Forging connections with industry partners
A major component of the NRT @ UMN program was the fostering of connections between academia and industry through encouraging and supporting students to do internships at major companies in our areas of study. Industry internships offered NRT trainees an opportunity to see what work life is like outside of the university setting, helped trainees develop new skills and areas of expertise, and benefited companies trying to develop new products and solutions to meet the needs of people with sensory loss. Below, you can learn more about the industry internships that our trainees participated in.
Danny Guest @ Oticon
In the summer of 2019, NRT trainee Daniel Guest participated in an internship with the Danish hearing aid company Oticon. He worked at Oticon's research facility, Eriksholm, located approximately 30 miles north of Copenhagen, Denmark. At Eriksholm, he investigated how deep neural networks might be applied in the future to improve the ability of hearing aid users to understand speech in noisy listening environments.
Erin O'Neill @ Envoy
The summer before starting the third year of her PhD, NRT trainee Erin O'Neill worked as a Research and Development Intern at Envoy Medical in White Bear Lake, MN. Envoy is a hearing device company which develops exterior and implantable hearing aid technology. During her time at Envoy, Erin helped collect and analyze data as part of an FDA clinical trial for a new implantable hearing aid.
Coral Dirks @ Cochlear
During the summer of 2017, NRT trainee Coral Dirks completed an internship with Cochlear Americas, at their U.S. headquarters located just outside of Denver, CO. Cochlear Americas is a company that specializes in making hearing aids and cochlear implants. During her internship, Coral learned about FDA processes and regulations as well as researched a new cochlear implant signal processing strategy.