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Events for Friday, March 4, 2016
Preconference | Friday | Saturday | Postconference
Conference Kickoff
Joseph Tranquillo, Bucknell University
David Novick, University of Texas at El Paso
David Brookstein, Temple University
Victoria Matthew, VentureWell
We know it’s early, but come get energized! Try on some different roles as we discover ways to have tricky conversations about entrepreneurship and innovation with the non-believers. You will walk away with some fun tools and one little word that may just add the magical fairy dust needed at faculty meetings and talks with administrators and donors…heck, it may even improve conversations with your partner or kids.
Creating a Sustainability Solutions Services Unit in the University Context
Thomas Seager, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
Three years ago ASU set out to establish a “Global Sustainability Solutions Services” unit that would work with a wide variety of clients to co-develop practical, effective, and affordable solutions to pressing sustainability challenges in its local community and globally. This is part of ASU’s “New American University” model that seeks to have impact at scale on the greater society through transdisciplinary development and delivery of solutions. As such, it is a new form of university-based innovation and tech/knowledge transfer. To date, the unit has done 60 projects in Phoenix and five in other countries with projects and proposals in development in several other regions of the world. This Open Exchange will explore the lessons learned from creating this model and other similar university-based consulting/extension models that attendees have experience in designing, creating and operating.
This presentation was based on the paper, “Play is the Proper Prescription for Entrepreneurship.”
Did We Really Make A Difference In The Lives of Our Students?
Robert Beaury, Pennsylvania State University - University Park
The Engineering Entrepreneurship Minor at Penn State University has been in place since 2003 and was one of the first programs of its kind in the country. Since 2003, the program has served the entire PSU population of students, producing 495 graduates, with only 60% being engineering majors.
Beginning in August of 2015 an effort was initiated to connect with those graduates to find out how the minor impacted their professional and personal lives, including how many started new businesses or joined start-ups. The effort to connect with as many former students as possible will continue through the winter of 2016.
This presentation will summarize what happened to these people, what we have learned from their input in terms of what we did right and what we didn’t, and how we plan to use what we have learned to change our classes and our extracurricular activities going forward.
Adventures in a Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Start-up
Mary Raber, Michigan Technological University
Michigan Tech University, through the Pathways to Innovation and University Innovation Fellows programs as well as other initiatives, is embarking on a path to start-up a new Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. In this presentation we will share our journey, which began with a benchmarking trip more than ten years ago. That trip and other associated internal and external assessment activities led to the implementation of a series of bootstrapped curricular and co-curricular programs. Those programs have developed into a current slate of integrated initiatives, which include a new center housed within a new Honors College, Lean Start-up curriculum implementation, I-Corps Site program development, and creation of maker spaces. Within the presentation we will discuss how we have tapped into student passion for campus change, and other experiences and lessons we have learned along the way that have brought us from benchmarking, to bootstrap, to formal implementation of the referenced programs.
Intersection: Fostering innovation in undergraduate education through thematic interdisciplinary programs
Ian Cottingham, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The increasing focus in higher education on producing outcomes that drive economic development has spurred a move towards the inclusion of entrepreneurship in engineering programs. These programs train graduates in processes and methodologies associated with creating value in the marketplace using technology. Challenges range from breaking through silos between engineering and business programs to identifying pedagogical approaches that support curricular integration across disciplines. Despite success in many programs, innovation in education remains elusive and when achieved, often comes at great expense. In this presentation we explore how the Jeffrey S. Raikes School at the University of Nebraska has been able to build a platform for innovation studies by integrating two or more academic disciplines using the themes of model and design thinking. We approach the integration concept using computer science and business as examples, and discuss more broadly how our platform enables the reduction of institutional inertia for innovation programs.
Introducing Entrepreneurship to Ursinus College: Pitfalls and progress
April Kontostathis, Ursinus College
What happens when entrepreneurship is introduced to a small, residential, traditional liberal arts college? In this presentation, Ursinus College’s U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies will serve as a case study to explore the opportunities, challenges and rewards inherent in developing an entrepreneurship program at a small college. U-Imagine was formally approved in December 2015, although the programming began a year earlier and continues to evolve. The many lessons learned along the journey toward approval have been transformed into a set of best practices designed to help other institutions that are developing or revitalizing their entrepreneurship programs. This session will present these best practices, highlighting examples from U-Imagine, and providing opportunities for the audience to share experiences from their own institutions.
Cultivating Class Innovation Through Transdisciplinary Teamwork and Sustainable Design
Thomas Kwan, Yale University
Maker spaces in academia offer unique opportunities to catalyze student innovation and serendipitous exchanges of creativity across all fields of study. In this approach, new avenues of entrepreneurship and ideation are being realized in unprecedented ways. The spirit of this process has been adopted in a course that utilizes sustainability and green product design to connect undergraduate, graduate, and professional students coming from various fields of study including engineering, chemistry, political science, geology, history, business, economics, and management. Unique challenges arise from a transdisciplinary design course including implementing course activity to promote teamwork and innovation. Several class activities have been consolidated and adapted for this active, hands-on workshop where attendees will be asked to develop innovative products using biomimicry. Experiential learning will provide participants first-hand understanding of how multidisciplinary teamwork obstacles can be overcome and provide insight to sustainable design. Get your creative juices flowing for this energetic education session!
Immersive Design Experiences
Bryan Boulanger, Ohio Northern University
John-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University
Joseph Tranquillo, Bucknell University
Magdalini Lagoudas, Texas A & M University - College Station
Immersive design experiences are high-impact educational experiences that offer exciting opportunities to develop entrepreneurially minded engineering students. While there are a growing number of immersive design experiences popping up on campuses across the country, each existing program has a different focus and setup. A common thread of these programs, however, is that students are engaged in very different ways compared to traditional classroom learning environments. This panel presents details and lessons learned from immersive design experiences conducted at Bucknell, Texas A&M University, and Ohio Northern University. Additionally, findings from on-going, KEEN-funded research into entrepreneurial mindset development through immersive design experiences occurring at Bucknell and Ohio Northern will be shared with participants.
Clinical Observational Design Experience: Extended clinical immersion
Jeremy Ackerman, Emory University School of Medicine
Raja Schaar, Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
James Rains, Georgia Institute of Technology
For six years Clinical Observational Design Experience (CODE) has brought students into active Emergency Departments where they discover problems in healthcare. Students spend 6-8 hours a week in hospitals where they begin to understand how healthcare is delivered and discover the problems faced by clinicians and patients. Most clinical immersion programs have very limited time and limited access–essentially the students only see what their client wants them to see. Extended periods of time for observation lets them understand the broader context of the problems. Collectively they see similar issues play out at different facilities and they see how the problems they identify affect different stakeholders. Extended opportunities to observe in the clinical setting enhance students’ understanding of clinical problems. Members of the panel will include faculty who have shaped this course and who work with students on biomedical design projects before and after their clinical experience.
A Reference Collection of Case Studies and Examples of Social Ventures
Benjamin Linder, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Case studies and examples of successful social ventures are effective materials for engaging young learners in purposeful design and entrepreneurship. And, evidence from existing ventures provides information that can challenge or clarify development narratives, including myths that can diminish motivation and expectations. Yet, many people in development are unaware of the breadth of stories that exist and the lessons they hold. This session aims to identify a collection of standard as well as new cases and examples and their potential lessons that would make a valuable resource for educators and students of development alike. Emphasis will be placed on ventures with demonstrated high impact as well as potential for inspiration and insight across a range of sectors, including consideration of failure cases.
Open Minis, Friday 3/4/16 8:45-10:00am, Salon B
Did We Really Make A Difference In The Lives of Our Students?
Robert Beaury, Pennsylvania State University – University Park
Adventures in a Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Start-up
Mary Raber, Michigan Technological University
Intersection: Fostering innovation in undergraduate education through thematic interdisciplinary programs
Ian Cottingham, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Introducing Entrepreneurship to Ursinus College: Pitfalls and progress
April Kontostathis, Ursinus College
Student Competitions and Prize Programs
Marlena Love, Lemelson-MIT Program
Jim Woodell, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Pitch competitions, hackathons, and idea challenges are amazing resources that stimulate the collegiate entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. These experiences build important skills, facilitate invaluable networking, and provide immeasurable feedback to participants. While rewarding to student participants, managing the experience’s logistics can be a bit much to juggle for educators and program managers. This Open Exchange will be a unique opportunity for educators to gather and share best practices and lessons learned with an end goal of taking away a few practical pieces to improve their own programs and enhance the experience for all involved. Exchange topics may range from: funding, timing, eligibility, judging, awards and more based on audience member desire.
Progress Through Product: Creating a curricular and co-curricular pipeline for student entrepreneurship with social purpose
Noah Isserman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois, and American universities more broadly, have a long history of excellence in technological innovation. However, collegiate entrepreneurship is lopsided, with some groups heavily overrepresented in startup culture. Our entrepreneurs tend to study engineering or business, and are disproportionately white or Asian and male. Further, ventures often respond to the needs of affluent Americans, with less focus on addressing our greatest global challenges. There are inspiring exceptions on our campus and elsewhere and we are working to make those exceptions far better supported.
Driving Diversity In University Settings
Kim Davis King, University of California, San Diego
Lada Rasochova, University of California, San Diego
The MystartupXX program serves to encourage and empower female students interested in entrepreneurship and help them to reach their potential by starting innovative, scalable, technology-driven companies. The 12-session acceleration program offers young women entrepreneurs at UCSD the environment to learn how to start innovative companies, share start-up experiences with cohort peers and industry mentors, and develop and iterate their business ideals. MystartupXX is open to students across UCSanDiego. As a result of these efforts, the enrollment in our program increased from three to ten teams per year. In addition, we were awarded the White House SBA award, which generated publicity and resulted in several donations to the program. The number of mentors keeps increasing. We are being contacted by universities and organizations across the US to help them design similar programs focused on diversity and supporting female entrepreneurs.
Retention Program for Freshmen & Sophomores: Lessons learned
Sharon Jones, University of Portland
Caitlin Cairncross, University of Portland
In 2013, the University of Portland received a NSF STEP grant to develop, implement, and assess retention programs that focus on at-risk engineering and computer science majors in their freshman and sophomore years. We define “at-risk” as those students who are in good academic standing, but are behind their cohort in terms of the courses needed for graduation. It turns out that many of these “at-risk” students are underrepresented minorities, however we used the “at-risk” definition to focus on what we believe is the primary cause of attrition issues within our context. Now in our third year, we have implemented and assessed several programs and used the lessons learned to refine our overall approach. Some of our results are surprising when compared to accepted ideas of how these programs should be designed. These lessons may be useful for other institutions with a similar size, culture, and/or particular sub-populations.
E-Portfolios: Tools for communicating I&E experiences and landscapes
Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, Stanford University
Helen Chen, Stanford University
Humera Fasihuddin, VentureWell
Bradley Dice, William Jewell College
Landon Young, William Jewell College
Valerie Sherry, University of Maryland, College Park
Given the experiential nature of I&E education, there is a need for strategies to capture, assess and support student learning. ePortfolios represent a technological and pedagogical approach that is increasingly being used towards this. ePortfolios can add value in a wide range of contexts. They:
- make learning visible to students and educators within curricular programs and courses;
- provide structured opportunities for self-reflection and integrative learning across curricular and co-curricular experiences over time;
- can inform institutional learning and change; and
- can be leveraged to catalyze the successful transition of students to the workforce, documenting skills that are sought after by employers.
This session, featuring an ePortfolio expert as well as students and educators who have effectively used this approach in the context of Epicenter’s University Innovation Fellows program, will be of interest to faculty, administrators and students invested in expanding I&E and experiential and project-based learning.
When Education and Entrepreneurship Collide!
Khanjan Mehta, Pennsylvania State University - University Park
Soumya Acharya, Johns Hopkins University
While some student teams successfully launch their products in the developing world, umpteen other teams with high potential for impact fail because they cannot, or do not want to, make multi-year commitments to their ventures. Even for the few teams that decide to make the commitment, the academic linkages that provided them with experiential learning opportunities, access to subject-matter experts, laboratory facilities, and other valuable resources weaken over time. Multi-year ventures where one student team after another advances the venture through various phases of its lifecycle is another model of entrepreneurial engagement. While students are still at the helm of these ventures, faculty members are intricately involved in all aspects of the projects and shepherd the ventures across their entire lifecycle. This panel discussion will contrast these two academic models of engagement with a specific emphasis on how the entrepreneurial and educational missions might conflict in both cases.
The Chair Game
Benjamin Glenn, Shay Glenn LLP
The Chair Game is an interactive real time scenario game where three different development teams race to enter the market with new chair designs. Each team develops an IP strategy and encounters different commercial challenges. As the scenario unfolds, the teams face competitive pressure from the other teams.
Strategic Doing in the Classroom: Teaching students the deep skills of collaboration
Scott Hutcheson, Purdue University
Our students will have to be effective collaborators to be successful in their careers, yet we often expect them to pick up the skills of collaboration on their own. We tell students they must collaborate, in teams working on class projects or as they connect with others on campus or off; but we rarely teach them how to collaborate. Strategic Doing (SD) is a discipline that teaches the deep skills of collaboration. SD is a more open, agile, iterative approach to strategy than tools like strategic planning. Strategic planning, originating in the military, works in command-and-control organizations. SD is designed for open, loosely joined networks where nobody can tell anybody else what to do–just the sort of environment in which inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs find themselves. This workshop will showcase the teaching tools being used at Purdue University and elsewhere to teach collaboration through the principles of Strategic Doing.
Open Minis, Friday 3/4/16 10:30-11:45am, Salon B
Progress Through Product: Creating a curricular and co-curricular pipeline for student entrepreneurship with social purpose
Noah Isserman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Driving Diversity In University Settings
Kim Davis King, University of California, San Diego
Lada Rasochova, University of California, San Diego
Retention Program for Freshmen & Sophomores: Lessons learned
Sharon Jones, University of Portland
Caitlin Cairncross, University of Portland
Gender and Entrepreneurship: Images, identity & belonging
Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Purdue University
Gender and Entrepreneurship: Images, identity & belonging
Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Purdue University
In many communities and at many universities, efforts are underway to broaden involvement in entrepreneurship as a means of catalyzing economic growth. Words and images that describe and represent the many initiatives and spaces designed to increase interest in entrepreneurship can reinforce stereotypes about who truly belongs. Raising awareness of these unintended consequences is essential to avoid perpetuating the implicit biases we have about who can be an entrepreneur.
Sustainable Practice Impact Award luncheon with keynote speaker Lynelle Cameron
Lynelle Cameron, Autodesk Foundation
The Sustainable Practice Impact Award recognizes companies or individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in developing clean technologies, implementing sustainable practices in their businesses or providing exceptional educational opportunities to university students. The award reflects The Lemelson Foundation and VentureWell’s strong commitment to supporting technological innovation that improves the world.
The keynote speaker will be Lynelle Cameron, President & CEO of the Autodesk Foundation and Senior Director of Sustainability at Autodesk, Inc.
VentureWell Grants and Resources
Laura Sampath, VentureWell
Patricia Boynton, VentureWell
This session will provide an update on current and future VentureWell programs that support technology invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. We will give an overview of our E-Team and Faculty grants and offer some tips and suggestions to increase your chances of being funded. Also on hand will be a panel of faculty grantees to talk about how they’ve leveraged VentureWell resources to enhance their university’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, and a current E-Team to discuss their experiences with the E-Team Program.
I Finished My Entrepreneurship Program: Now what?
Ross Malaga, Montclair State University
Jason Frasca, Montclair State University
Many students and student teams struggle with keeping their entrepreneurial vision and projects going once they complete their coursework. This Open Exchange will examine the best ideas to keep students engaged beyond the entrepreneurial curriculum.
SBU Innovation Lab: A new approach to innovation and entrepreneurship
David Ecker, Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University had no direction in the maker space movement that was taking the nation by storm. A year ago we put the engine in high gear and developed the SBU Innovation Lab, which is a cross-discipline approach to innovation and entrepreneurship. We created a facility with very little funds (less than $5,000 to purchase equipment) and have pushed the campus to embrace innovation through our workshops, facility and WolfieTank (pitch competition).
Maker Spaces that Set the Stage for Lifelong Learning
Susan Whitmer, Herman Miller, Inc.
Creativity, making, hacking, and coworking have been part of STEM, business, and arts curricula for decades. We view these activities differently depending on the discipline. In science and engineering, these activities are viewed as invention or innovation; in business, entrepreneurship; in math, problem-solving; and in the arts, performance. What the advent of the makerspace has done is illuminate the connectedness between these learning-by-doing activities and the impact on lifelong learning, from pre-k to gray. In this session we will present examples of spaces that foster creativity, making, hacking, and coworking in elementary education through secondary education. We will highlight the value of learning-by-doing on lifelong learning within the ecosystems of healthcare and corporate learning. Participants will walk away with an understanding of how active learning and learning-by-doing are reframing how we learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Transitioning to a Student-managed Makerspace
Patricia Sullivan, New Mexico State University
Luke Nogales, New Mexico State University
Rolfe Sassenfeld, New Mexico State University
Ed Pines, New Mexico State University
Over the past two years, the College of Engineering at New Mexico State University has worked to develop and grow student engagement in the Aggie Innovation Space, a multidisciplinary maker space facility. In fall 2015, the college transitioned management of the facility from an operations manager to one that is fully managed by on-campus co-op students. We will discuss the adoption of an organizational management structure that supports career-critical skills (finance, marketing, organizational dynamics, technical mentoring, teams, etc.) gained through the co-op management structure, and how a student-managed facility has shifted student engagement from traditional course-based projects to more innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives.
Tracking Maker Space Utilization Using a Mobile App
Patricia Sullivan, New Mexico State University
Rolfe Sassenfeld, New Mexico State University
We present a novel data collection system incorporating a mobile app and online database for tracking and measuring utilization of a makerspaces. Our system offers the ability to track a visitor’s time spent in the makerspace and provides detailed reports on the activities of the visitor. Our system is customizable and offers flexibility with respect to the types of activities that are logged into the database. For additional detail, we demonstrate a process for cross-referencing student information systems to obtain demographic information of the visitors.
Business Model Canvas for Early-stage Idea Exploration
Nik Rokop, Illinois Institute of Technology
Having trouble using the Business Model Canvas for very early stage ideas? Osterwalder’s canvas is not set up ideally for exploration-stage business ideas. I’ve developed and used a version of the BMC that simplifies and clarifies the process. I’ve used this with high school students and entrepreneurs.
Business Model Canvas Meets Evidence: The intersection of innovation tools
Tallie Casucci, University of Utah
Jean Shipman, University of Utah
Students have access to hundreds of databases, information resources, and tools licensed by academic libraries. This abundance of resources can be overwhelming, especially when developing products. To alleviate this problem, health science librarians paired databases, information resources, and tools to the individual sections of the Business Model Canvas, for use by students registered in a medical device competition. This visual representation of relevant information resources enabled teams to target their evidence searching to the most appropriate tools. The tailored mash-up version of the Business Model Canvas is easily convertible to meet other competition, class, or program needs. This tool not only informs students about information resources, but also reinforces previous classroom discussions related to the Business Model Canvas (based on Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneurs book, Business Model Generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers).
Challenge Locator: A resource for innovators and entrepreneurs
Dan Freeman, University of Delaware
The University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship has developed a searchable online directory of open innovation, grand challenge and XPrize opportunities. This directory is envisioned as a starting point for innovators and entrepreneurs who are seeking important problems to solve, and a means of increasing the impact of student entrepreneurship activity.
Finding Real Problems to Solve
James Rains, Georgia Institute of Technology
I have an undergraduate class activity to share. I call it “How Things Work”. Students get out of the classroom and take a free tour of a local facility (grocery store, post office or water works.) During the tour they are challenged to find a dozen problems to solve.
Engaging Higher Education in International Development
Ticora Jones, USAID
Amit Mistry, USAID
Jona Repishti, International Development Innovation Network
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are playing a critical role in the application of science, technology and innovation to global development challenges. This panel discussion will highlight examples of partnerships between HEIs, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the broader international development community. Panelists from USAID and MIT will present on USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network, MIT’s International Development Innovation Network (IDIN) and other successful USAID-HEI partnerships. The panelists will discuss what makes a successful partnership, the importance of local partnerships, and how best to partner with organizations like USAID.
SystHIM Change: How to engage and inspire university women in male-dominated spaces
Audrey Iffert-Saleem, Oregon State University
Marla Parker, Arizona State University
Susan Halverson, Arizona State University
Research demonstrates that entrepreneurship has a positive influence on rates of entrepreneurship (e.g., Zhao, Zeibert, & Hills, 2005). Yet, an examination of academic entrepreneurship offerings shows that women participate at lower rates than men (Choi, Jeong, & Kehoe, 2012). Despite the fact that women comprise 50% of the U.S. population, they lead 35% of entrepreneurial activity (Kauffman, 2009). We propose that focused effort in building entrepreneurship curriculum plays a key role in addressing the gap between men and womens’ entrepreneurial activity. And, by increasing the number of women with entrepreneurship education, we can dramatically increase the number of businesses created and succeeding. Our presenters have spent a year applying gender scholarship to curriculum development, experimenting with solutions to the gap. Through our workshop, participants will walk away with an understanding of the gap and influencing factors, as well as ideas and plans to create systemic solutions that promote inclusivity.
Open Minis, Friday 3/4/16 2:15-3:30pm, Salon B
SBU Innovation Lab: A new approach to innovation and entrepreneurship
David Ecker, Stony Brook University
Maker Spaces that Set the Stage for Lifelong Learning
Susan Whitmer, Herman Miller, Inc.
Transitioning to a Student-managed Maker Space
Patricia Sullivan, New Mexico State University
Luke Nogales, New Mexico State University
Rolfe Sassenfeld, New Mexico State University
Ed Pines, New Mexico State University
Tracking Maker Space Utilization Using a Mobile App
Patricia Sullivan, New Mexico State University
Rolfe Sassenfeld, New Mexico State University
Open Minis, Friday 3/4/16 2:15-3:30pm, Salon I
Business Model Canvas for Early-stage Idea Exploration
Nik Rokop, Illinois Institute of Technology
Business Model Canvas Meets Evidence: The intersection of innovation tools
Tallie Casucci, University of Utah
Jean Shipman, University of Utah
Challenge Locator: A resource for innovators and entrepreneurs
Dan Freeman, University of Delaware
Finding Real Problems to Solve
James Rains, Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
So You Want to Offer a Pop-up?
Meenu Singh, University of Maryland, College Park
Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, Stanford University
Magdalini Lagoudas, Texas A & M University - College Station
Joseph Tranquillo, Bucknell University
Patricia Sullivan, New Mexico State University
Pop-up classes are short, interactive workshops that are informal and discovery-based. The goal of this workshop is to help participants leave with a plan for how to pitch and manage pop-ups at their university.
Participants will be led through a series of questions that are designed to help them clarify the purpose, format and organization of their pop-ups, as these elements will vary at different universities. Some of these questions are at:
http://venturewell.org/so-you-want-to-offer-a-pop-up-class/
The workshop will be led by seasoned pop-up instructors and organizers who will introduce what pop-ups are, ask key questions, help participants formulate a plan and then challenge them to identify a first step when they return to their campus.
Launching an Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurial Capstone Design Experience: Blast-off or fizzle out?
Thomas Katona, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Jonathan York, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lynne Slivovsky, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
A cross-college entrepreneurial capstone design experience sounds great in concept, but is it really great in implementation and practice? This session will review the lessons learned (good, bad, and ugly) in implementing such a course that will be finishing its first year. A panel of faculty and students will host an open discussion and Q&A to outline challenges and approaches taken with regard to curricular approval, team formation, project selection, funding, and cross-curricular entrepreneurial design using Lean LaunchPad and agile engineering. In addition, expected student outcomes will be discussed in comparison to other extracurricular entrepreneurial programming already offered by the University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and to the more traditional single discipline capstone design courses. The team’s experiences will be used to facilitate discussion amongst participants with a goal of aggregating best practices.
Mentoring Best Practices for Non-Ivy League Schools
Punit Arora, The City College of New York
Student entrepreneurs require substantial mentoring support, especially if they come from a first-generation college background and have no first-hand experience of entrepreneurship at home. In this presentation, I will relate my experiences in helping students build their mentorship networks at one such large public university (City University of New York City College). The presentation will describe multi-stage initiatives in finding, matching, preparing, supporting, and evaluating mentors and mentees to get the most out of mentoring.
Improving Entrepreneurial Mentoring
Thomas Jensen, Enterprise Futures Network
What makes entrepreneurial teams and mentors thrive in mentorship programs? What are the mentoring models universities are experimenting with across the US? What is working under different contexts (e.g., a class, a business plan competition, an incubator)? What are innovative approaches to match mentors and mentees? The presenter will give examples from among the 13 university entrepreneurial mentoring programs the Enterprise Futures Network supports including NYU, Rice, Stanford, and the University of Michigan.
The Art of Matchmaking: Connecting teams to the right mentor
Tallie Casucci, University of Utah
Matching innovative and entrepreneurial teams to proper industry and academic mentors is a challenge. Sometimes a team does not need help, or its assigned mentor does not have the desired expertise. In addition, mentors require a respectful balance of their volunteer time. Academic leadership perceives mentors as a source of future donor funding, which adds to the pressure for successful matchmaking. How can matchmaking programs meet everyone’s needs?
Rather than assigning mentors to teams, the presenter will evaluate four strategies for connecting student teams to potential mentors. Three academic competitions at a university currently use four matchmaking strategies, which include a mentor-purchasing website, an internal mentor request list, a pairing event, and a pool of mentors. For each matchmaking strategy, the presenter will describe the strategy, highlight implementation challenges, and share the benefits and drawbacks for all participants (e.g., the teams, mentors, and competition organizers).
Fully Integrated Hackathons, Hardware through Business
Donald Heer, Oregon State University
Dale McCauley, Oregon State University
Coding hackathons are great, but what about innovation that actually includes hardware, software, mechanics, and business? This Open Exchange is focused around the how hackathons can be successfully made multidisciplinary to excite innovation. Attendees will be asked to share their experiences and ask questions of others.
From Lab and SocEnt Startup to Impact on 200,000 lives: Sustainable microenterprise for village-scale arsenic removal from drinking water
Todd Watkins, Lehigh University
Michael German, Lehigh University
Arup SenGupta, Lehigh University
Hundreds of millions of people in developing nations are at risk of debilitation or death from arsenic and fluoride poisoning in their drinking water. Unfortunately, economically sustainable remediation remains elusive. We discuss the evolution of village-scale arsenic and fluoride treatment technologies, and an accompanying microenterprise business model, developed at Lehigh University with support from Venturewell. Local communities and local entrepreneurs are now self-sustainably operating village-scale arsenic systems, benefiting more than 200,000 individuals in India, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh and Kenya. Pilots underway target fluoride. We outline the role of students, faculty, research labs, capstone projects, international partners, and a social entrepreneurial startup by student and faculty principles. We address barriers, lessons learned, present data on outcomes across multiple national contexts, and identify key economic and groundwater conditions for self-sustainable microenterprise operations. Well run microenterprise operations generate income several times the poverty line while simultaneously reducing arsenic well below world health standards.
East Coast vs. West Coast: Comparing Lean Launchpad and Disciplined Entrepreneurship
Michael Panesis, California Lutheran University
Renee Rock, California Lutheran University
Two of the most popular entrepreneurship teaching methods are Lean Launchpad (LLP), led by Steve Blank at UC Berkeley and Stanford, and Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE), led by Bill Aulet at MIT. Cal Lutheran’s faculty have used both successfully and found each to have particular strengths and pose specific challenges. In this session, we will compare and contrast LLP and DE, share our classroom experiences, and explain how we fit both techniques into our curriculum. We also will share a holistic framework for teaching entrepreneurship that transcends both techniques.
We believe that the practice of teaching entrepreneurship has reached an inflection point, progressing from a fringe activity to a mainstream educational force on most campuses. This is a good time to assess progress, evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and chart a course for the next generation of entrepreneurship education, so that the momentum gained in recent years can be maintained.
Open Minis, Friday 3/4/16 4:00-5:15pm, Salon B
Mentoring Best Practices for Non-Ivy League Schools
Punit Arora, The City College of New York
Improving Entrepreneurial Mentoring
Thomas Jensen, Enterprise Futures Network
The Art of Matchmaking: Connecting teams to the right mentor
Tallie Casucci, University of Utah
The Basement at UC San Diego
Gloria Negrete, University of California, San Diego
The Basement at UC San Diego
Gloria Negrete, University of California, San Diego
In recent years the University of California outperformed universities around the world in granting patents. By the numbers, the UC boasts on average five inventions produced daily by its researchers, at least 30 incubators and accelerators UC-wide, and more than 800 hundred startup companies with UC patents founded since 1980. Given this context, leveraging alumni entrepreneurs who exit this ecosystem to help build sustainable program models, mentor students, and help create opportunities for aspiring undergraduate entrepreneurs makes sense.
Poster session
open 2016 posters are organized below by category
best in category
best design
COURSE
Three Course Sequence in Medical Device Commercialization
Olivia Coiado, University of Portland
Applying Lean Start-Up Methods and Principles Applied to a Benefit Corporation
Tran K. Nguyen, Berea College
Teaching Design – Creating the Foundation
Daniel Sullivan, University of Massachusetts Lowell
A course to Experience Medical Device Design: From Business Evaluation to Engineering Design
Lourdes Medina, University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez
A Clinical Immersion at Disciplinary Interfaces Course:Bringing Nurses and Engineers together for Innovation with Impact
Melissa Geist & Robby Sanders, Tennessee Technological University
Launch-in-9: Lessons learned from an interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial capstone, focused at launching businesses
Antonie Jetter, Portland State University
RESEARCH
American, Chinese, or Zambian? Which Products Do You Prefer?
Leah Bader & Sara Warnquist, Pennsylvania State University
New Venture Creation Teaching
Jeremy Vickers, University of Texas at Dallas
Digital Learning R&D: Using Design Thinking to Test & Validate the Liberal Arts
Hannah Levinson, Davidson College
What Helps Mentoring Thrive?
Thomas Jensen, Enterprise Futures Network
PROGRAMS
Physics Resources Supporting Innovation Teams
Randall Tagg, University of Colorado Denver
Using National Competitions as Focus for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education
Howard Davis, Washington State University
Developing Entrepreneurial Mindsets From Freshman to Seniors
Magdalini Lagoudas, Texas A&M University
Inclusion through Textiles: Creating a Pathway to and through STEM
Sarah Kuhn, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Combining experiential learning with expert knowledge: a novel platform for the design process
Christopher Chermside-Scabbo, Washington University in St. Louis
Responding to Real Time, Real World Problems through Transdisciplinary Collaboration: The Five by Five (Five Ideas, Five Minutes, Five Slides, Five Judges, $5,000)
Danielle Lake & Kevin McCurn, Grand Valley State University
A Strategic Development Plan for Innovation Programming at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Brian Thompson, Ilya Avdeev & Nathaniel Stern, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Tech Connect
Andrew Maxwell, York University
Creating a Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship
Andrew Maxwell, York University
TOOLS
Calling all Failures
Jean Shipman, University of Utah
I Dream Of…A Product Characterization Lab
Nick Frazzette, Pennsylvania State University
The Innovation Vault Advice at your fingertips
Barbara Ulmer, University of Utah
StartUpTrackerTexas: A Web Portal for Seed-Funding Programs
David Novick, The University of Texas at El Paso
UC San Diego Maker Space
Nathan Delson, University of California, San Diego
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
#SecondChanceBmore: An Open Data-base of Resources to Better Reintegrate and Empower Returning Citizens
Umaru Bah, Devonte King, Meaca Downing & Omar Muhammad, Morgan State University
SAFE NIÑOS: Designing Innovative Interactive Environments for Pediatric Healing
Penny Herscovitch & Daniel Gottlieb
A three-stage, two-year pipeline for social entrepreneurship education and venture acceleration
Ryan Singh, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Collaborative Learning and Doing Communities
John Lovitt & Bonnie Bachman, Missouri University of Science and Technology
DifferenceMaker: Innovation that Matters
Holly Butler, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Epicenter Research Summit 2.0
Sarah Zappe, Pennsylvania State University
Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Purdue University
Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University
Mary Besterfield-Sacre, University of Pittsburgh
What are leading researchers already discovering about pedagogies that work, what attracts different students to entrepreneurship, and how are schools and programs effectively creating opportunities for their students? What new research is needed to advance the quality of entrepreneurship and innovation education for engineering students? This 2.5 hour workshop (followed by dinner) addresses these questions through research updates and focused discussion on the greatest gaps in research on entrepreneurship education for engineering students. Come to the workshop prepared to share your research, provide input to others on their work, and to be part of continuing to define research in this space. This event will be followed by a dinner at 8:30 pm; the restaurant will be within walking distance from the hotel (cost of dinner is included in the registration fee).
TO REGISTER
There is a fee of $150 to attend this workshop in addition to your regular conference registration fee. If you would like to register for this event, check off “Epicenter Research Summit 2.0” in the “Item Selection” page of the registration screen. To begin registering, head here.
