S2E10 - Management, Innovation and Product Development at Tepper w/ Dani Grodsky

Humans of Tepper

Welcome back to the Humans of Tepper Podcast. This week, second-year, full-time MBA student, Dani Grodsky, joins hosts Ben and Kara to discuss the Management of Innovation and Product Development Track. Dani is from New York and attended Brown University, where she studied cognitive neuroscience. She later transferred to CMU to focus on technology for her master's degree in the hope of becoming a decision-maker in the tech field. She chose CMU because melding technology and business is something they do very well in their programs.

Dani is pursuing a dual degree, which you're able to apply for in your first semester at Tepper. Dani healthcare is her passion area despite never studying it formally. She wanted to get a more formal education and have the flexibility in her schedule to do that while pursuing an MBA. CMU allows you to pursue your passions.

The Management of Innovation and Product Development Track, or MIPD for short, falls a little in between Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurs. Dani likes to think of it as an "intrepreneure" track because it's a lot like being an entrepreneur, only in an already established company focusing on innovation. Taking a track to say you did isn't necessary, but if it aligns with what you want to pursue, it's a great way to fit in different courses while staying in the direction you want to go in. Capstone was a big motivator for Dani when she chose her track. She's planning on taking Corporate Startup Lab. It creates student teams from across the school and partners them with an organization outside the school.

Dani urges incoming students to take full advantage of the university as much as possible. It can be easy to stick to Tepper and your peers there, but there's a lot of value across the entire school. Tepper also removed the cap on how many classes you can take outside of Tepper, and Dani strongly encourages students coming in to take at least one course outside Tepper. In terms of tracks, it's essential to look at what naturally fulfills your interest, and if it doesn't, it's okay not to declare a track.

What You Will Learn:

1. Background on Dani Grodsky and what brought her to study at Tepper.
2. About the Management of Innovation and Product Development Track at CMU.
3. Dani's advice to incoming and potential students.