MITACS Presentation with Lawrence Meadows

Lawrence Meadows, Business Development Director at MITACS, was at the UBC Michael Smith Laboratories Auditorium on May 6 to give a presentation to faculty members and graduate students. He gave detailed information on the Accelerate and Elevate Programs organized by MITACS, a non-profit organization that partners with the government, industry, and academia to provide research and training programs for students and recent graduates.

The Accelerate Program offers internships to Canadian and international graduate and post-doc students. Students spend time conducting research at companies while also receiving guidance from their professors, working in a collaborative environment that allows them to acquire both academic expertise and practical experience. Each internship lasts for at least four months, funded by a $15,000 grant, with $7,500 from an industry partner and $7,500 from MITACS.

The Elevate Program targets recent PhD graduates with the goal of helping them transition to industry and corporate research. The program is divided into two types depending on whether the student possesses a company partner. The Industrial Fellowship Program is for post-doctoral fellows (PDF) who already possess a company partner. PDFs would spend time at the company and receive a total funding of $65000 (at least $30000 provided by the company). The Strategic Fellowship Program is for PDFs who do not possess a company partner. They receive a total funding of $55000 (at least $20000 from a professor) and must actively search for a company partner through networking. In addition, PDFs in both the Industrial Fellowship Program and Strategic Fellowship Program will participate in professional development and scientific management activities.

Lawrence Meadows’ presentation was attended by about 30 people. The informative presentation was followed by a robust Q&A period with the attendees participating actively and asking questions. Lawrence will be happy to answer more questions. He can be reached at lmeadows@mitacs.ca or 778-878-0130.