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OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship

In support of the Caltech Seed Fund and its associated Caltech startups, OTTCP offers summer startup internships in the life and physical sciences. In this ten-week educational program, participants receive hands-on experience in company formation and technology-driven entrepreneurship. Working directly with Caltech's Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs), startup interns help identify and analyze potential Caltech technologies while gaining experience in market research, financial modeling, strategic commercialization analysis, technology analysis, and risk analysis.

Meet our past and current cohorts of startup interns:

2024 Cohort

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Nika Chuzhoy | BSc Computer Science, '26 | Student Startup: Audiomatic

Nika applied for the Timothy D. Ryan Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship with her Audiomatic co-founder, Brian Hu, to further develop their business.

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Bella Germano | BSc Biology; minor in Business, Economics, and Management, '25 | Startup: Persperity

Bella applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship in the hopes of learning more about venture capital.

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Roey Lazarovits | PhD Medical Engineering, '27 | Startup: Magdalena - cell therapy

Roey hoped to gain a better understanding of the process of taking a new technology and commercializing it through the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship.

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William (Billy) Welch | PhD Mechanical Engineering, '27 | Startup: 3Laws Robotics

Billy hoped the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship could help him not only to gain an understanding of how to run a startup, but also to connect and network with other like-minded individuals on campus.

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Madison Dunitz | PhD Geobiology, '27 | Student Startup: Desert Farming

Madison and her partner Helen came into the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship with clear goals to further develop their company. In particular, Madison was interested in getting a better picture of the competition landscape for their company and understanding how to market their technology.

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Brian Hu | BSc Computer Science, '26 | Student Startup: Audiomatic

Alongside his Audiomatic co-founder Nika, Brian applied for the Timothy D. Ryan Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to continue work on iterating, finding product-market fit for, and then launching their product.

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Andrea Olsen | BSc, '27 | Student Startup: Luria Health

After winning second place in the Bill Gross Prize for Entrepreneurship, Andrea applied for the Timothy D. Ryan Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to continue her work to launch her startup, Luria Health (formerly Chiron).

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Helen Wexler | PhD Bioengineering, '25 | Student Startup: Desert Farming

Like her partner Madison, Helen applied to the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to better understand supply chain complexities, economics, and gain insight into the grant application process for their company Desert Farming.

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Jack Fishel | BSc, Business, Economics, and Management, '25 | Startup: 3Laws Robotics

Jack applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship in the hopes of gaining firsthand experience of day-to-day startup operations.

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Noor Ibrahim | BSc Chemical Engineering, '27 | Startup: Asymptote

Noor applied to the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to further explore how research breakthroughs can be transformed into accessible solutions.

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Robert (Otis) Otieno | BSc Applied Computational Mathematics, '27 | Startup: Encryptiest; also: OTTCP

Otis was interested in expanding his knowledge as well as building a network on campus through the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship.

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Ruijia (Gabo) Zhang | BSc Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, '27 | Startup: Desert Farming

Interesting in learning more about how startups spin off from labs to the market, Gabo applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to gain insight as well as meet others with similar interests to her.

2023 Cohort

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Logan Beharry | BSc Bioengineering, '25 | Startup: Barrier Biosciences

Logan applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to broaden his knowledge about biotechnology, startups, and venture capital. Over the course of the internship, he not only solidified his resolve to pursue a future career at a biotechnology startup. Logan notably learned the importance of comprehensive market research and understanding the intellectual property landscape in ensuring the success of a startup.

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Alycia Lipscomb | BSc Applied and Computational Mathematics, '25 | Startup: 3Laws Robotics

Alycia was considering a career in robotics, AI, or business and hoped the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship would help guide her decision. She has come away with a new interest in venture capital and investing, a potential new career avenue in advising, and developed a strong understanding of the importance of current market trends for companies.

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Stephanie O'Gara | PhD Mechanical Engineering, '24 | Startup: Ophthalmology Delivery Concept for Wet AMD

Stephanie hoped the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship would help her gain experience and insight into entrepreneurship as well as dispel some of the mystery surrounding the world of venture capital. Her experience has confirmed her interest in starting her own company in the future and has allowed her to find a community of like-minded individuals at Caltech.

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Sean Theuri | BSc Computer Science and Engineering, '26 | Student startup: String

Sean, along with the rest of the String team, applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to be able to test their business concept for supply-chain optimization. Over the summer, they worked closely with Entrepreneurship-in-Residence Julie Schoenfeld to get their company off the ground.

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Diego Causarano Benegas | MSc Electrical Engineering, '23 | Startup: Calcarea

Diego applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship with an interest in delving deeper into a potential career in the energy sector and gain experience in the entrepreneurial field. Through his research for his project, he honed his research and communication skills and reinforced his ambition to start his own business in the future.

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Nyasha Makaya | BSc Computer Science; Business, Economics, and Management, '26 | Student startup: String

Nyasha, along with the rest of the String team, applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to be able to test their business concept for supply-chain optimization. Over the summer, they worked closely with Entrepreneurship-in-Residence Julie Schoenfeld to get their company off the ground.

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Eden Obeng | BSc Computer Science, '26 | Student startup: String

Eden, along with the rest of the String team, applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to be able to test their business concept for supply-chain optimization. Over the summer, they worked closely with Entrepreneurship-in-Residence Julie Schoenfeld to get their company off the ground.

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Jie (Jolena) Zhou | PhD Chemical Engineering, '25 | Startup: Barrier Biosciences

Jolena hoped the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship would provide her a window into invaluable startup experience, aligning her scientific training with strategic and business acumen within clinical contexts. Her experience over the summer has solidified her enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, teaching her how to present her research findings more efficiently as well as demonstrating how different pieces of clinical information translate into strategic priorities.

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Li-En Lin | PhD, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, '24 | Startup: Payda Tech

Li-En applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to learn more about how to start a business and how VC funds work. His experience reaffirmed his interest in starting a company in the future and demonstrated the importance of building connections.

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Abdulkarim Mugisha | BSc Computer Science, '26 | Student startup: String

Abdulkarim, along with the rest of the String team, applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to be able to test their business concept for supply-chain optimization. Over the summer, they worked closely with Entrepreneurship-in-Residence Julie Schoenfeld to get their company off the ground.

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Kenny Thai | BSc Geophysics; Business, Economics, and Management, '23 | Startup: Captura

Kenny applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to explore new employment fields and came away with the confidence to independently tackle new problems.

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Anas Zouhar | BSc Applied Mathematics and Business, '24 | Startup: StrokeDx

As a rising senior, Anas applied for the OTTCP Summer Internship in Entrepreneurship to help decide a potential career path after graduation. Over the summer, he developed a passion for working for a startup and has most appreciated being a part of the culture of trust between those first few startup members.