Johns Hopkins University visits INL: 8 years of collaborative interchange

January 15, 2024

It was eight years ago that Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and INL began a very interesting collaboration. Every winter, Hopkins graduate students studying Engineering Management travel from the United States as part of an immersive project-based course called “The Practice of Consulting.” During their visit, students come to INL for one week and stay at our INL Guesthouse. But it is not a regular student visit. The student teams work an intense schedule, deep-diving into what nanotechnology can offer and the potential products that derive from developments done here at INL. As part of their curriculum, the students work closely with one of our research groups throughout that week to deliver a report on go-to-market strategies and business translation opportunities for specific projects.

This year they worked with Filipa Lebre and Vânia Vilas-Boas from the Nanosafety Research Group and with Laura Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Begoña Espiña, and Raquel Queirós, from the Water Quality Research Group.

The team is accompanied and mentored by Dr. Andy Ross, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Professional Communication Program at JHU. “These projects are exceptional opportunities for students to apply the consulting skills they have cultivated in their coursework,” Ross comments. “The experience of travelling abroad and immersing into a research and technology institution like INL is truly transformational for these young professionals.”

Participants in the 2024 INL-JHU “Practice of Consulting” course.
From left to right: Begoña Espiña, Laura Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Mariam Debs, Raquel Queirós, Ashley Tang, Andy Ross, Callie Jones, Kartik Pandya, Margiv Amin, Abhiram Sasidharan, Indraneel Bhunia, Dmitri Petrovykh, Rahul, Aditya Bokade, Anudeep Narala, Filipa Lebre, Francisco Guimaraes, Vânia Vilas-Boas.
*Photo by Sai Krishna Narayananello, Research Engineer at INL*

This collaboration is organised by FLAD – the Luso-American Foundation for Development (Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento), whose mission is to promote the development of Portugal, the Portuguese people, and Luso-descendants through collaborations with the United States of America. Their scope covers not only science and education but also cultural and transatlantic relations.

Another program also organised by FLAD is the “Study in Portugal Network (SiPN)”. INL had the pleasure of welcoming them on January 10^th 2024 along with a group of faculty, students, and alumni from William Jewell College, including His Excellency Allan Katz, former US Ambassador to Portugal appointed in 2013.