Hello,

I am a fourth-year graduate student in the lab of Silke Hauf at VBI. After a few years of PhD work, I figured out that academic science is not the career path that I want to take. Instead, I am interested in switching into industry after getting my degree. Through my PI, I learned of the "mini-internship" that the VT BEST program offers. Is it possible to apply for participation in it, even when one is not an official VT graduate student? My situation is somewhat complicated: I started my PhD with Silke Hauf in Germany and enrolled as a PhD student at the University of Tuebingen, where our previous institute was located. Last year, the whole lab moved to VT since Silke got a position here. We negotiated with VT that I stay enrolled in Germany to get my degree from there at the end and am here handled as Faculty/Staff. I am here with a J1 visa status as "Research Scholar".

Thank you very much!
Katharina Sewart