Leveraging University Entrepreneurship Center Programs as a Means to Enrich Engineering Education

Transcription

1 Leveraging University Entrepreneurship Center Programs as a Means to Enrich Engineering Education Dr. Tammy VanDeGrift, Computer Science Shiley School of Engineering Dr. Jon Down, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Pamplin School of Business Administration

2 Entrepreneurship + Engineering Entrepreneurship Engineering Taking risks Analysis Creativity Passion Opportunity Recognition Modeling Problem-solving Can-do Mindset Design

3 Engineering Entrepreneurship + Engineering Entrepreneurship and other breadth Taking risks Analysis Creativity Passion Opportunity Recognition Modeling Problem-solving Can-do Mindset Design

4 Arts and Sciences 1350 students Education 177 students Nursing 670 students Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Engineering 690 students Business 615 students

5 Entrepreneurship Programs Entrepreneurship Scholars Selection is competitive ~20 E-Scholars per year Program fee: $ course sequence (9 academic credits) Creating a Venture Global Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship (idea to action) Business Plan Competition Open to all university members, teams and individuals For-profit and non-profit categories Finalists can compete for investments and in-kind services Travel to NYC and abroad to meet and network with entrepreneurs

6 Before E-Scholars 20 Business Plan Competition 32 Engineers Engineers 260 Others 298 Others

7 E-Scholar engineering and CS alumni DATA Surveyed the 20 engineering/cs E-scholar alumni 4 responded POSITIVE Traveling to NYC and abroad Discussing ideas with professionals Struggling with ambiguity IMPROVEMENTS More multi-disciplinary teams Encourage risk-taking Encourage students to follow through Provide mentors for help in starting a business Visit more tech companies

8 Two intentional actions in engineering 1. Publicity about the entrepreneurship opportunities to engineering students Guest lectures by Center staff in Intro to Engineering, sophomore-level, and capstone courses , flyers distributed to faculty and students Associate Dean encourages faculty advisors to let advisees know about E-opportunities Capstone instructors encourage students to enter Business Plan Competition 2. Curricular revisions for all four programs: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Science More opportunities to get the top-bar part of the T-engineer (E-scholars, study abroad, minors, second majors, etc.) 3 professional electives

9 Civil and Electrical Engineering Gained 3 professional electives by: Converting 3 required engineering courses to professional electives

10 Mechanical Engineering Gained 3 professional electives by: Converting 3 ME electives to professional electives

11 Computer Science Gained 3 professional electives by: Merged two two-course sequences into a single course (2 professional electives) Converted applied elective to professional elective (essentially, it is the same thing) Requires BUS 364 Innovation, gained this course by: Converting a STEM elective to BUS 364

12 Recent E-Scholar Participation E-Scholars E-Scholars 5 Engineers Other 7 Engineers Other 16 11

13 Recent Business Plan Competition Participation Business Plan Competition Business Plan Competition 7 Engineers Other 13 Engineers Other One engineering team (5 students) made it to the Two engineering teams (9 students) made it to the final round

14 Conclusions Create opportunities for T-shaped Engineers Establish relationships with Entrepreneurship faculty and staff Publicize entrepreneurship opportunities Create curricular space for students to explore breadth or depth

15 Questions? For more information about the Center: About engineering at UP: Acknowledgments: Thanks to the engineering/cs alumni for completing surveys and thanks to the Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation staff for their support.