iii Year in Review 2023
Join us as we look back at the iii community's accomplishments during 2023
By Jess Ignasky
Welcome to the Integrated Innovation Institute's 2023 Year in Review! From stories of our current students to graduates to alumni to faculty, we've rounded up some of this year's shining moments.
After an exciting, busy, and fun 2023, we can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for the Integrated Innovation Institute! Continue to follow our blog or social media channels for the latest updates on what our community is up to.
146 Enrolled Students
This year, 146 students were enrolled across our programs including the Master of Integrated Innovation in Products and Services (MIIPS) degree, Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM) degree, and the Online Certificate & MIIPS Online Degree programs.
While some students were just beginning their program, others were putting the skills they learned during the previous Fall semester to good use. MIIPS students began working in the Integrated Product Development capstone course after being assigned a team with a corporate sponsor for their project. While capstone was ongoing, MIIPS students were also working on building product and brand management skills, and engaging with industry leaders in their weekly seminar each Friday. We took a closer look at the MIIPS student experience with Myria Mathew (MIIPS ‘23) and Aman Sinha (MIIPS ‘23), who shared how they are working toward a career in product management and impacting the world of healthcare.
In our MSSM program, students took their software management skills to the next level from presenting innovative software product strategies to using AI and ML to solve complex problems in the healthcare industry. Students dove deeper into the Silicon Valley experience with a Tech Trek to Juniper Networks and shared thoughtful essays on connecting with the Bay Area community. We also chatted with MSSM full-time students Rahul Goyal (MSSM ‘23) and Ann Rojsurakitti (MSSM ‘23) about their aspirations for careers in product management and entrepreneurial fields, and MSSM part-time students David Ramirez (MSSM ‘24), Huayu Yang (MSSM ‘24), and Neal Kunkle (MSSM ‘23) on how they are navigating maintaining full-time jobs alongside school work and using the skills they’ve learned in the program in their current roles.
In the MIIPS Online program, students in the Cyber-Physical Product Design course, part of the Technology for Product Management certificate, shared details about their final projects which covered incorporating elements of connected products and smart systems. We had the opportunity to highlight a few of our online students, Nikki Kumar (MIIPS Online ‘24), Kelsey Engbrect (MIIPS Online ‘25), and Teresa Cain (MIIPS Online) who spoke to us about leveraging product management skills to facilitate mental health conversations, using skills gained in the program to pivot careers, and publishing a book about brainstorming and creating solutions with two hour design sprints.
Students celebrated multiple successes in 2023 at competitions both locally and globally. A group of MIIPS students placed first in the McGinnis Venture Competition hosted by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. MIIPS students also won first place in the Student Service Design Challenge from Phillips Experience Design, took second place in the Kellogg Design Challenge hosted by Northwestern University, and placed first and fourth in the College of Engineering, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Covestro’s Rethink the Rink competition.
We were thrilled to welcome the class of 2024 to our Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley, and online spaces. These new students represent 13 countries and bring over 500 years of collective work experience to the Institute! We also celebrated the accomplishments of our 2023 DEI Fellows with a look back on their experience during the second year of the fellowship program.
77 Internships
During the summer of 2023, 77 iii students completed internships at companies like Walmart, Boston Consulting Group, and Salesforce.
MIIPS students embraced roles such as “Product Management Intern” and “New Business Acceleration Team Intern,” putting their product and service design skills to the test on projects creating new product ideas for an existing expertise space, building contactless payment experiences, and enabling search capabilities for a new vertical in a company.
MSSM students worked in roles like “Software Engineering Intern” and “Product Management Intern,” utilizing their software management skills on projects building asset management capabilities into an existing platform, creating go-to-market strategies for content delivery networks, and organizing a web tracking and reporting initiative.
108 Graduates
This year, we were fortunate to host many celebrations for our accomplished graduates.
During the Spring ceremony, we celebrated the MIIPS and MSTV graduates at the Pittsburgh campus.
More recently, we celebrated the MSSM and MIIPS classes of 2023 at a diploma ceremony in Silicon Valley and graduation ceremony in Pittsburgh, respectively. We would also like to recognize the first graduates from our MIIPS Online degree program, marking the inaugural class of 2023.
125 Alumni Office Hour Visits
From keynote speaking engagements to returning to the iii as a capstone sponsor, 2023 was also a busy year for our alumni and faculty!
We highlighted Lake Dai, an adjunct faculty member at CMU-SV who leads a class called “Applied AI.” This past year, Lake was busy sharing knowledge about AI at conferences; moderating a fireside chat at VentureBeat Transform AI, and leading a keynote panel at MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East’s conference in Dubai.
Our alumni network remained strong and connected during the year, providing updates on their current ventures and projects. Our Alumni Relations Manager, Mary Kilcoyne, profiled several alumni stories such as: working as a Product Manager at Meta’s Reality Labs, the challenges and learnings of being a first-time founder, hosting an experience blueprinting workshop for current MIIPS students, using technology and engineering skills to advocate for gender equality, sparking an idea into a startup, supporting clinician-innovators at the frontend of the innovation pipeline, advocacy for human-centered design thinking, returning to sponsor a capstone project team, and improving internal systems for Disney’s Media & Entertainment Distribution.
Alumni graciously shared their knowledge and time with the iii community, hosting office hours for current iii students. Speaking of Alumni Office hours… 55 alumni registered to give their time to the initiative. Alumni Office Hours allow students to sign up for a 1:1 meeting with an alum for advice about their career, classes, and more. This year, 44 students had a collective 125 meetings with alumni registered for the program.
