Hosted by the MIT Venture Mentoring Service
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Innovation and entrepreneurship is in the air everywhere at MIT. International MIT PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are increasingly exploring entrepreneurial options and venture creation for when they leave the Institute. However, if you are here on a visa and you have expectations of starting a technology-based company when you leave MIT, the reality is that it won’t be easy.
This workshop is intended to help International MIT postdoctoral scholars and PhD students understand the limited options available to them for working and remaining in the US after leaving MIT. This session will help you understand the key issues involved from an immigration standpoint and the importance of developing appropriate strategies well in advance that may lead to desired outcomes.
The Program:
- Opening remarks – Roman Lubynsky, MIT VMS
- An entrepreneur’s perspective – Rana El-Kaliouby, Co-founder of Affectiva, former MIT postdoc
Rana will share her experiences with her visa issues –the problems, the challenges, frustrations, and solutions- as she transitioned from MIT to her startup. Rana is CSO and Co-founder of Affectiva. At MIT, she spearheaded the applications of emotion-sensing and facial coding. Rana was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “7 Most Powerful Women To Watch In 2014”, inducted into the “Women in Engineering” Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of Technology Review’s “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” award.
- Issues and strategies from immigration lawyers – Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
§ Susan Cohen http://www.mintz.com/professionals/detail/name/susan-j-cohen
§ Bill Coffman http://www.mintz.com/professionals/detail/name/william-l-coffman