“It was the most impactful experience of my life,” says Ambarsom, who is in her second year at New York Medical College with plans to become a pediatrician. She felt so empowered by the Moonshots classes that she applied for, and has received, a provisional patent on a makeup product she has created. “Every week my mind was blown by Dr. Aranha and what she brought to the sessions.”

Though she’ll happily accept the title mindblower, Dr. Rima Aranha is more formally known as associate provost for strategic initiatives at Touro University. She has shaped and taught the ten-week Moonshots program since 2020. From creating the curriculum, choosing the text, Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World, and planning each week’s topic and field trips, Aranha keeps at the forefront the overarching theme of “thinking outrageously.”

While creating the curriculum, it dawned on Aranha, “I seem to have fashioned the program that I would have needed and loved to have been a part of when I was a student,” she says. “It’s an honor to help students learn to believe in themselves and their ideas. Equally important is to witness them going from tentative to confident in their ideas and ability to become future entrepreneurs, if that’s what they choose to be.”

Aranha, who holds a Ph.D. in Education, with an emphasis on culture, policy and society, is not, strictly speaking, an entrepreneur. But she is an entrepreneurial enabler. She has been a researcher at a women’s domestic abuse nonprofit and a professor of Race, Class and Gender at various colleges and universities, among other prior posts. “I loved teaching and research,” she says, “but I also need challenges and to be able to take good ideas and help implement them.”

She teaches the class every fall semester to some 20 students who come from schools as diverse as social work, education, dentistry and more. Moonshots is a non-credit course. It’s also free. Those factors may incentivize students initially to Zoom in, but no burdened undergrad or graduate student will tune in ten Tuesdays for pablum and platitudes.

“Touro University Graduate School of Business is proud to offer our intercollegiate Moonshot Scholars Program that bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world application. In today’s era, where innovation and adaptability define success, universities must go beyond traditional education to prepare students for the future. Irrespective of students’ chosen field of study, promoting entrepreneurship is a powerful strategy to equip students with essential skills such as strategic thinking, teamwork, problem-solving, a forward-thinking initiative-taking mindset and valuable networks to thrive in today’s dynamic world,” said Dr. Mary Lo Re, dean of GSB.

The Moonshots Scholars Program is the brainchild of Dr. Howard Baruch, a member of the New York Medical College Board of Trustees. “I am deeply moved by the profound success of our Touro University Moonshots Program, which has kindled inspiration and empowerment in so many of our future leaders. Truly, the future lies in the hands of our students, and it is through their vision and dedication that we shall illuminate the path ahead,” said Baruch.

In Moonshots sessions they learn what happens when AI, robotics, virtual reality, digital biology and sensors crash into 3D printing, blockchain and global gigabit networks. They learn about marketing, advertising, financing and every aspect of a startup business. They go on field trips and meet entrepreneurs. Recently they visited a doctor and scientist at Touro’s BioInc—an incubator, with laboratories and other services for entrepreneurs in biotechnology and medical technology—who ignored everyone who said he would never accomplish his goal of a creating a certain cancer treatment. He has proved doubters wrong and is on the cusp of realizing his dream. “He talked to us about trusting yourself and your idea and doing the hard work,” says Ambarsom, 31. “But what stuck with me is when he said curiosity is the most important characteristic an innovator and entrepreneur must possess.”

That’s exactly what Aranha means by “thinking outrageously.” Not outside the box. There should be no box. “I want them to be bold in their belief in themselves and in their ideas,” Aranha says. “It’s about thinking big and developing the mission of entrepreneurial spirit that Touro University prides itself on imbuing in its students.”

At the semester’s end, students pitch their idea to their colleagues and teacher, as though they are deep-pocketed bankers and equity managers that must be convinced to part with the green.

Knowing how quickly the market changes, medical student Ambarsom, whose grandmother was a housekeeper and whose father arrived in America from Iran at 15, moved fast.

The provisional patent she was awarded is for a hygienic, sustainable makeup applicator. It’s hardly a frivolous creation. Dirty makeup brushes and sponges often result in a petri dish of germs and can cause serious viral, fungal and bacterial infections, including E.coli and MRSA.

Ambarsom didn’t have to travel far for the impetus: “My mother’s makeup brushes look like a dog’s fur, and I stay far, far away from my sister’s makeup brushes—they’re gross,” she says, ruefully. “They’ll be my first customers.”