE created a series of experiential learning programs and site visits for smaller groups of students to provide firsthand exposure to professional pathways in STEM fields, visit research facilities and engage with companies.
Natalie Cruz, associate director of Emory Global Engagement, was excited to work with IIE and Emory campus partners to organize the visit. “Through this program, my goal was to highlight Emory’s outstanding faculty and facilities, catalyze future collaborations with Korean universities, introduce Emory to possible future graduate students and grow Emory’s global brand.”
Emory University was selected for a site visit focused on its world-class research and cutting-edge work in biomedical sciences and innovation. The group toured the Health Sciences Research Building II labs and met with Emory researchers Hanjoong Jo and Sung Jin Park. Students also met Lab2Launch staff, a program within the School of Medicine that provides flexible and low-cost co-working and wet laboratory space to local start-up companies that are developing promising technologies for the benefit of human health.
The group met with faculty members Haian Fu and Yuhong Du at the Center for New Medicine and the Emory Empathetic AI for Health Institute, where Anant Madabushi and his team of graduate students shared about their research.
During the innovation portion of the program, students toured The Hatchery, Emory Center for Innovation, and discussed the Emory Ecosystem of Innovation. There, they met several student and alumni entrepreneurs as part of the Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Students heard from Michael Tanenbaum, who shared the vision and structure of the Biofoundry Institute. Morgan Greenleaf, director in the Office of the Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship, shared what it means to be an entrepreneur and the process of discovering good ideas.
Brian Mitchell and Brian Cayce from Goizueta Business School discussed the structures of innovation support Emory offers students. Ben Garrett provided a tour of The Hatchery and led students in an activity where they began to think about turning their ideas into reality. Finally, the group heard from student entrepreneurs in the early stages of building their start-ups.
At the end of the program, students traveled off campus to Portal Innovations, a venture capital firm that helps exceptional life sciences innovators build their companies. There, students toured the space and heard from biohealth entrepreneurs and staff, who provided personal insights into the entrepreneurial and research process.
“Just two days of programming left the students amazed by what Emory and Atlanta had to offer in the field of health research and innovation,” says Hannah Meyers, Boren Awards Outreach and Recruitment Project Manager at IIE, who accompanied the students. “In my post-program debrief with them, most had never considered entrepreneurship as scientists, but left the visit brainstorming how their research and solutions could be scaled up to solve the world’s problems.”
Yejee Lee, a bioinformatics and bioengineering student from Soongsil University studying at Boston University this semester, says, “It was a wonderful experience to tour Emory University’s excellent research facilities and meet their outstanding faculty and students. This visit motivated me to progress toward my goals, and I hope to have the opportunity to meet these inspiring individuals again in the future.”