The Heersink Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Scholars program is a distinguished initiative developed to recognize and engage the top graduate students at UAB.
Each semester, a small group of outstanding graduate students will be chosen to participate. Each student admitted will go through a non-credit bearing program in Healthcare Innovation and have access to Institute resources to facilitate their work. Selection criteria include academic performance and achievements, leadership experiences, extracurricular or community engagement, and unique life accomplishments.
CIE scholars develop a commercialization plan for research performed on campus or other technical ideas. Students on interdisciplinary teams will use the NSF Innovation Corps Process.
Scholar Responsibilities
If chosen as a CIE Scholar, the student must participate in the Healthcare Innovation programming, which focuses on experiential learning through the development of a commercialization plan for a student or University Developed Technology. This technology can be the product of research completed by students in the class.
Students will be placed in a multi-disciplinary team to interview researchers, customers, vendors, regulators, and others, as necessary, to understand the commercial viability of the technology. Class procedures are based on the Lean LaunchPad Approach by Steve Blank and are approved by the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program.
The final deliverable for the class is a full commercialization plan in the form of an investor presentation and a complete business plan. The student makes a commitment to fulfill these responsibilities at the time they are selected as a CIE Scholar. Any student who fails to meet these responsibilities will be removed from the program and the scholarship rescinded.
Eligibility
- Must be enrolled in a graduate/medical program at UAB.
- Full- and part-time students are considered but must be available to actively participate and complete group work.
- No academic prerequisites are required. However, adequate evidence of significant academic accomplishments is required.
CIE Values
- Excellence
- Innovativeness
- Creativity
- Responsibility for change
- Engagement in one’s surroundings
- Personal integrity
- Strong moral character
Application
Eligible students who complete an application will be required to interview for the CIE scholarship. Interviews will be held on a rolling basis. All selection decisions will be made prior to the commencement of the semester. Applications will be accepted until the class is full.