Industrial Sponsors

Penn State's industrial sponsors provide an important link between life in academics and industry. Graduate students have frequent opportunities to interact both professionally and socially with seminar speakers from companies such as DuPont, AT&T/Lucent Technologies, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Parke Davis, Amoco, and NEC Research. Companies such as IBM and DuPont are also directly involved in collaborative research with Penn State groups. Students who participate in these projects often conduct part of their dissertation research at corporate facilities. Penn State also conducts an industrial Co-op program for interested entering graduate students. Several corporations sponsor fellowships that provide additional financial assistance for Penn State graduate students.

Sponsors Days, a thirty-year tradition at Penn State, offers a unique opportunity for our students to meet with representatives from industry, many of whom are Penn State graduates. About twenty companies participate in this event, which is held every year in October. Representatives of the sponsoring corporations are brought up to date on the research activities within the department and given an opportunity to interact with graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in informal meetings, luncheons, and formal employment interviews. Almost all of our third and fourth-year graduate students and postdoctoral scholars participate in the program, which has been enormously successful in placing them in industrial positions. First and second-year students are also encouraged to participate in some of the social activities of Sponsors Days.

Here is a list of the companies that participated in Sponsors Days 2005 - 2006: