Established in 2020, Engine Venture Fellowship is a paid, part-time program for current graduate students and postdocs to help shape the next generation of Tough Tech companies and investments.
Fellows work directly with our investment team for 5 months, gaining firsthand experience evaluating technologies and startups, driving new opportunities, and understanding what it takes to build companies from breakthrough research.
We are seeking outstanding scientists and engineers motivated to apply their technical training and knowledge towards a real-world impact.
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Training
Educational sessions led by Engine Ventures partners, directors and advisors:
- Understand VC operations & strategy
- Learn how to appraise a Tough Tech start-up
- See real world examples in overcoming the challenges of building, operating and growing a new venture
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Fellowship Activity
Fellows are embedded in the Engine Ventures investment team:
- Support the diligence work for new investment decisions
- Provide support to portfolio companies
- Leverage technical knowledge to build an investment thesis on a key research field or sector
- Identify and explore opportunity areas
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Dissemination & Engagement
Internal and external communication opportunities:
- Connect with and interview key figures across academia and industry
- Deliver insights to Engine Ventures partners and publicly present research findings
- Engage with local community events and societies
The fellowship does not stop at the end of the program. Fellows become part of a growing community of exceptional individuals at the commercial forefront of science and engineering. Supported by the experience and exposure they have gained during this program, Fellows have gone on to become:
- Founders and CEOs of Tough Tech companies backed by Engine Ventures
- Key roles within high-growth Tough Tech startups
- Part of Engine Ventures investment team
- Academics at leading institutions
- Many roles from government to medicine
- Photonic Compute
- Spintronics
- Women’s Health
- Quantum Computing
- AI in Biotech
- CCUS
- Thermal Energy Storage
- Critical Metals & Minerals
- Geologic Hydrogen
- Hydrogen Transportation
- Minerals & Mining
- Methane Pyrolysis
- RNA Therapeutics
- Fertility
- Longevity
- Microbiome Engineering
- Nanomedicine
- Delivery Mechanisms for Gene Therapy
Engine Ventures Fellowship
Meet the Fellows
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The Engine Ventures Fellowship challenged me to think beyond the science and consider the systems that determine whether discoveries reach real-world impact. Engaging with companies in challenging research areas expanded my perspective on how innovation takes shape across fields and taught me how to evaluate technologies not just for their novelty, but for their potential to scale, endure, and improve lives.
Catherine Della Santina: 2025 Engine Ventures Fellow | Human Health.
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Through the Engine Ventures Fellowship, I learned how to evaluate the potential impact of academic research findings, which has helped me contextualize my own research projects. This fellowship also gave me the opportunity to connect with and learn from people of many different backgrounds, whose diverse perspectives have shaped the way I think about technology development and implementation.
Sophia Weng: 2024 Engine Ventures Fellow | Energy & Climate.
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Engine Ventures gave me the opportunity to study novel research, interview leading faculty, and evaluate emergent technology adjacent to my PhD studies at Harvard—expanding both my perspective and network. Learning firsthand how venture capital operates has shaped my perspective on what differentiates impactful research and technology.
Aaron Day: 2024 Engine Ventures Fellow | Advanced Systems.
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Through the Engine Ventures Fellowship, mentors across the investment team pushed my thinking with rigorous, technically grounded feedback, while a tight-knit cohort challenged and supported one another as we built deep investment landscapes and diligenced emerging technologies. Together, that guidance, community, and actionable insight sharpened how I evaluate and contextualize climate technologies as I work to translate lab-level innovation into real-world impact.
Trent Weiss: 2025 Engine Ventures Fellow | Energy & Climate.
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Engine Ventures Fellowship gave me a comprehensive and intimate look into the world of Tough Tech investing. I had the opportunity to work with the investment team on everything from exploring and debating landscape trends of highly technical industries, to discussing pitches, to extensive scientific strategy work with portfolio companies. The mentorship and supportive environment from every single person at Engine Ventures allowed me to both learn and contribute to the most exciting science and companies in the world of human health.
Kasidet (Kas) Manakongtreecheep: 2024 Engine Ventures Fellow | Human Health.
By the Numbers
- Fellows since 2021
- 50+
- Landscapes since 2021
- 70+
- Institutes Represented by Fellows
- 8
- Interviews with PIs per year
- 100+
Qualifications & How to Apply?
We are seeking outstanding scientists and engineers motivated to apply their technical training and knowledge towards a real-world impact.
Postdocs or later stage PhD students. If you're an MBA student with interests in Tough Tech entrepreneurship, check out the Entrepreneurial Fellowship
Have the ability to dedicate 8 hours per week to Engine Ventures
Passionate about the translation of scientific research and entrepreneurship
Highly engaged with their local research community and broader university network
Proactive and self-motivated
Critical thinkers with the ability to present and communicate effectively
We have regular cohorts for Massachusetts based fellows starting throughout the year. The next cohorts will begin in April and September 2026.
Note this is a paid internship opportunity, so if you are a foreign national, please make sure your visa allows you to receive financial compensation.
Please submit your application through the following link.
