Prospective Clinic Sponsors

Reddit liaison meets with team via videoconference.

Proud to be a leader

Harvey Mudd College has a distinctive place in American education. College rankings repeatedly recognize our commitment to the intellectual breadth and depth of our unique STEM-based liberal arts education. (For HMC rankings and accolades, see Fast Facts.)

Forbes magazine recently mentioned the College’s diversity initiatives, particularly engaging women and minorities in STEM majors. This year’s entering class is more than 50 percent women, a remarkable ratio for a STEM school.

As a capstone of the curriculum, the Clinic Program engages students in solving real-world, technical problems for corporate, government and non-profit clients. Seniors in engineering and computer science are required to complete a full year of Clinic, and engineering juniors are required to participate in an additional semester. Students from math, physics, biology and chemistry also may participate in Clinics and every year, students from the other Claremont Colleges elect to join a team.

Clinic Timeline

  • Spring: Contract signed
  • Project Scope defined
  • September: Launch Day (teams meet)
  • Fall: Project refined, progress on results
  • Winter: Mid-term reports
  • May Projects Day

Sponsoring a Clinic

Sponsors/Liaisons

  • All IP (intellectual property) resulting from the projects belongs to the sponsor.
  • The sponsor liaison is asked to spend no more than two hours per week.
  • Fees paid by the sponsor cover materials and two team trips to their site.
  • Sponsors approve all public materials and presentations.
  • Final written reports are sent to the sponsor upon completion of the project.

Student Teams

  • Clinic projects run September–May.
  • Clinic teams consist of 4–5 students.
  • Each student commits 10 hours per week (1,200–1,500 hours total for each project team).
  • We routinely sign non-disclosure agreements; our Honor Code-bound students understand the significance of these agreements.
  • Clinic teams present project results on campus (within the bounds of the NDA).
  • Teams present the final work to their sponsor onsite (when possible).

Faculty

  • A faculty advisor acts as a coach/mentor to the team.
  • Clinic teams are assembled by the faculty, who take into account academic interests and strengths, as well as personal preferences.

The video below offers insight into the liaison experience from past sponsors.

For more information about sponsoring a project, email clinic@hmc.edu.