Steven Broadwater

Dan Kubis '09 spent his summer internship helping Ithaca's Systanix develop and test its unique system of equipment for efficient, on-demand chemical production.

Anna Wilson '08 didn't know much about materials testing when she took a summer internship with Datapoint Labs in Ithaca. But she had a vast amount of marketing knowledge from classes as an applied economics and management major.

After a couple of weeks on the job, however, she became an integral part of the company.

"Anna -- being a very smart intern -- could look beyond the intimidating technical jargon of our web-based technology," said Renu Gandhi, Datapoint's marketing manager. "Soon, she was training our client base of mostly engineers on its effective use. I wish summer were longer."

Wilson is one of 18 summer interns placed with small companies throughout New York state by the Entrepreneurship@Cornell (E@C) program and funded by the Center for Life Science Enterprise, a New York State Center for Advanced Technology (CAT). This is the third year that E@C has received this funding.

This year's $30,000 grant allowed the organization to provide interns for 11 startup companies. The interns got a glimpse of life at a small business, managed projects on their own and were called on to do what was needed to keep the company moving forward. Many of these companies are working to develop applications for Cornell technology and inventions.

"The internship program helps companies that otherwise wouldn't have the resources to support a summer intern," said Debra Moesch-Shelley, program manager at E@C.

Biological engineering major Simon Frid '08 ran experiments, set up a new lab and helped develop an appropriate environmental policy for Novomer LLC, a specialty polymer and materials company, also in Ithaca.

"In a large corporation, I'd get a project and spend the summer researching it. What I got at Novomer was something different," Frid said. "Every day was a new experience, and my tasks were varied. For example, on Wednesday, I'd help manually assemble the new lab while researching an appropriate green policy, while on Thursday I'd run polymerizations in the lab. In many ways, I had a lot more responsibility than I expected to, free to carry out the work that I thought was most important to the company."

Dan Kubis '09 spent the summer at Systanix, an Ithaca company developing a scaleable and adaptable system for chemical synthesis.

"Working for Systanix has heightened my interest in and understanding of the chemistry I have learned in my classes," Kubis said. "More importantly, this has been an experience that will help me to decide what I would like to do upon graduating."

Each year, the Center for Life Science Enterprise awards grants to faculty and other programs that partner with New York state companies on research and commercialization efforts, contributing to the state's economic growth.

"We are thrilled with the internship program's success and benefit to small life-sciences related companies," said Susi Varvayanis, director of applied resources for the center. "Our hope is that with continued support through NYSTAR [New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation], we will see not only cost savings but also an impact on subsequent employment within New York state."

The 18 interns funded through the CAT grant are a subset of the more than 40 interns placed each year by E@C into small to midsized companies across the country. The program works with students in all of Cornell's schools and colleges who want a small-business experience for the summer.

To find out more about the internship program, contact Moesch-Shelley at 254-2802 or visit the Web site at http://www.eship.cornell.edu.

Kathy Hovis is a writer/editor for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.