Enrollment
Upon admission to the Department of Bioengineering, graduate students are encouraged to consult with their Faculty Advisor and will be assisted by the Bioengineering Graduate Industry Training Office with preparation of a resume and curriculum vitae. The faculty member will formulate with each student individual industrial training objectives and review prospective companies offering to host a M.Eng. graduate student.

Academic Credit
A total of 4 units of general elective units will be credited for participation in the Industrial Training Program with enrollment in BENG 296. 4 units are for a commitment of 12 hours per week over a period of 10 weeks. The duration of individual Industrial Training Program may be extended upon consultation and agreement among the student, the Industry and Faculty advisor.

Participating Companies
The M.Eng. Industrial Training Program is carried out only with selected companies providing a rich intellectual environment in biengineering. These companies have agreed to provide significant resources to this program and will engage in close collaborations with members of the Bioengineering Faculty. A list of participating corporations is available in the Bioengineering Graduate Industry Training Office.

Student Support
All M.Eng. students in the Industrial Training Program will be supported by a stipend provided by the hosting company. The level of the stipend is equal to the research fellowships for bioengineering graduate students who are working on a thesis. A supplement to this stipend will only be provided to assist with exceptional housing or travel needs depending on company location.

Industrial Project Development, Final Reports and Student Evaluation Industrial Advisors are invited to propose a research topic for students in close consultation with appropriate faculty members in the Department of Bioengineering. This proposal includes definition of the objectives and the general approach. The students should get involved at an early stage to define the specific aims, to review background literature and to design methods and approaches.

Industrial projects address a significant bioengineering design or analysis problem. The scope of the investigation is equivalent to a M.S. thesis. The industrial project requires approval from the Faculty Advisor. The student is required to present a final report at the end of the training period to the Industry and Faculty Advisors and to the Industrial Training Program Board. The final responsibility for approval of the report for academic credit lies with the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Bioengineering in consultation with the Faculty and the Industry Advisor. The Industry Advisor will provide a final evaluation of the student with constructive criticism, including comments on academic strength/weaknesses of the student, work habits, and ability to focus.

The final report is expected to be focused on specific industrial problems and is required to follow the basic guidelines of technical report writing, such as Introduction and Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussions and References. Final reports may be written with exclusion of selected proprietary information, but need to satisfy the requirement for summary of a conclusive set of original results in bioengineering.

The performance of the student during the Industrial Training will be monitored in three to four meetings during the training period and the student is expected to make oral presentations about ongoing work to small research groups, as well as to the Advisors.

Intellectual Property and Conflict of Interest
Since the Training Program is carried out on the premises of a company outside of the university campus and without university financial resources, all intellectual property generated during the Industrial Training period belongs to the company. An agreement will be negotiated among the student, the faculty advisor and Industry prior to the start of the Industrial Training so as to ascertain ownership of intellectual property. The agreement depends on the particular status and scope of each project as well as previous patent ownerships. Students are encouraged, but are not required to publish their work during the Industrial Training period in a peer-reviewed journal.

Faculty advisors are considered as consultants to the company in accordance within the guidelines of the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering for outside consultation. Faculty Advisors may sign confidentiality agreements upon request by companies. In case of a potential conflict of interest (e.g. due to ownership of equity in a particular company), Faculty members will be replaced by another Faculty Advisor without conflict of interest.