2022-2023
Several of our recent alums, Hanna, Paul and Mahita met up in San Francisco over the break!
Watch the video to see the incredible year of impact at JHU. Also, big shoutout to MSEM student, Tyler Guarino and Tastee Tape (featured in the video). We are so proud of our students.
Vaidehi has been working as a Sustainability intern at the JHU Office of Sustainability. Here is a quick glance at her journey:
Out of the 15 Scope 3 categories, she worked on estimating the Scope 3 emissions in the purchased goods category, and incorporating her knowledge on life cycle assessments (LCA) as needed.
The lack of consistent and reliable data poses a great challenge while calculating Scope 3 emissions, and the search for technological solutions that can enhance the coverage and reliability of Scope 3 emissions data goes on. Extrapolation of these datasets can supplement our decarbonization efforts.
As the semester comes to a close, Pam Sheff and Trevor Mackesey (Director and Co-Director of MSEM) celebrate with their TA’s from Strategies for Innovation & Growth.
Last night MSEM students and CLE faculty and staff celebrated at the annual holiday party! We toasted with beer and wine and feasted on Italian meatballs, lamb shawarma, chicken and waffles, gnocchi, and brownies/macarons/lemon bars! And we ended the night in the photo booth so that we could document the end of semester and celebrate a successful year!
MSEM students celebrated Halloween in style!
Last week, 12 teams of MSEM students presented recommendations to doctors, nurses, and administrative staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital. These recommendations concluded the eight-week Hospital Project, which provides the incoming cohort of MSEM students with a thorough introduction to the master’s program.
This consulting project, facilitated by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and part of the course Strategies for Innovation and Growth, is designed to improve patient safety and efficiency of care at the hospital.
Over the weekend, MSEM attended the GHC conference with instructor, JJ Rorie.
Boot Camp for the fall cohort has officially begun, whoo-hoo! We kicked off the week with introductions, icebreakers, a hello from Christine Kavanagh, Associate Dean for Residential Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Hospital project group work, and a dinner at Pam’s house! We toasted to a new academic year over beer, wine, and Mission BBQ (and completely forgot to take pictures until the very end, of course).
Today, MSEM is down at the hospital meeting their hosts and working in their hospital projects teams! We are elated to have our students on campus and to finally meet them in-person! The next two weeks are filled with lots of fun, including improv sessions, an etiquette dinner at a brewery, a trip to Eric’s farm, a scavenger hunt, hosting speakers from various realms of JHU, and campus walks!
Welcome MSEM! More boot camp updates soon!
Day 3 of bootcamp is Improv Day! MC Coghlan led three Improv sessions with the new cohort. MSEM Faculty member, Andy Ross even made an appearance! It looks like they are having a blast so far!
The afternoon continues with a Leading Teams Discussion with Bill Smedick and Eric Rice (sounds like trouble to me…). Tomorrow, the students are meeting with campus partners and working in their hospital project teams. And Friday, we conclude the week with the WSE Orientation! Lots of food, swag, and games! Lots more to come for week 2!
Today is the final day of boot camp. Here’s a look back at the last week of activities.
2021-2022
Pam Sheff met up with MSEM alums: Olga, Klinzman, and Federico in Santa Monica on June 19th! We are looking forward to planning more alumni reunions for our MSEMers across the globe!
Last Thursday, May 19, 40 MSEM students celebrated the completion of their degrees at the Whiting School of Engineering’s Master’s Recognition Ceremony. Congratulations to all of this year’s graduates!!!
MSEM Student, Tyler Guarino (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) was recently featured in the Baltimore Sun for a burrito innovation! Tyler and a team of peers have invented “Tastee Tape,” an “edible adhesive” that keeps your burrito in tact. The adhesive is comprised of a food-grade fibrous, organic scaffold to help keep all of the delicious flavors sealed into the sandwich. “First, we learned about the science around tape and different adhesives, and then we worked to find edible counterparts,” said Tyler Guarino, “Tastee Tape allows you to put full faith in your tortilla, and enjoy your meal, mess-free.”
On Friday, April 29th the MSEM cohorts went to Peabody Brewery to celebrate the last day of classes! Congrats to a semester well done!
On Tuesday, the Fundamentals of Product Management course met for its last class. It was a wonderful semester and we are excited to offer the course again in the fall! Special thanks to JJ Rorie and Bruce Busby!
On Friday several MSEM student teams competed in the annual competition “HopStart: Hopkins new venture challenge.” Congrats to all of our students and our winners below!
General Ventures: First Place
FARM PLUS – Manav, Rishi, Mahima and Shivank
Sustainability: Third Place
Nathaniel C, Paul, Hanna, Caroline, Mahita and Daniel
This weekend, several MSEM students went to New York City for a Product Management Conference!
On Saturday, April 2nd, MSEM got together in the MSEM lounge for pizza and basketball!
Congratulations to our fall ’21 MSEM graduates! #hopkinsengineer #jhu #graduation. We will miss you all!
Many Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) students apply for the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant (TA) after their first semester in the program. This assistantship allows MSEM students to work closely with faculty in the planning and delivery of graduate and undergraduate courses in the Center for Leadership Education.
Abhijit Choudhari (MSEM ’22) is pursuing the Smart Product and Device Design Track and plans to enter into the field of product management post-graduation. He recently sat down with us to reflect on his first semester as a teaching assistant, how the skills he learned in this role have prepared him for his future career, and his advice for new TAs.
Which courses have you assisted and what is your primary role in those classes?
I have assisted for Strategies for Innovation and Growth taught by Dr. Pam Sheff. For that course, I developed project schedules, assisted professors in project meetings, managed student email communication, and graded assignments.
What do you enjoy most about being a teaching assistant?
I enjoyed working with different student teams during the hospital and capstone projects. Particularly, I enjoyed creating student teams for these projects. We had a larger MSEM cohort this year of 61 students, so the challenge was to divide them into 16 different teams, while also making sure that all the teams had the necessary technical expertise to successfully complete the project. In the end, we were able to create well-balanced teams with at least one student from each technical track.
What skills have you developed through your work as a teaching assistant?
Primarily, I developed project management skills. I looked at this course as a big project as we had to manage 16 teams in the first half of the semester and 12 in the second comprising 66 students. The biggest challenge was to create a timeline and a schedule that works for everyone. We had to keep in mind the schedule of professors, students, and clients to develop project progress and meet schedules and presentation timelines.
Secondly, I developed my problem-solving skills. We encountered various bottlenecks throughout the course. The TAs and professors worked together to discover strategies to overcome this problem. For example, some teams struggled to connect with their clients. We did not immediately want to help by getting in touch with their hosts. Instead, we provided them with the possible options to reach out to their hosts. This helped them to improve their outreach and communication skills. It’s always easy to give out the solutions, but this approach will not help students in developing these skills.
I also enjoyed developing strategies for the class. We brainstormed on the topics to be covered in the lectures and developed assignment packages for the students. The challenge again was the large cohort size. We had to carefully figure out the logistics so that professors effectively deliver the lectures and create the most impact.
Would you recommend serving as a teaching assistant to future MSEM students?
Yes. TAing is a great opportunity to gain experience in managing students, leading project teams, and developing problem-solving skills. It’s a great platform to share and gain knowledge and work closely with professors to develop management and leadership knowledge.
What advice do you have for new teaching assistants?
The most important skill to be successful as a TA is being observant and approachable. Sometimes students are not comfortable reaching out to the professors or TAs directly. As a TA we should be observant if the student is facing a problem or falling short on the deliverables. We should be responsive to the student’s emails and pick up the non-verbals (body language) of the students in order to provide them with the necessary guidance. Being a student myself, I understand that we are away from home, academics at Hopkins sometimes can be rigorous, and students fail to express their problems. As a TA, we should be observant to pick up these cues and go above and beyond so that the students feel comfortable and find a home here at Hopkins.