I was 1 of 75 students selected for the Management & Technology Summer Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, a rigorous for-credit college course with a focus on engineering, management, entrepreneurship, and finance.

Most days followed a similar pattern. In the mornings from 9 am to 1 pm, we would have business lectures and discussions in Tangen Hall, the entrepreneurship building, and after our lunch break, we would have an engineering lecture followed by Arduino lab work from 2 pm to 6 pm. On the business front, we reviewed many case studies like LinkedIn and DropBox, and several guest speakers came to speak to us about their start-ups.

The program also included trips, including one to NYC, where we went to the Morgan Stanley headquarters in Manhattan, and were hosted by Michael Grimes, the Head of Global Technology Investment Banking. There, we conducted a simulation of the Google IPO, since Michael Grimes was the person in charge of leading the IPO itself back in 2004.

The highlight of the program however was being split into teams of 5 and being asked to create a fully-functioning product within 10 days. My team created Spark, a magnetic phone case accessory and app duo that vibrate when nearby individuals share interests, sparking spontaneous conversations and building communities. Below are the promotional video and technology presentation of our product.