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Integrating the Entrepreneurial Mindset into a Thermal-Fluid Sciences Course

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Conference

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publication Date

June 22, 2025

Start Date

June 22, 2025

End Date

August 15, 2025

Conference Session

ME Division 14: From M&Ms to Air Quality: Engaging Students in Energy and the Environment

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)

Page Count

7

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/56851

Paper Authors

biography

Nancy J. Moore PhD North Carolina State University

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The author is a Teaching Associate Professor at North Carolina State University in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. She teaches undergraduate courses in the thermal-fluid sciences and is the course coordinator for Thermal-Fluid Sciences. Her pedagogical research supports her teaching methods and philosophy.

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Abstract

At North Carolina State University, the undergraduate thermodynamics course has been modified to include both fluid mechanics and heat transfer topics. As the first course in the thermal-fluids curriculum, it is critical that students are introduced to these subjects in a relatable way that inspires their curiosity in the concepts and in future courses. This re-design of the course has been an opportunity to focus on student-driven learning that sparks intrinsic motivation for students going forward in the curriculum.

The current study is a work-in-progress to determine the impact of this curriculum change. This paper explains how aspects of entrepreneurial minded learning have been used to create assignments with real-world applications that link thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. With their work, students demonstrated curiosity in the capabilities of each subject and solved problems that connected the subjects. The students’ work and feedback show that the assignments improved their understanding of these subjects. Insight is also provided regarding lessons learned by the instructor.

Moore, N. J. (2025, June), Integrating the Entrepreneurial Mindset into a Thermal-Fluid Sciences Course Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/56851

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