Final Reflection

My internship with the Biocom Institute was the ideal summer learning experience. Working alongside my coworkers has helped me grow professionally and as a person. My time at Biocom awakened a new interest in science and all things STEM. I gained a considerable amount of knowledge about the life-science industry, non-profits, funding, and event planning. Before my internship, I had little to no understanding of the rapidly growing life-science industry and its strong grip on the city of San Diego. My internship not only gave me an expedited lesson in life-science 101, but also exposed me to a number of companies that are industry leaders in San Diego, the newest life-science hub, and in the Bay Area. Learning about other companies in California was one of my main goals this summer because it is where I hope to work in the future. Opportunities like sitting in on a panel discussion for students from the University of Notre Dame, who are interested in working in the industry, provided me with a fast paced learning experience, catered to college students with no background knowledge in the field. Events like the Biocom Member Showcase served as the ideal networking event and allowed for many short introductions to industry companies, practices, and products. I left my internship with a complete understanding of the life-science industry and all the work it takes to support it. 

During my internship search, I aimed to gain general knowledge on non-profits; the process of filing for 501(c)3 status, the benefits that come with non-profit status, how to secure funding. Some of these learning goals would have been best achieved by working for a small or up and coming non-profit organization. The Biocom Institute is well established and backed by Biocom, a rather large and experienced life-science membership company, making it hard to learn more general knowledge about non-profits that would frequently come up at a smaller organization. However, I realized that I may not want to work for a small non-profit organization in the future or ever start one on my own. The insurances, support and stability that comes from having the support of a larger organization is all too valuable to me. There were plenty of opportunities to learn about funding, fundraising and grant writing. Brandon, the Grant Writer and Development Specialist, gave insightful information into the grant writing process and the importance of funding, which I played a large role in securing for future initiatives. Through Salesforce, I was able to view Biocom’s funding opportunities from the past and open opportunities in the future. The majority of my work required me to connect with new companies across the industry to provide community engagement opportunities and to secure funding. I occasionally was required to pitch Biocom initiatives and events to people who had little-to-no information them. I thought the ability to effectively connect and provide information to companies on the fly was an important learning experience. 

Before my internship, I wanted to gain skills in planning large and small scale events. I was able to attend the Science Events Summit hosted this year by Biocom. Science event organizers from all over the country– even the UK and Columbia– joined us in sharing ideas and best practices. I had the opportunity to help plan Biocom’s Charity Golf Tournament, Veteran Job Fair, and the Biocom Member Showcase. I learned how to submit charitable donation request and track the stages of the request on Salesforce, making it easy to pass along these task once I left and to send thank you’s to donors after the event. In addition, I learned how to track the total monetary value. Salesforce was one of the things I wanted to become proficient in during my internship, after it was mentioned I should become familiar with it during my internship search. I learned how to send an email merger to quickly contact multiple industry HR departments to secure participants after scouting potential locations. 

Most importantly, I learned how to effectively master the office workplace during my internship. I learned how to work alongside my colleagues and communicate in a manner that bolsters productivity. Ths knowledge came in handy when I needed to pass along my work at the completion of my internship. I learned the in’s and out’s of all-staff meetings and stand-up meetings, conference calls, and off site meetings. 

The most direct connection between my time at my internship and what I have learned from my time in Jepson came from the Science Events Summit and continued in to community engagement work for Biocom. During the summit, a community engagement manager led a discussion about effective community engagement. Daniel Aguirre had grown up in Barrio Logan and found himself back there running 56 Weeks of Science.  Daniel discussed the importance of cultural relevance in community engagement. Effective community engagement looks different for different communities. For Barrio Logan, a science event looked like a muscle car show where engineers talked about hydraulics and suspension and showed of cars they built from the ground up. To the community, body shops, car mechanics, and car customization was relevant and an interesting way to get the community excited for science. Effective community engagement allows for community members to embrace roles of leadership. I learned in my Justice and Civil Society class that too often, organizations look take paternalistic approaches when engaging communities and the end result is nothing more than a feel-good moment for the organization. An effective approach would be to help lift barriers to entry that are preventing community members from taking roles of leadership and enacting the change they determine they need. Before deciding on where in Barrio Logan to hold one of Biocom’s STEM in Your Backyard events, we reached out to Daniel to ensure the best way to engage the community. 

My time as a Jepson student also helped me better understand Karmin Noar, the Interim Associate Director of the Biocom Institute, as a transforming and relationship-oriented leader. During my time working under Karmin, I watched as she constantly motivated those around her and even those working above her. Karmin was passionate about her work and pushed the group to be openly expressive, especially in their love for community engagement and volunteering, in hopes leadership would take notice and embrace the opportunities the Biocom Institute is providing. I expected Karmin to be more goal oriented because of her interim position; however, she was more invested in making sure we reached out full potential as a team. Karmin took each individual into consideration before setting out goals and delegating certain projects. Her openness during our meetings help gain our trust and respect. As a relationship-oriented leader, Karmin made herself available to me often and made sure I knew she was there to help me in anyway possible. She set aside time to meet with me and discuss non work related issues, background, motivations. She also instructed me to add her on LinkedIn so she could endorse me. Karmin Noar has since been hired full time as the Executive Director of the Biocom Institute. Karmin helped me loosen up and not focus so much on the work at hand and more on the people in the office with us.

I believe my internship has taught me how to effectively work and communicate with coworkers and other employees in the industry. I practiced connecting with other companies and employees and pitching initiatives and programs to secure funding. I learned how to streamline work on Salesforce and make collaborative work effortless and easy to pass along. I accomplished a considerable amount of work while building meaningful business connections.