After interning with Coupi last summer and getting the chance to utilize my experience in science and language, I knew I wanted to work with them again if I could. Both Coupi and myself have grown since I last worked with them. I gained experience teaching academic writing and began work on my masters project for my master’s in linguistics. On Coupi’s end they had made strides in their pharmaceutical simulations, refined their DEM software, and presented their findings at the Blending Simulation Forum (Europe BSF-EU) 2019.
Even though things were different this summer, most notably with Covid and having to social distance, I could see that Coupi was still persevering. Many of the team members live in different parts of the United States and some live in Ukraine, so I knew that they were well prepared to work via distance. Last summer I was able to write blog content for Coupi and help with creating a poster for one of their presentations. But this summer I was able to help out with more projects.
Developing Marketing Skills
These projects have given me the opportunity to refine my skills in marketing as well as continue to develop my skills in scientific writing. The main projects I’ve been able to work on have been developing a social media presence, helping with the development of the new website, and further developing blog series.
The social media side of things was another new challenge that required a different style of writing than blogs or other marketing styles. Coupi’s main presence is on LinkedIn and Facebook and I was able to help create content for both with the help of a marketing professional. From there I was able to help work on their monthly newsletter and learn about the back end of how these are sent and formatted. Then I was able to work with the people in charge of updating the new website and was able to provide feedback to the new changes they were working on.
One of the main projects within that was creating more blog content for Coupi. The main difference this summer is that I’ve been able to learn more about the simulations they do in their software and find out more about the science behind it. The blogs I’ve been writing this summer have been mainly about the pharmaceutical manufacturing simulations that Coupi has been working on.
It’s been fascinating to see how much detail goes into creating these simulations and how they compare with real studies done on the subject. I’ve been learning about API’s, excipients, force bonds, and all kinds of different facets of physics behind pharmaceutical modeling.
Outcomes
Compared with last summer, distance hasn’t changed the hard work and dedication Coupi puts into their work. I am glad that I have been able to continue developing my skills and help Coupi on their startup journey. I’ve been able to work more closely with marketing professionals and be given the freedom to express our own ideas for how to help the company reach its goals.
I’ll be able to take the skills I’ve learned to future endeavors, in particular the ability to write for such a wide variety of audiences. I’ll be returning to teaching this fall, but if given the opportunity I would love to work with them again someday. I’m excited to see how they develop in the future and will take the experience they’ve given me to my future endeavors.