Product Design Incubator Application

Program Description:

If accepted to the Product Design Incubator, you'll be asked to commit to the following activities:

- Attend an orientation session on March 13th at 3:00 PM.

- Attend a series of ideation workshops during Spring 2025. Workshops will be held on Thursdays at 3:00 - 5:30 PM from March 27th - May 1st.

- Attend the Product Design Incubator during Summer 2025. The Incubator will run daily from 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM May 19th - June 13th.

- Integrate the materials you developed during the incubator into a professional CV or portfolio by the end of Fall 2025.

All events will be held at the NOVA Fab Lab in the Trailside building on the Manassas campus (10500 Battleview Parkway, Manassas, VA 20109)

Eligibility:

In order to be eligible for this program, students must be:

- A current student at NOVA in good standing

- Eligible to work in the United States

Students selected to this program will receive a stipend of $3,000 for participating. Please contact Chris Russell at crussell@nvcc.edu with any questions you might have.

Purpose of the research study: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Product Design Incubator.

What you will do in the study: For this study, you will complete a survey evaluation of the spring workshops and summer incubator. You will be asked to participate in recorded interviews about your experience during the program. You can skip any survey or interview question that makes you uncomfortable and stop any interview/survey at any time.

Time required: Completion of data collection activities will require about 45 minutes of your time. Completion of evaluation survey will take approximately 15 minutes. Interviews will last approximately 30 minutes.

Risks: There are no anticipated risks in this study. Researchers will keep all data secure and will strip it of identifying information before analysis.   

Benefits: There are no direct benefits to you for participating in this research study. The main goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the design incubator in improving measures of entrepreneurial mindset.
 
Confidentiality: The information that you give in the study will be handled confidentially.  Your information will be assigned a code number.  The list connecting your name to this code will be kept in a locked file.  When the study is completed and the data have been analyzed, this list will be destroyed.  Your name will not be used in any report. Audiotapes and videotapes will be destroyed after all data are analyzed.

Voluntary participation: Your participation in the study is completely voluntary.  A decision not to participate in data collection will have no effect on employment or your status in the PL program.

Right to withdraw from the study: You have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.  If you withdraw from the study, any audiotapes or videotapes will be destroyed.

How to withdraw from the study: If you want to withdraw from the study please tell the researcher.  There is no penalty for withdrawing.  If you would like to withdraw after your materials have been submitted, please contact Chris Russell (crussell@nvcc.edu).  Payment will be prorated based on the time at which you withdrew.

Payment: You will receive a total of $3,000 for participating in the study as follows: $600 for completion of the entrepreneurship workshops, $2,200 for completing the summer product design incubator, and $200 for developing your CV or portfolio. You will need to provide your SSN for payment.

Using data beyond this study: The data you provide in this study will be retained in a secure manner by the researcher for 5 years and then destroyed.

If you have questions about the study, contact:

Chris Russell
Project Manager, Information and Engineering Technologies Division
Northern Virginia Community College
10500 Battleview Parkway, Ste. 221
Manassas, VA 20109

Telephone: 703-530-3505
Email: crussell@nvcc.edu