MEDITEC Current Students

MEDITEC Student Professionalism and Industry Engagement Expectations

Participation in MEDITEC is a valuable and selective opportunity to gain meaningful experience while contributing to a real industry project. Students are entrusted with their industry partner’s time, resources, and project needs. In accepting a position on a MEDITEC team, each student assumes a professional responsibility to their teammates, faculty advisors, industry mentors, and sponsoring company.

Students are expected to approach MEDITEC with gratitude, maturity, and the same level of professionalism they would bring to an internship or engineering position. The quality of each student’s participation affects not only their own professional reputation, but also the experience of their teammates and Cal Poly’s relationships with industry partners.

Commitment to the Program

MEDITEC is a significant professional commitment—not an optional extracurricular activity. Once selected, students are expected to make their project responsibilities a high priority and to plan their academic workload, employment, and other activities accordingly.

Students should:

· Participate consistently and actively throughout the project

· Complete assigned work thoroughly and by agreed-upon deadlines

· Attend all scheduled team and mentor meetings

· Communicate potential conflicts or delays as early as possible

· Avoid allowing competing academic or extracurricular demands to repeatedly interfere with MEDITEC responsibilities

· Support their teammates and contribute equitably to the project

Accepting a place on a MEDITEC team means that the student is prepared to devote the time, attention, and effort necessary to make a meaningful contribution

Professional Appearance

Students should present themselves professionally whenever interacting with industry mentors. Professional or business casual attire is expected for in-person meetings, virtual meetings, company visits, presentations, and other formal interactions.

For virtual meetings, students should also participate from an appropriate setting, minimize distractions, keep their camera on when practical, and ensure that their display name and background are professional.

Communication and Meeting Conduct

All communication with industry mentors—whether in person, by email, by phone, by text, or through a virtual meeting platform—should be timely, respectful, and professional.

Students are expected to:

· Arrive early and be fully prepared for every meeting

· Review relevant materials and complete assigned work beforehand

· Use a clear agenda and be prepared to provide concise project updates

· Write professional emails and messages with an appropriate greeting, complete sentences, and a clear purpose

· Respond to mentor communications promptly, generally within one business day

· Confirm responsibilities, decisions, and next steps when appropriate

· Notify the mentor and team immediately if an unavoidable circumstance may affect attendance or a deadline

· Follow through reliably on every commitment

Students should never leave an industry mentor uncertain about the team’s status, availability, or next steps.

Respect for Mentor Time and Availability

Industry mentors contribute their expertise to your project while managing full professional workloads. Their time should be treated as a valuable and limited resource.

Students should:

· Schedule meetings during normal business hours (Monday to Friday from 8am – 5pm) unless the mentor explicitly offers another time

· Accommodate the mentor’s schedule whenever reasonably possible

· Provide adequate notice when requesting a meeting

· Avoid last-minute requests except when genuinely necessary

· Consolidate questions and coordinate as a team rather than sending multiple unorganized requests

· Make efficient use of meeting time by arriving prepared and keeping discussions focused

· Pursue available information and attempt appropriate problem-solving before asking the mentor for assistance

· Respect periods when the mentor has limited availability because of other professional responsibilities

The student team should adapt to the mentor’s availability; the mentor should not be expected to organize their professional schedule around the students.

Representing MEDITEC and Cal Poly

MEDITEC projects address genuine company needs and involve confidential information, intellectual property, deadlines, and decisions with real consequences for the sponsoring organization. Students should treat project information and company resources with appropriate care and comply with all applicable confidentiality, intellectual property, safety, and company requirements.

Every interaction with an industry partner contributes to the reputation of the student, the MEDITEC program, the Biomedical Engineering Department, and Cal Poly. Professional conduct helps sustain these partnerships and preserves similar opportunities for future students.

Students selected for MEDITEC are encouraged to recognize the significance of the opportunity. Industry mentors are investing their time, knowledge, and trust in the student team. The most appropriate response is gratitude demonstrated through preparation, reliability, excellent work, and professional conduct.

Access: There is a small space in the ATL for Edwards MEDITEC work. It is equipped with a few tables and provides a private space to work and meet.  If your team would like access, please designate one person to take responsibility for requesting a key. 

There is not much space so it needs to be used and shared wisely. If you request access to this room, make sure you are ready to be organized and responsible about it. 

All items in the room MUST be labeled with your name, contact phone number, and the current year. 

Everything that gets put in there must be REMOVED in June. This means that you are responsible for getting supplies/equipment back to Edwards, or to wherever it needs to go. 

The room is located in the ATL, and accessed via a hard key (i.e. not a swipe card or ID card). You must keep track of your key, the key shop is strict about putting registration and graduation holds on students that don’t return keys. When you use your key to open the door, it often unlocks the door. YOU MUST LOCK THE DOOR BEFORE YOU LEAVE for security reasons. 

If your team would like access to the ATL Edwards room 007-7A, key 105C-3:

At least one representative from your team (the one that will be responsible for the key), must attend a 10 minute meeting with Dr. Heylman, at the room to show you the layout and explain the rules and organization.  

After you’ve met with Dr. Heylman at the room, you need to email him the following information for the person that will be responsible for the key: Name, Cal Poly Username, Phone Number.

Please read through and follow these directions before filling out the Purchase Request form:

Multiple vendors: Use one form for multiple vendors. Group items from same vendor together on the form.

Shopping carts: If you have the option of assigning a shopping cart on a vendor site, create the cart and include the cart link on the purchase request. • Make sure the cart saves by checking your link before you put it on the request. • Please list the items in your cart on the Purchase Request so faculty can view them. Note: You must use a cart for McMaster-Carr and DigiKey.

Amazon orders: Does not support sharing a cart directly from their site so if you are ordering numerous items from Amazon use the plugin, Share-A-Cart. Create the cart and include the share-a-cart link on the purchase request.

Purchase in person: Get approval from the BMED office to purchase in person and then request reimbursement. Home Depot does not allow for certain items (lumber) to be purchased online, they must be bought in-store. If you order from Home Depot, you will need to be able to pick it up from the SLO store.

Manufacturing: If you need to have an item manufactured uploading your own files/specs, set up your account with the company and add in all information for the order up to the point of payment. Submit a purchase request with all corresponding information for the order: login/password, payment link, quote, shopping cart, or business phone number. The office will login to your account and make payment.

Shipping rate: The least expensive shipping rate will be chosen unless indicated otherwise.

Temp sensitive order: If you have ordered an item that is temperature sensitive/needs refrigeration, it is your responsibility to track your package and ensure that you are able to properly take care of it upon delivery.  

Budget: The office does not track your budget. When planning your project budget, remember that taxes and shipping will be added to the final cost. All email from the vendor regarding your order (confirmation, shipping, final invoice) will be forwarded to your Cal Poly email. Hold on to your receipts for your budget tracking.

Backorders: It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of any items on backorder and contact the BMED office immediately when an issue arises.

Returns/issues with your order:  If you need to return an item, first contact the company regarding their return policy. Once you have the information needed to make the return, email the BMED office with the details. Based on the vendors return policies, you will most likely need to box the item in the original packaging and drop off the package to the nearest shipping store.

Ship-to Address: All items coming from Edwards must be shipped and received on campus at the below address. 

Attn: Dr. C. Heylman/Student Name 
California Polytechnic State University 
1 Grand Avenue, BMED 192-106C
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

Place Your Order: Complete a BMED Purchase Request form (for goods up to $2,500.00) to have the office purchase your requested items with the department procurement card. By submitting this order, you are confirming that you have read the above directions and understand your responsibilities.

Use your Cal Poly email to initiate the form. In the “Advisor” form field enter cheylman@calpoly.edu

An agreement from Adobe Sign will be emailed to you. Open the document and complete all required fields.

→ BMED Purchase Request (Adobe Sign)

Reimbursement: Student purchases project materials utilizing their own funds and request reimbursement. Only to be used if the first option is not available and approved by the BMED office. 

CPP Funding: Check Request Form (Excel). Please download and fill out. The office will fill in Org Key and Object Codes. Email form in its original excel format and all required documentation listed below to the BMED office who will route it for signature approval and submit for payment processing.

If you ordered from multiple vendors, list 1 vendor/transaction per line (regardless of how many items bought in the transaction).

Attach a copy of itemized receipts.

Receipts must show the final cost, itemized list of what was purchased, provide proof of payment (shows how was it paid) and include the date of purchase.

Attach proof of payment in the form of a bank statement or a screenshot of the charges on your credit card (personal information should be redacted).

If you are missing a receipt please fill out a Missing Receipt Form.

CPP Check Request: Your check will be mailed to you. Check Requests typically take two weeks for processing once it is approved by the BMED office for payment.

I want to ask my math/engineering/chemistry/etc professor a question about my project, but they did not sign the NDA. Can I talk to them about the project?  Maybe. It depends on what you want to ask. If you have a question about how a certain process works, or how to manufacture a certain geometry, or how to run stats on a certain data set, and you can ask your question about the general process, geometry, type of data, etc – without talking about confidential details of your project or your application, then you can ask the question in general terms. If you need to disclose confidential details in order to seek their input or guidance, then you must talk with Professor Heylman about getting the necessary paperwork in place. Not all faculty are willing to sign NDAs.

We haven’t heard back from our industry technical advisor in almost two weeks, and we can’t move forward without their input. What should we do?  First, send a follow-up email. Then, try calling their work phone number. And finally, let Professor Heylman know and include him on an additional follow-up email. It is important to remember that your industry technical advisor has a very busy full-time job, and you may need to be persistent and pro-active to keep the project moving forward.

I will be going to the career fair and I want to put this on my resume. What can I include?  Generally, you can put that you are working on a MEDITEC project and list the company name. You can include a broad and generic title of the project (e.g. “Improving device manufacturing”) and you can list the skillsets you’ve used (e.g. Solidworks, CNC machining, fatigue testing, etc). You cannot include any details or confidential information. Please see Professor Heylman to have your resume reviewed and approved, and to discuss the best way to include your experience in an interview. Having MEDITEC on your resume and as a talking point can be really helpful if you approach it properly!

We need to have some supplies sent to us. What address should we use?  Always have the supplies sent to campus (not a home address). You should use the following shipping address: