Practicum projects kick off for graduate students

Now that the academic semester has come to a close, students in the M. S. in Engineering Management program and the M. S. in Innovation & Management have the chance to put what they have learned in the classroom into practice. Over a 12-week period this summer, 88 students will work with a company on a real world consulting project. The organizations range from large corporations to start-up ventures, non-profits and government agencies.

With guidance from Tufts Gordon Institute faculty advisors, the teams will serve as consultants conducting market research and developing strategic recommendations for the clients.

Below is a list of the organizations and projects student will be working on this summer.

Aquametrix
Andover, MA
The team will help Aquametrix study the potential markets for one of their water quality  instruments, an analyzer measuring sludge, water and grease. The four markets include: municipal wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, restaurant grease traps and residential septic systems.

Black Dinah Chocolatiers
Westbrook, ME
Students will help develop an online strategy for the chocolate business, and use existing data to develop customer segmentation of the current customer base. The team will help identify strategies to either increase sales to the existing base or identify how to attract and retain new customers.

Circle of Hope
Needham, MA
Circle of Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides the most needy victims of abuse and destitution with clothes as they enter homeless shelters and clinics. The team will help develop a strategic planning road map that incorporates opportunities for significant productivity gains, potential organizational re-structuring for the future, better use of affordable technology to measure and enhance its impact, and an implementation plan to broaden its social branding and capital raising efforts.

Draper
Cambridge, MA
Draper’s Sembler office is charged with identifying opportunities for internal projects to be spun out into their own separate companies. The research will detail the market demand, competition, opportunities and required resources for the spin-out to be successful.

Global Sign
Portsmouth, NH
GlobalSign is a leading provider of trusted identity and security solutions enabling businesses and large enterprises to conduct secure online communications, manage millions of verified digital identities, and automate authentication and encryption. The team will develop both a product and a business strategy for GlobalSign’s IoT business unit.

Instrumentation Laboratory
Bedford, MA
Instrumentation Laboratory is a leader in the in-vitro diagnostics market. The team will assess the ‘cost’ (both financial and non-financial) of outsourcing parts of the development work for new products.

Ionic Materials
Woburn, MA
The team will explore and analyze the potential of the company’s new polymer that can replace the liquid electrolytes used in currently-available batteries. Students will generate an analysis of how replacing incumbent cell technology could impact pack design, cost, and performance.

Integrated Project Management Company, Inc. (IPM)
Concord, MA
The team will recommend an appropriate quality program at IPM, complete with recommendations for structural and operational changes at the company, a project management consulting firm focused on planning and implementing strategically critical projects in life sciences, healthcare, consumer products, and industrial sectors.

Integrated Project Management Company, Inc. (IPM)
Concord, MA
IPM has achieved consistent annual top-line growth through the expert delivery of project management. The team will design and conduct the competitive analysis for IPM, whose growth has led to a need to manage its continued expansion.

Qipo
Qipo is an online platform that synchs messages, schedules, tasks and files into one place. Working with the founders of this new startup company students will: 1) Research verticals and run marketing experiments; 2) Study the best-fit verticals to understand what features and integrations would be most useful to them; and 3) Develop a comprehensive go-to-market strategy.

Rejuvenate Bio
Cambridge, MA
Students will research new markets for the company, which develops gene therapies.  Experiments have yielded three promising results for possible disease areas for the company to address: Heart Failure, Obesity/Diabetes, and Renal Failure.

Schlumberger
Cambridge, MA
The domain of data analytics, encompassing machine/deep learning, and artificial intelligence is experiencing significant attention and investment from virtually all technology business sectors and particularly from the oil and gas upstream sector, of which Schlumberger is a supplier. The team will conduct research and analyze trends, and conduct market research about consulting companies in this domain.

SharkNinja
Newton, MA
SharkNinja, a leading innovator in the housewares industry, seeks to launch a platform for external parties to submit proposals for defined problem statements. The team will research how to engage the right community in the best manner, and how to “open source” more innovative solutions to improve products and their consumer’s experience.

Telus
Vancouver, Canada
Telus, a Canadian telcom carrier, is expanding their IoT business from a domestically focused offering to a global offering targeting key vertical markets. The team will research the general M2M/IoT/Connected Things market, what the ecosystem looks like and what the key verticals are including Connected Ag/Connected Natural Resources.

Tokyo Electron
Billerica, MA
The semiconductor manufacturing company is in need of a method to determine the most cost effective logistics solution for a given scenario. The student team will offer a cost benefit analysis demonstrating the positive financial impact associated with adoption of their recommendations.

TomTom
Yarmouth, ME
TomTom is a leader in providing mapping and geographic information systems to both consumers and businesses. The team will deliver a well-researched market analysis, including sizing and characterizing the addressable market for TomTom, along with the caveats and specific challenges to realizing this market.

Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO)
Medford, MA
The team will help develop a business plan for CEEO on how to best leverage its current technologies and resources into a comprehensive service, adaptable to the needs of the diverse types of educational organizations, including a go-to-market strategy for current and near term product offerings.

U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC)
Natick, MA
The team will select the correct business strategy to move an exciting new technology from the lab to the field and to the growing market for portable, lightweight solar power. The NSRDEC is looking to transition its nanoparticle/nanostructure dispersion on laboratory-scale solar cells from the benchtop to large (many square feet) solar modules produced by commercial manufacturers.

Vena‘s Fizz
Portland, ME
The company, which serves innovative non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails, needs two deliverables: an assessment of its various business lines (bar, retail, wholesale, online) and a prioritized plan to devote resources to the most attractive business segments.

Vention Medical
Salem, NH
Vention Medical is a world leader in medical tubing, single–use devices and related medical components. The team will conduct a market assessment of leading bioabsorbable resin suppliers, including annual production volumes, pricing and risks to supply base.

ZEISS Microscopy
Peabody, MA
The company produces a gas field ion source microscope (NanoFab) that currently has an installed base of approximately 50 instruments. The team will produce an analysis and delivery of performance data across the global NanoFab install base and recommendations as to specific ideas of what factory improvements would be valuable to customers.