2014 Student Consulting Projects Receive Positive Feedback
This summer 64 MSEM students worked on 15 MSEM consulting projects – also known as the Team Practicum. Of the 15 projects, initial sponsor evaluation results show impactful results. All sponsors indicated the teams exceeded project expectations. The teams received high scores on all evaluation questions including:
- Overall project team’s performance (4.2 average out of 6-pt. scale)
- Importance of the project results to their organization (4.6 average out of 5-pt scale)
- Satisfaction with the project results (4.4 average out of 5-pt. scale)
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Sample of 2014 Practicum Projects
BeTH – Benevolent Technologies for Health
Team members: Alexandra Guernon (MITRE), Daniel Hiller (EMC), Richard Matson (AECOM), Stephanie Melikian (L-3 Communications), Susan Peterson (EMC)
Perform a complete market analysis to understand the competitive landscape of the prosthetics industry and develop a business strategy for a startup within this space.
Eink
Team members: Thomas Cox (Tufts University), Eli Cushner (Paytronix Systems), Megan Seymour (Bristol-Myers Squibb), Jeremy Wahlman-Krogh (Tufts University)
Complete a market feasibility analysis for a digital music stand.
EMC
Team members: Deepak Bhagia (Tufts University), Michael Cuff (EMC), Nisarg Desai (Symantec Corporation), Cees Eijk (EMC), Steven Pina (EMC)
Research the technologies and new skills needed to develop, execute and scale a Big Data initiative.
Firecracker
Team members: Meredith Cunha (Draper Laboratory), Stephen Lisa (Tufts University), Besian Luga (GE Aviation), Matthew Meuse (ROAM Data)
Develop a business strategy and recommendations for improvements to Firecracker’s core product, a proprietary technology that helps medical and pre-medical school students study more effectively for their exams.
Instrumentation Lab
Team members: Jay McNamara (NSRDEC), Christopher Park (Genzyme), Scott Rydbeck (Qinetiq North America), Jessica Uralil (Hamamatsu Corporation), Nadia Seren Villanueva
Develop a product development predictability model to assist with project planning and completion accuracy.
Integrated Project Management (IPM)
Team members: Kevin Carter, (Weston & Sampson), Heewong Choi, (Bose Corporation), Stephen Crimlisk, (Genzyme), Susan Macdonald, (Tufts University Dental School), Yijie Sun
Provide research and insight into the knowledge management methods, models and approaches used by professional services organizations and recommendations to optimize knowledge management processes and learning at IPM.
iRobot
Team members: Shu Han (Pfizer), Jael Jose (Doble Engineering Company), Alex Veprinksy (EMC), Dylan Wilks (Labspher, Inc.)
Complete a comprehensive review of hazardous material response teams and assess iRobot’s HAZMAT product portfolio for use in this market.
Keurig
Team members: Caitlin Cutter (Genzyme), Daniel Der Marderosian (Chelsea Clock Company), Azadeh Haratian, Daniel Wilkens (Genzyme)
Conduct a comparative analysis with financial backing to support the most efficient approaches for lowering the total delivered cost of Keurig Green Mountain products.
U.S. Army Natick Solider Research Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC)
Team members: William McFarland (Draper Laboratory), Corey O’Connor (Schneider Electric), Jonathan Press (Keurig), Rebecca Simpson (Diversified Technologies, Inc.)
Develop collaboration strategy that leverages the expertise found in academia, industry and government to improve research opportunities in multi-threat protection, human sciences and force protection/containment.
OnCam
Team members: Scott Bookman (EMC), Derek Deskins (NSRDEC), Tashfiq Salam (NSRDEC), Nathan Williams (Philips Medical Systems)
Complete research on the mobile point of sales market along with validation of the proposed solution to use OnCam’s platform which uses 260-degree fisheye cameras and analytics.
Pfizer
Team members: Trung Nguyen (Raytheon), Laura Ploude (Genzyme), Jenna Tartaglino (EMC), Jimmy Tran (Merrimack Pharmaceuticals)
Examine the current paradigm of biologics process development activities and provide recommendations for comparing alternative resourcing approaches to the development and launch of biopharmaceuticals.
Schlumberger (Project 1)
Team members: Santiago Alvarado, Ryan Flood (Conformis), Ilan Levin (BBN Technologies), Mike Ruffo (Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech)
Create a landscape of key issues related to water, the possible disruptive technologies that might address the issues and current obstacles that stand in the way of breakthrough.
Schlumberger (Project 2)
Team members: Louis Colon (Google), Sahidya Devadoss (Forrester), Imran Malek (DataXu), Lorraine Mathis (Abbott/Abbvie)
Understand leading examples of analytical modeling techniques across industries and functions and provide recommendations on how data analytics could be used in the energy industry for executive decision-making.
Schlumberger (Project 3)
Team members: Stephen Harasim (Aspen Aerogels), Jose Sucre, William Wilde (Repligen Corporation), Lyndsey York (Quanterix Corporation)
Conduct research on how different models of innovation are evolving in various industries including aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, energy, new materials and social media. Provide recommendations on the next stage of development for the innovation process.