Earlier this semester, four Saint Mary’s students presented to licensing associates and innovators at Mayo Clinic as part of Saint Mary’s 2025-26 Innovation Scholars team. Innovation Scholars (IS) is a nationally recognized organization that offers experiential learning opportunities to undergraduate students at private colleges and universities in Minnesota. Multidisciplinary teams of liberal arts students conduct research on new products in development at Mayo Clinic, examining them from scientific, economic, and ethical perspectives. As the culmination of the IS Program, students present their findings at Mayo Clinic and recommend next steps to professionals in the field.
Saint Mary’s students on this year’s Innovation Scholars team were Joseph McDermott ’26 (accounting and business management major), Emma Stemper ’27 (biology: pre-medical professions major, chemistry and psychology minor), Christopher Ullrich ’26 (marketing and management major, graphic design minor), and Malerie Williams ’26 (biology: pre-medical professions major, health humanities minor). The group spent four months studying a prognostic gene signature that guides patient treatment decisions in castration-resistant prostate cancer care and analyzed its commercial potential as a biomedical technology model. They presented their findings at Mayo Clinic on Feb. 26. The team was led by Rob MacDonald, an MBA student at St. Thomas. The four also worked under the guidance of their IS faculty mentors, assistant professor Samantha Borawski and associate professor Dr. Matt Rowley.
Dr. Rowley teaches in the biology department and has been involved with IS since 2011, though not always as a faculty mentor. He is typically involved in helping pick the project for Saint Mary’s team. Faculty mentors are then assigned as their area of expertise relates to the project. They are available throughout the process to answer any questions students might have and assist in providing feedback on the final presentation. Otherwise, the team works largely independently, meeting weekly with each other and reaching out to Mayo Clinic when needed.
“I think it’s a great program. It’s an opportunity for students to work on a real-world project and get experiences they wouldn’t normally have. It takes a lot of effort for them to do all the research and understand the project itself,” said Dr. Rowley. “It’s something that helps them stand out from their peers when it comes to applying for jobs or graduate and professional schools.”
Saint Mary’s students have been participating in the Innovation Scholars program since 2007, with 73 undergraduate alumni serving on multidisciplinary teams over nearly two decades. These students have gone on to work at companies like Johns Hopkins, The Hormel Institute, and Mayo Clinic.
