My First Semester TI:GER Experience

Hi, my name is Anna and I am a first-year Georgia Tech MBA student.  I am wrapping up the first semester of the TI:GER program and I wanted to share my experience thus far.  One of the best parts about TI:GER is getting to work on a cross-functional team that consists of one Georgia Tech PhD student, two Emory law students and two Georgia Tech MBA students.  Our team project for the duration of the TI:GER program is based off each PhD student’s current research.  I think that the PhD students are working on some really interesting projects and for me as an MBA student, the TI:GER program is a great way to apply business school concepts to a real world project.  It’s definitely an interesting experience to meet your classmates, learn about their backgrounds and then scramble to form a team that you will work with for the next year and a half!

My team consists of myself, Rob Mannino, Prateek Mittal, Creighton McMurray and Alek Siliunas.  Rob Mannino is a biomedical engineering PhD student at Georgia Tech.  Prateek is the other Georgia Tech MBA student on my team and Creighton and Alex are the Emory law students.  My group is working on an app that can monitor anemia using smartphone images.  Our team brings together many diverse backgrounds that all complement each other on this project.  I came to business school with a finance background, Rob is our subject matter expert, Prateek has a computer science background, Creighton brings law expertise via a previous background with bioethics and medical humanities and Alek comes from a family of successful inventors.  It’s this rich blending of backgrounds that provide for unique and thoughtful team discussions.  I’ve really enjoyed pausing to reflect on my team member’s thoughts as they consider a business problem from a different angle. 

I couldn’t end this post without mentioning the wonderful TI:GER lab that is available to all TI:GER students.  The lab has lots of workstations and conference rooms.  Also, there are computers, printers, lockers and a break room.  Our team uses the lab for team meetings and also as a breakout space.  I use the TI:GER lab as my home base to study and catch up on my other classes.  Most graduate students will agree that having a dedicated work space is an extremely valuable amenity and only another reason why I’m glad to be a part of the program.  At the end of our first semester, our team has only started our journey towards commercializing our TI:GER PhD project but I’m looking forward to continuing the adventure! 

Anna McDermott
TI:GER Class of 2018

My TI:GER Team at Georgia Tech Ropes Course 

From left: Prateek Mittal, Rob Mannino, Anna McDermott, Creighton McMurray (not pictured: Alek Siliunas)