IBL: Industry Partnership
Why Partner with South Dakota Mines?
Innovation-Based Learning partnerships give organizations a meaningful way to engage with students and faculty while addressing real-world challenges. Partners can develop future talent, bring new perspectives to their work, and access faculty expertise from across South Dakota Mines.
Whether you're looking to solve real problems, explore new ideas, or build long-term relationships with students and faculty, IBL provides a pathway for meaningful collaboration.
Ways to Partner:
Have a complex problem, emerging need, or question without a clear solution? Share the challenge with the IBL team, even if you’re not sure what a student project might look like. We can help identify opportunities for students to investigate the problem and contribute meaningful ideas.
Have an idea within your organization that you haven’t had the time or bandwidth to explore? IBL can provide students with an opportunity to research possibilities, test concepts, and develop innovative approaches. Open-ended projects give students room to ask questions, learn through experimentation, and explore solutions that may not have been considered.
Not every challenge needs to become a traditional project. The IBL team can work with
you to determine whether your idea is a good fit for a student project and identify
the right pathway for collaboration. Whether you have a specific challenge, an early-stage
idea, or simply want to learn more about partnering with IBL, we encourage you to
reach out.
How Partnership Works
Innovation-Based Learning partnerships can take many forms. The IBL team at South Dakota Mines welcomes the opportunity to work with you and facilitate meaningful connections with the Mines community.
From a focused student project to a longer-term collaboration with students and faculty, IBL partnerships can take many forms. You don't need to have a fully developed project or know exactly how you want to engage. The IBL team can help identify an opportunity that fits your goals and creates a meaningful experience for students.
Together, we'll explore whether your challenge is a good fit for student involvement and determine an appropriate pathway. This might include a course project, senior design, research, internship, entrepreneurship opportunity, or another IBL experience.
Once an opportunity is identified, the IBL team can help connect you with the students, faculty, program, or department best suited to the work. You'll have an opportunity to discuss expectations, goals, and potential outcomes.
With the scope and expectations established, students and faculty begin the work with your organization. Partners can provide context, feedback, technical insight, or mentorship while students apply their skills to the challenge.
Explore IBL for Faculty and Students:
Interested in IBL from a student or faculty perspective? Explore opportunities to engage in hands-on learning, connect with real-world challenges, and create meaningful experiences at South Dakota Mines.
Gain practical experience, professional connections, and opportunities to apply what
you learn.
Connect your teaching and research with real-world challenges while creating meaningful
applied learning experiences for students.
