Board 107: Work in Progress: Development of an Innovation Corps-Modeled Bioengineering Course to Promote Entrepreneurial Engagement among Undergraduate Students.

Amanda Walls; Ishita Tandon; Timothy J. Muldoon; Jeff Wolchok; Mostafa Elsaadany

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT)
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42393
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42393
Download Count: 109

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Dr. Timothy Muldoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Muldoon teaches the Clinical Observations and Needs Finding, the Biomedical Instrumentation, and the Biomedical Microscopy courses within the Department, and also serves as the Undergraduate Coordinator. Dr. Muldoon’s research interests include engineering education, miniaturized optical imaging and spectroscopy approaches for endoscopy applications, and metabolic imaging of the tumor microenvironment.

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Jeff Wolchok University of Arkansas orcid.org/0000-0003-0375-4804

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BS/MS in Mech Eng from UC Davis
PhD in Biomed Eng from University of Utah

Worked in the medical device industry - 8 years

Capstone Design instructor - medical device design

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Mostafa Elsaadany University of Arkansas orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-8149

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Dr. Mostafa Elsaadany is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Elsaadany teaches Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, Biomechanical Engineering, Biomolecular Engineering, Senior Design, and Entrepreneurial Bioengineering. He is active in Engineering Education Research where he studies different mentoring strategies to ensure the academic and professional success of historically marginalized minorities. Further, he studies strategies for instilling the entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students as well as innovative approaches to teaching such as using virtual reality.

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship and the development of the “entrepreneurial mindset” have emerged within the last two decades in the field of engineering education. Not only is entrepreneurship vital for the advancement of technology and economic growth, but it has also shown promise in helping to increase students’ skills and preparedness for entering the workforce after graduation when incorporated into the engineering curriculum. To stimulate more entrepreneurial engagement, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently introduced similar programs called Innovation Corps (I-Corps), which are designed to lead small teams through customer discovery and business model validation during a seven- to eight-week bootcamp. Some previous research focused on the NSF I-Corps, which specifically targets graduate and post-doctoral students, has shown that students face challenges as they enter the program with little entrepreneurial knowledge or skills. Additionally, an increasing number of undergraduate students are conducting research through REUs and internships, and an entrepreneurial mindset at this stage can be pivotal in promoting future translational research. As evidenced, there is a need for more entrepreneurial instruction in Engineering undergraduate curriculum. In this study, we developed a new Entrepreneurial Bioengineering elective course for junior and senior undergraduate engineering students that models various aspects of I-Corps programs. The course introduces entrepreneurship, business model canvas, and lean start-up principles to the students with a focus on medical device customer discovery and technology commercialization. Students work in teams to form project ideas, interview customers, test business model hypotheses, and present their discoveries. To assess the outcomes of the course, we devised a survey that students took at the beginning and end of the semester. The survey consisted of open-ended and 5-point Likert scale questions focused on perceived entrepreneurial knowledge and soft (professional)-skill development. Pre- and post-semester surveys were compared for each student. Our analyses thus far have shown that after taking the course, students have more entrepreneurial and business model knowledge, as well as increased confidence in their ability to interact with and create value for customers in future endeavors. Continuing studies of this course aim to understand its long-term impact on students’ entrepreneurial mindsets and career goals as they carry forward their entrepreneurial skillset into senior capstone design projects.

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Walls, A., & Tandon, I., & Muldoon, T. J., & Wolchok, J., & Elsaadany, M. (2023, June), Board 107: Work in Progress: Development of an Innovation Corps-Modeled Bioengineering Course to Promote Entrepreneurial Engagement among Undergraduate Students. Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42393

TY - CPAPER
AB - Entrepreneurship and the development of the “entrepreneurial mindset” have emerged within the last two decades in the field of engineering education. Not only is entrepreneurship vital for the advancement of technology and economic growth, but it has also shown promise in helping to increase students’ skills and preparedness for entering the workforce after graduation when incorporated into the engineering curriculum. To stimulate more entrepreneurial engagement, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently introduced similar programs called Innovation Corps (I-Corps), which are designed to lead small teams through customer discovery and business model validation during a seven- to eight-week bootcamp. Some previous research focused on the NSF I-Corps, which specifically targets graduate and post-doctoral students, has shown that students face challenges as they enter the program with little entrepreneurial knowledge or skills. Additionally, an increasing number of undergraduate students are conducting research through REUs and internships, and an entrepreneurial mindset at this stage can be pivotal in promoting future translational research. As evidenced, there is a need for more entrepreneurial instruction in Engineering undergraduate curriculum.
In this study, we developed a new Entrepreneurial Bioengineering elective course for junior and senior undergraduate engineering students that models various aspects of I-Corps programs. The course introduces entrepreneurship, business model canvas, and lean start-up principles to the students with a focus on medical device customer discovery and technology commercialization. Students work in teams to form project ideas, interview customers, test business model hypotheses, and present their discoveries. To assess the outcomes of the course, we devised a survey that students took at the beginning and end of the semester. The survey consisted of open-ended and 5-point Likert scale questions focused on perceived entrepreneurial knowledge and soft (professional)-skill development. Pre- and post-semester surveys were compared for each student. Our analyses thus far have shown that after taking the course, students have more entrepreneurial and business model knowledge, as well as increased confidence in their ability to interact with and create value for customers in future endeavors. Continuing studies of this course aim to understand its long-term impact on students’ entrepreneurial mindsets and career goals as they carry forward their entrepreneurial skillset into senior capstone design projects.

AU - Amanda Walls
AU - Ishita Tandon
AU - Timothy J. Muldoon
AU - Jeff Wolchok
AU - Mostafa Elsaadany
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 107: Work in Progress: Development of an Innovation Corps-Modeled Bioengineering Course to Promote Entrepreneurial Engagement among Undergraduate Students.
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42393
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42393
ER -