Name: Whitney Rigodon
Class Year: 2024
Major: Anthropology
Minor: Biology
Hometown: Bayville, New Jersey
Internship Organization: biolution
Job Title: Summer Intern
Location: Vienna, Austria
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
This summer, I had the pleasure of interning abroad in Vienna, Austria, with biolution GmbH. Biolution GmbH is a scientific communications and consulting company, by scientists for scientists. In 2002, Dr. Iris Grünert decided to change the game for scientists all over the EU. Over the past 20 years, Biolution has supported life scientists successfully and offers a range of consulting and graphic design solutions, with outstanding reviews of their services from the vast range of senior lecturers, head coordinators, and other management roles within the industries. Biolution has a diverse range of fields they optimize to become Austria's premier service provider for applying, managing, and realizing research projects in the life sciences. Within this field, there are several divisions of services that biolution optimize in. Those fields are graphic design, social media management, grant writing, interview preparation, project management, and project integration. Biolution aims to help researchers succeed in their research projects by providing the support they need to achieve their goals. In addition to biolution consulting and design services, Biolution also offers training programs to help researchers improve their communication skills. Becoming a one-stop shop for all their clients makes them stand out compared to other companies. They also offer 3D visualizations within the special features, from violation on-demand libraries to custom-made visualizations, to bring clients' research to life. These small unique things they bring to the field display how closely they work with researchers to understand their unique needs and develop customized solutions to meet those needs. Biolution's clientele is primarily companies trying to promote their recent products or individual scientists trying to receive grants to further fund their research. Biolution has developed an in-depth process; they personalize their approach with their clients. I worked primarily with the creative strategy department for biolution, working with their social media platforms. I worked on a range of projects, including helping with: graphic designs, learning and programming project management software to improve company efficiency, researching topics for the company and giving handouts or presenting information at company meetings, analyzing biolution analytics, and any other tasks to help around the office. I worked primarily with the creative strategy department for biolution and worked with their social media platforms. I worked on a range of projects, including helping with graphic designs, learning and programming project management software to improve company efficiency, researching topics for the company, giving handouts or presenting information at company meetings, investigating biolution analytics, and any other tasks to help around the office.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied through Bryn Mawr College's Civic Engagement partnership with the Institute for the International Education of Students. The Institute for the International Education of Students, or IES Abroad, is a non-profit study abroad organization that administers programs for U.S. college-aged students. I interviewed with biolution because I wanted to grow both in my skill set and within my knowledge of the corporate world. As someone who has interned in research-driven institutions, I want to become well-rounded in all aspects of scientific research. That includes even the elements that do not include the wet lab. Learning about project management and grant proposal writing allowed me to understand the necessary actions to know how funding occurs to allow those activities in the wet plan to happen. I want to gain experience running a business and working with people, not within patient and doctor dyadic relations but in a business relationship. Since I have little understanding of the business or corporate world, I wanted to have a good general knowledge of the client's onboarding process, contracting, and outlining processing that occurs
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
Alongside getting to know the team and learning about Austrian culture, I enjoyed becoming well-rounded in all aspects of scientific research, especially in stage zero that comes with producing a successful project. While spending most of my days in labs or attending and teaching in the classroom, I have yet to experience corporate. To be able to witness project management and grant proposals was an enriching experience! Additionally, I enjoy understanding the funding process that countless businesses use to accumulate the necessary budget to act on their goals. Then also, creating a strict deadline for an internal business with a kind hand is incredible to see. I'm excited to use some of the tactics Dr. Grünert used for biolution with my school clubs and in future projects. I am receiving experience in running a business and working with people, not within patient and doctor dyadic relations but in a business relationship. I also helped with writing and edits for biolution, which is helping me gain a general understanding of the client's onboarding process, contracting, and outlining processing that occurs. Also, learning how to prepare English translations for documents and give support to the biolution team allowed me to improve in becoming concise. An additional task I got to do was present in front of the team after researching a topic they wanted to analyze, which ranged from project management software to their own analytics. Though I was nervous about presenting, I gained so much experience in improving my PowerPoint designs from the team's graphic designers and received constructive criticism in a friendly environment. I am incredibly grateful for the patience they had with me and the growth I had as well throughout the summer with each presentation.
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn't expect?
I was not expecting to learn about the different levels of licensing needed to run a business. Each time I found myself having an idea, this question was always asked, "can we do this as a business?" For the first time, I had to look into if a business could use a certain font without paying and even down to what servers some programs were operating on. I was so surprised to see how in-depth planning needs to go, and it made me realize that nothing should be done without a plan or research!
Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you?
During my time working at the Vienna Bio Life Center in Austria, I had the opportunity to experience and appreciate cultural diversity. Working in person at the office allowed me to observe the operations and practices of Austrian companies. Overall, the experience was both exciting and enriching for me.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I am equipped to operate in the Microsoft Office suite, which allowed me to work on projects in Excel and prepare my PowerPoint presentations. Another skill was that I could utilize my broad understanding of project management from the SGA Health and Wellness Student Advisory Board: Health & Wellness Week to think ahead to help with project integration. My research background is from life sciences and social sciences to think of creating approaches to troubleshooting. These are all important to me because I want to utilize them professionally.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?
My biggest challenge is that as a novice in the field, I need more background in the corporate and business world. I found that not knowing the answers from my knowledge learned in a classroom was a little terrifying; however, I now know that I can experience a topic and learn about it. To be well-rounded in the unknown and to then present on it allowed me to gain confidence in my skills.
What is most rewarding about your internship?
As a newcomer to the business world, my main obstacle is my lack of experience in the corporate setting. It can be daunting when I am faced with questions that I cannot answer based solely on my classroom education. Despite this, I have learned that with dedication and effort, I am capable of expanding my knowledge and becoming more well-rounded in unfamiliar topics. As a result, I have gained confidence in my abilities to present on these subjects.
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
Yes, it was a fantastic experience! I am grateful to Bryn Mawr College Civic Engagement, IES, and Biolution for making it possible.