17 Students Join Inaugural Innovation Management Program
After a rigorous vetting process, seventeen students have been selected and will be enrolling as the first cohort in Tufts Gordon Institute’s new Master of Science in Innovation and Management (MSIM) program this September.
“We’ve been fortunate to recruit a very strong first class, drawing on students from top schools in the United States, Europe, China, and India, with undergraduate degrees in almost all the engineering disciplines plus applied math, cognitive sciences, geology, human factors, psychology, architecture, and even art history,” said Director of the MSIM Program and Professor of Practice, Kevin Oye. In addition to the diversity of disciplines and past experience, the incoming class is 65 percent female, unlike many STEM-based programs. And although their backgrounds vary, their GMAT/GRE scores are among the highest within Tufts University master degree programs. Most importantly, they all have demonstrated initiative blazing their own trails. From successfully launching a Microsoft “Imagine Cup” Global competition team, to studying Antarctica ice cores to starting their own surfboard repair service, the incoming class has a breadth of unique experiences.
Leveraging the curriculum and 30-year success track record of the Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) program, TGI’s newest program focuses on preparing recent STEM graduates to be innovators launching new ventures, either their own start ups or within existing organizations. Faculty, like Frank Apeseche who teaches courses to both Tufts undergraduate and graduate students including Entrepreneurial Finance, Financial Management of High Technology Firms will also be involved in the MSIM program. Apeseche holds the title Professor of the Practice as a result of the three decades of industry experience he brings in creating and advising successful business enterprises.
“I am very excited about the launch of our new MSIM program. It is a perfect extension of our successful graduate M.S. in Engineering Management and undergraduate Entrepreneurial Studies programs. This will be the first time innovation management is being offered to full-time graduate students and it is wonderful to see such talent and capability disbursed throughout our inaugural class,” remarked Apeseche.
By providing an intensive one-year immersive curriculum, the MSIM program will give graduates with 0-4 years work experience the opportunity to learn and practice all the additional skills necessary to launch innovation. Oye noted, “Whether it is in the context of a startup, an innovation within an existing for-profit or non-profit enterprise, or as a member of a consulting team, graduates will be prepared to step into any situation requiring new thinking.”
The program is built on multiple capstone projects spread across all three semesters where students will directly exercise and apply skills in customer identification, value proposition development, business modeling, financial planning, market messaging and positioning. Similar to the MSEM program, students will also gain powerful leadership skills to communicate, persuade, negotiate, and effectively lead. Class time will be spent developing these skills by engaging in debate, discussion, experimentation, and ideation, in small seminars, which can then be applied to the capstone projects.
“With such a academically strong and diverse class, we are looking forward to the next twelve months and seeing our students thrive,” said Oye.