PhD Innovation Program at Dartmouth

Guarini students, have you thought about pursuing entrepreneurial work with your PhD research? In the spring of 2025 an informational session will be held.  Please visit this page for a time and date to be announced in 2025.

The Guarini School for Graduate and Advanced Studies has teamed up with Associate Provost for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, Eric Fossum, to expand the Innovation PhD Program that has been running with great success at the Thayer School of Engineering since 2008. Prof. Fossum has served as Director of the program at Thayer since 2010. The purpose of the training program is to build the skills and knowledge necessary to create a new enterprise — such as a start-up company, a new division of an established company, or a government or non-profit enterprise. At Thayer, students have gone on to create startups based on their PhD research, or have become valuable early members of other startups. Some have joined established companies but are prepared to create an enterprise when opportunity knocks. 

Applications to this highly selective program are open to Guarini PhD students who are outside the Engineering program and who are in their first or second year of study. 

Learn more about the program HERE.

If you are admitted into the Innovation PhD Fellowship Program you will receive 50% stipend support for your second and third years. Following satisfactory performance, you will receive 100% stipend support for your fourth and fifth years as well as research funds for up to three years to allow you to follow your ideas independent of your advisor's funded research program. 

Students in the program will be expected to complete four courses and a 3-6 month internship in addition to their program PhD courses and requirements, although Programs can decide at their discretion to apply one or more of these courses towards PhD requirements.

The courses are: 

ENGM 187: Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship 

ENGM 180.1: Accounting and Finance 

ENGM 188: Law for Technology and Entrepreneurship 

ENGG 321: Introduction to Innovation (capstone course) 

Students interested in applying should submit a single PDF containing the following to: Jessica.Moody@Dartmouth.edu

· Curriculum Vitae (3-page max) 

· Statement (2-page max) describing: 

• reasons for interest in the Innovation PhD Program 
• why the program is relevant to your long-term career goals 
• an example demonstrating creativity in arriving at a solution 

· Statement (2-page max) describing an example of a broad technology development problem that interests you. This should be written in the general form of a proposal for funding.

· Letter of recommendation from your thesis advisor. For first-year students doing rotations: include a letter from one of your faculty research supervisors. If selected for the program, you will need to submit a letter of support from the faculty member whose lab you end up joining.

Timeline 

Fellows do internships in startups, larger ventures, or new venture creation.

• Information Session: TBD

• Deadline for application is July 8, 2025 for Fall 2025 Fellowship start.

For additional questions, please contact Prof. Fossum at eric.r.fossum@dartmouth.edu www.ericfossum.com