A new graduate class is exposing science students to the business world by giving them an experience much like that of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" and by adding business curriculum to the conventional science program.

Alaina G. Levine, director of the professional science master's program, developed a program for science graduate students to expose the business side of science and give techniques on how to develop science knowledge into a successful business.

The class, called Topics in Entrepreneurship for Scientists, has 20 graduate students and is instructed by Srinivas Manne.

Levine said she received a grant of $3,500 from the Kauffman Foundation through the UA McGuire Entrepreneurial program because her idea shared the foundation's goal to provide an opportunity for science students to experience how business is related to science.

"This class is designed to alter students' scientific mindset to be a business person and maybe start a career," Levine said.

Each class meeting, the class has a speaker from a science-based company who shares his or her experience and how their field is related to business.

"Every week we have a new speaker who talks about their business experience in marketing, funding, advertising and networking," Levine said.

The speakers, who are from all over the country, come from diverse scientific backgrounds such as physics, technology and optics. Levine said they are significant to showing students the value of having a business sense in addition to academic experience.

"It was interesting to hear the speakers share their experiences; all of them had considerable experience on the local and national level," said Pier Ingram, an optical science graduate student.

Levine said after each class, she and the professor join with about five students for an intimate dinner with the speaker. The meal is funded by the College of Science, she said.

While the speeches are extremely valuable, the dinner is where the most priceless insight comes from the speakers, Levine said.

"Students learn so much about entrepreneurship in lectures that speakers give, but it is when we go out to dinner with the speakers and students and everyone is interacting in an informal and no-pressure environment that magic occurs," Levine said. "These are the moments when students learn secrets of leadership, customer service, marketing and business success."

In addition to speaker presentations, students are given the opportunity for a hands-on experience in developing a business and creating a product.

"Just like 'The Apprentice,' students are divided into teams and come up with names for their companies," Levine said. "Next, students come up with a problem that is around today and a technology-based solution."

The student teams develop a proposal of the beginning stages of a business plan, where they outline essential aspects and questions about their accomplishment goals. This proposal is called a "white paper," Levine said.

"'The white paper' is the first step before a business plan, which lists the company's needs, issues and timeline for their product," Levine said.

Each team is assigned a mentor who tracks their progress, offers development ideas and assists them in expanding their product to its maximum potential, Levine said.

For example, one group who took the class in the fall named their company "Dream Team Innovations" and designed a product to track missing children in amusement parks, Ingram said.

"The team," Ingram said, "came up with a product that used radio frequency identification technology to find kids in amusement parks."

Their idea included putting small chips inside disposable wristbands that can be worn by each member of a family, said Patrick Marcus, a biomedical engineering graduate student.

Stations would be put around the amusement park that could track the movements of each person wearing the bracelet, Levine said.

If a family member would get lost from the group, their location could be found on one of the station's computers and they could be reunited with their group, Marcus said.

Marcus said the lessons he learned in the class have been invaluable because he learned techniques and the process of getting his foot into the business world.

"If I decided to start my own company, with the lessons I learned in the class I would know where to start, how do great presentations, who to talk to and what information I would need to get together instead of just standing dumbfounded and not knowing what to do next," Marcus said.