Conference Session

Successful Outcomes of Student Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Faley, University f Michigan; Peter Adriaens, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

-level entrepreneurial curriculum between engineering and business isto enhance the blended strengths of the two parties, not turn each into the other. Building thebridge between the two disciplines is the goal, not creating an engineering school within thebusiness school or vice versa.At the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of _______, we believe itis valuable to think of the continuum of new venture formation and growth as a series ofdevelopment phases. • Phase I: Discovery – identifying opportunities and shaping them into business concepts; • Phase II: Feasibility analysis and assessment; • Phase III: Creating an actionable business plan; • Phase IV: Launching the business; • Phase V

Conference Session

Course-Based Approaches to Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelly Crittenden, Louisiana Tech University; Jon Pratt, Louisiana Tech University; James Nelson, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

theraw research. The next phase of the project is to create multidisciplinary Venture EnhancementTeams (VETs). The VETs use parallel business and engineering courses to simultaneously createa marketable prototype and a sound business plan. The next phase of the program is todemonstrate the new product and business plan to industry professionals, venture capitalist, andother interested parties via a business plan competition and senior design conference.Products that are not ready for a commercial market, but have shown potential forcommercialization can be assigned to another Venture Enhancement Team the following year.Finally, products that are ready for commercialization are awarded space in our businessincubator. This collaborative process

Conference Session

Successful Outcomes of Student Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jay Porter, Texas A&M University; Joseph Morgan, Texas A&M University; Richard Scruggs, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

semester, more facets of the E4 Model are realized. As support from the Page 13.483.2private sector continues to expand with each interaction and presentation that is made, thesame comments are put forth by companies interested in supporting the E4 Initiative.These are: 1. Who is the customer? 2. How will the product be manufactured, distributed sold and supported? 3. Is there a marketing or business plan available?In response to these encouragements, the EET/TET Programs worked through its contactswith the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) in the Mays School ofBusiness to identify faculty and undergraduate students

Conference Session

Course-Based Approaches to Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan Weaver, University of Detroit Mercy; Nassif Rayess, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

familiarize themselves with Clarity and CVC before the in-class casepresentation by visiting http://www.csr.com/products/cvc.htm.A handout the students are given in preparation for the case study is provided as Appendix A.Ray Gunn Case: Course IntegrationThe nature of the technical content in this case relates closely with content we normally cover ina Mechanical Measurements course (although many institutions refer to their similar course asInstrumentation). Our Mechanical Measurements course covers a variety of transducers andsignal processing techniques used to analyze the resulting data, making for a good discussion asto how this case study relates to the course content. In addition, we are planning to add a labdemonstration of the directional

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Adriaens, University of Michigan; Timothy Faley, University f Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

plan. Themessage to students is that all their ideas are worthy of converting into detailed operatingdocuments. They are not. These ideas must be screened and assessed. The entrepreneur’s time,after all, is the most precious resource of all. There is no sense wasting it on an idea that has nochance of being economically successful. The good news is that there is increasing attentionbeing paid to—determining the feasibility of the business. More and more institutions arebeginning to look at teaching methodologies to assess the feasibility of a proposed new business.Our courses take the steps necessary to show students how to create entrepreneurial ventureswith significant business potentials (Figure 1). Further discussion of the phases laid out

Conference Session

Learning from Entrepreneurship Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Blessing, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Kristen Mekemson, Kern Family Foundation; David Pistrui, Illinois Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

universities withABET-approved undergraduate engineering programs. Twenty of the original universitiesreceived $5,000 planning grants to develop proposals to implement curricular and extra-curricular components to augment their undergraduate engineering programs in support of theKEEN mission. Twelve universities submitted KEEN Phase I proposals to the Kern FamilyFoundation and eleven were funded with $50,000 to develop their engineering entrepreneurshipprograms. Each grant recipient named two Kern Fellows, with one of the fellows designated asthe Principle Investigator (PI) responsible for administering the grant.Of the eleven KEEN Phase I universities, four had already established entrepreneurship

Conference Session

Learning from Entrepreneurship Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phil Weilerstein, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance; Angela Shartrand, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

programsthat move ideas to commercialization while addressing basic human needs such as health, food,security, clean water and affordable energy for people living in poverty in the U.S. or abroad.Grant recipients partner with a non-profit, for-profit educational or governmental organizationsto plan and implement products or services in an economically sustainable entrepreneurialmodel. Sustainable Vision grants range from 20 to 50 thousand dollars with a grant period oftwelve to eighteen months.Conferences and WorkshopsNCIIA has developed a variety of resources to support curricular development and informaleducation as well as advance product development and commercialization.Conferences. NCIIA annual conferences for entrepreneurial educators are a

Conference Session

Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Farris, Grand Valley State University; Hugh Jack, Grand Valley State University; Shabbir Choudhuri, Grand Valley State University; Christopher Pung, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

the university IP committee.One of the three projects involved automotive speed bumps. Speed bumps are designed to manage trafficpatterns by encouraging drivers to slow down and avoid jarring their cars. These are commonly made using amound of paving material laid across a roadway. Although simple in concept they have a number oflimitations. The use of paving materials requires special planning and labor to install and substantially morelabor to remove. The performance is highly dependent on geometry, but this can be hard to control. Evenslow drivers must endure the full motion of the bump, albeit at a slower pace. An alternate method forconstructing speed bumps was devised that would use a non-Newtonian fluid housed inside a rubber

Conference Session

Learning from Entrepreneurship Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen Thornton, University of Maryland; Jacqueline Rogers, University of Maryland (Retired); Nathan Myers, University of Maryland; Monica Neukomm, University of Maryland

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

are then required to take several developmental (pre-freshman, non-college)mathematics courses before they are allowed to take the math courses needed for their majors.The PGCC Program Director has found that many students do not prepare for the mathematicsentrance exam, or have a weak mathematics foundation, and thus are being placed intodevelopmental math courses – which increase the number of classes that must be taken at PGCC.Additionally, a review of scheduling plans late in the first year revealed that some students atPGCC who had a particular concern about passing required mathematics classes did not attemptthe classes, and instead, choose to fill their schedules with other classes. This strategy slowedtheir progress toward completing

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education: Unique Approaches

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul A. Nelson, Michigan Technological University; Edward Lumsdaine, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

in each team.7 Students first learned how to function effectively in Page 13.341.4teams and how to overcome barriers to creative thinking. The teams then chose a product ofinterest that would have a price under $300, examined current offerings, and suggested severalpossible “improvements.” They surveyed a sample of students to determine if any of the“improvements” were valued. Patent searches helped the students to become familiar withintellectual property issues and to see what ideas were already protected. The Pugh method6 wasused to evaluate alternatives, and an abbreviated business plan was developed. Finally, in ageneral session with all

Conference Session

Opportunities for Entrepreneurship Programs and Program Assessment

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Green, University of Maryland; Georgina Johnston, University of Maryland

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

“current entrepreneurship education tends to migratetowards its natural focus of ‘least resistance’ – the traditional business management processareas”32 is thankfully expanding to include growth in curricula and programs.34 However, withthe offerings serving 18 to 22 year-old students so similar to MBA-level activities to includebusiness plan writing, case studies, and guest speakers, one must ask if undergraduates are beingeducated in a way that aligns with their unique needs and interests.If the opportunity discovery experience by traditional undergraduates differs from adult nascententrepreneurs (to include MBA students), the questions become “how” and what are thepedagogical methods that will increase students’ abilities to discover

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Raviv, Florida Atlantic University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

interactive, innovative workshops aretaught by practicing professionals whose real world involvement, language and style give themimmediate credibility with students. These business and industry leaders help to expand thetheoretical world of the college experience. Some of the proposed workshops would cover: (a)Teambuilding and Teamwork, (b) Creating and Maintaining Professional Portfolios, (c)Developing a Resume, (d) Making Effective Presentations, (e) Knowing Yourself – True Colors,(f) Developing a Career Plan; (g) Corporate Culture and You, and (f) Graduate SchoolOpportunities. Class structure The class met once a week for three hours each time, and usually had most of the followingelements: o Group discussion of brain teasers (led by a

Conference Session

Successful Outcomes of Student Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Khanjan Mehta, Pennsylvania State University; Sven Bilen, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

preparationfor the Venture design reviews.Software Interfacing: Covers the interlinking of various programming languages andapplication programs like LabVIEW, C/C++, MATLAB, SQL, MS Office, ActiveX, .Net, etc.Students also learn how to access and develop Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) and spawnexternal applications.Functional Verification and System Characterization: Deals with topics like technical riskidentification and management, verification and validation, and developing test plans andimplementing them using automated testing equipment.Controlling Devices and Sub-systems: During this session, the students learn concepts likecurrent sourcing and sinking; button debouncing; pulse width modulation (PWM); controltechniques; proportional, PI, and PID

Conference Session

Course-Based Approaches to Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Gerhart, Lawrence Technological University; Donald Carpenter, Lawrence Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

business plan competitions, speaker series, student entrepreneurship clubs, andseminars. At LTU, the grant provided the funding to integrate the existing entrepreneurialprograms into a new innovative interdisciplinary program focused on developing the“entrepreneurial mindset” on our campus. The skills associated with the entrepreneurial mindsetare communication, teamwork, leadership, ethics and ethical decision-making, opportunityrecognition, persistence, creativity, innovation, tolerance for ambiguity, risk analysis, creativeproblem solving, critical thinking, and business skills (including marketing, financial analysis,and strategic planning). The course described within this paper (EME 4981 Creative ProblemSolving) was one of the courses

Conference Session

Opportunities for Entrepreneurship Programs and Program Assessment

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Mason, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

atPenn State.7 Using faculty input and a review of entrepreneurship education in theliterature, they identified the following knowledge and skills for improvement ofentrepreneurial potential. Risk Taking Need for Achievement Leadership Creativity Customer Orientation Communication Teamwork Business Plan Development Bsns skills/language Engineering skills/lang. Dealing-ambiguity Tough skinned/ & insufficient info perseveranceWork is progressing on instruments to measure these aspects of knowledge, skills andtraits that might be affected by entrepreneurship centers and programs, but there are

Conference Session

Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harpal Dhillon, Excelsior College; Salahuddin Qazi, SUNY Institute of Technology; Sohail Anwar, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona College

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

/applicationsinclude titanium dioxide nanoparticles in sunscreen, cosmetics and food products (usage ofnonoparticles as additives to existing consumer products); silver nanoparticles in foodpackaging, clothing, disinfectants and household appliances; zinc oxide nanoparticles insunscreen and cosmetics, surface coatings, paints and outdoor furniture varnishes; andcerium oxide nanoparticles as a fuel catalyst (exploitation of surface characteristics ofnanoparticles to improve chemical reactions and interfacial bonding). The relatively shortlist of actual applications of nanotechnology indicates that further research is needed todiversify the utilization of this technology.Ongoing and planned R&D is focused on the development of new products such asoptically

Conference Session

Successful Outcomes of Student Entrepreneurship

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stuart Kellogg, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

, the Industrial Engineering program at SDSM&T adopted atransformative approach that focuses on developmentally appropriate integrative threadsthroughout the undergraduate curriculum. Curricular elements of the threads includetechnology enabled learning, service learning, business plans, and enterprise teamprojects. Curricular elements are placed within the curriculum to provide both anintegrative thread between the major components as well as a developmental thread forimproving complex thinking skills. The primary role of the technology enabled supportmodules is to provide the foundational scaffolding necessary to develop more complexreasoning while simultaneously attempting to address alternative learning styles. Todevelop this more fully