RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – RTI International was founded 60 years ago to offer opportunities to high-level science graduates emerging from North Carolina’s universities.

And those relationships continue to this day.

“North Carolina universities are integral and intertwined with everything that RTI does,” Jacqueline Olich, RTI’s Senior Director of University Collaborations, says in the accompanying video.

RTI – which generates nearly $1 billion a year in research-driven revenue – relies on the state’s public institutions for researchers, scholars, interns and joint research projects, Olich says.

“It makes a lot more sense for us to do that together,” she says. “It’s a remarkable amount of collaboration, formal and informal…. There are so many connections with the universities.”

Roughly 20% of RTI’s workforce – or more than 1,100 employees – have a degree from a public North Carolina college or university, Olich says. And 10% of those 1,100 have doctorates from one of the state’s public institutions.

RTI offers more than 100 internships a year, and most of its interns come from North Carolina schools, including high-school students from the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics.

The interns get exposure to a range of fields as diverse as epidemiology, international relations, economics, intellectual property and data analytics.

 “It makes me want to be a student again,” Olich says with a smile.

“Partnering with the universities will continue to be important for RTI,” she says. “Connecting with leading-edge researchers and universities and building long-term relationships will continue to be an important part of our strategy.”