Shreshta Sinha is a graduating student at Michigan State University, earning a degree in neuroscience from the Lyman Briggs College. He has a strong interest in biotechnology, neuroscience and entrepreneurship. Shreshta was involved with the Burgess Institute and served as Financial Director of the MSU Entrepreneurship Association. This fall, he will attend Brown University to pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology.
In 2023, a friend introduced me to the Discovery program at the Burgess Institute and that’s where things started to click. I was an 18-year-old sophomore with a lot of business ideas, but no real understanding of entrepreneurship or how to turn those ideas into something tangible. Burgess changed that for me. It gave me my first true exposure to the entrepreneurial process, along with the structure, guidance and access to resources that helped me start building real skills and confidence.
One of the most meaningful parts of my experience was The Hatch, an incubator space. It wasn’t just a workspace to me, it became a 24/7 home for ideas. I spent countless days and late nights there thinking, building and creating. When it closed last semester, it felt like the end of a really important chapter in my MSU journey, and it’s a place I’ll always look back on with gratitude.
Through Burgess, I also became deeply involved in MSUEA, a student-run entrepreneurship organization. One of my favorite parts was attending the speaker series and learning directly from founders and leaders. Because mentorship has always felt central to entrepreneurship for me, I eventually applied for the E-Board and served as financial director for a year. That role gave me the chance to give back — mentoring younger students and watching them grow and succeed was one of the most rewarding parts of my college experience.
Two experiences, in particular, really shaped how I see my future. In 2023, I traveled to San Francisco for Buildspace, where I met tech founders, learned about venture capital and got my first real exposure to the world of bio-entrepreneurship. Then, on MSUEA’s annual Burgess-supported trip to Boston, I visited places like Harvard, Eli Lilly, Nasdaq and MIT, and attended the McGovern Institute’s 25th anniversary celebration. Hearing conversations about the future of neuroscience, and seeing work at the MIT Media Lab, from brain-controlled bionic limbs to neural engineering, completely expanded what I thought was possible.
What made Boston especially impactful was that it stopped feeling like just a city I admired from afar. It started to feel like a place where I could actually see myself building a future. Conversations with leaders like Dr. Nancy Kanwisher, combined with everything I saw at MIT, gave me both clarity and confidence. That experience helped me realize I want to work at the intersection of neuroscience, entrepreneurship and emerging technology. It’s a big reason I hope to live and build in Boston one day.
Next fall, I’ll be starting my master’s in Biotechnology at Brown University. I’m passionate about innovation and want to work on solving meaningful problems that improve society, especially in areas like neural stem cells, organoids and brain-computer interfaces. The Burgess Institute played a huge role in preparing me for that path. It helped me develop both a professional mindset and the entrepreneurial confidence to trust my ideas and pursue them.
If I could share one piece of advice with other entrepreneurial students, it would be this: start building. Don’t overthink it. Take action, learn as you go and trust yourself. Stay open to feedback, but don’t let outside opinions stop you from believing in what you’re building.
Finally, I want to thank Paul Jaques, the donors, staff and interns at Burgess for the incredible impact they’ve had on my growth and career. I’m deeply grateful for everything this community has given me.
This story originally appeared on the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation website.
