In 2011 in a joint effort between Lehigh’s Baker Institute and the PC Rossin College of Engineering the author launched a one-year, 30-credit multidisciplinary Masters of Engineering in Technical Entrepreneurship that provides entrepreneurially minded graduates the culture, environment and resources needed for student-led startups to launch and survive. This program offers a dedicated curriculum, in a dedicated space with a dedicated faculty. In direct opposition to the trend in MOOC’s, Lehigh’s Master of Engineering in Technical Entrepreneurship (TE) program is modeled on the “skunk-works” model for fostering individual creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Lehigh’s TE students work in a secure studio space designed to help them develop their entrepreneurial mindset through hands-on learning. Alongside this startup studio is a new maker space focused on developing student creativity through hands-on building, prototyping and testing. As a graduation requirement all students must create a new business and launch it.

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