Practices might differ from country to country, but undergraduate students can be better served in research, says Shaun Khoo.

Scientific innovation has long powered the San Francisco Bay Area’s economy, but community and political challenges could undermine progress. From the integrated circuit to synthetic insulin, mail-order genetic tests and ride sharing, scientific discoveries and technologies developed by researchers and engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area have fuelled the local economy for decades.  

Universities aid entrepreneurs by helping them to turn their research into companies. In return, universities can reap financial benefits. Michael Schrader knew he wanted to create a company, but he wasn't sure what it should do. After six years as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry building plastic parts, in 2010 he began a master's degree in business administration at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. In his quest for inspiration, he took a course in commercializing science at the Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab).

Although faculty members transition from industry to academia (and vice-versa), it’s rare to go back and forth. How does each setting help a researcher grow, and what skills are critical in both environments? Sam King offers his insight.

Panagiotis Vagenas left Yale University to advise a non-profit on research design and quality. What did you do before Yale? I’m from Greece originally. In 1996 — when I was 17 — I moved to London, UK. I studied biochemistry for my degree and did a PhD in immunology. When I graduated I moved to the Population Council labs at the Rockefeller University in New York to start my postdoc.

Pursuing a new career makes PhD student Jonathan Wosen feel like a baby goose—and he loves it. Sometimes I ask people, “if you weren’t studying biology, what would you do?”

SPOTLIGHT ON CALIFORNIA The Golden State has been at the forefront of private sector innovation in the United States for many years. What factors lie behind its success?