creating a nation of entrepreneurial engineers ! !epicenter.stanford.edu

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Project start date: Fall 2011 Grant number DUE-1125457

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About Epicenter

Funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)!

Tom Byers! Kathleen Eisenhardt!Sheri Sheppard! Leticia Britos Cavagnaro! Phil Weilerstein!

evaluation by

Thomas Byers, Director and Principal Investigator!Sheri Sheppard, Principal Investigator!Kathleen Eisenhardt, Principal Investigator!Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, Deputy Director!Phil Weilerstein, Deputy Director!

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Mission

•  Empower U.S. undergraduate engineering students to bring their ideas to life for the benefit of our economy and society

•  Help students combine their technical skills, their ability to develop innovative technologies that solve important problems, and an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset

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entrepreneurshipinnovation

tech-based

innovation in STEM with an entrepreneurial focus

mindset and skillset focusing on marketopportunity and customer needs

mindset and skillset focusing on creative design and

product development to solve important problems

technical engineering knowledge and skills

Innovative, entrepreneurial engineers will be flexible, resilient, creative, empathetic, and have the

ability to recognize and seize opportunities.

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Timeline

Founded !& Organized!

Built Communities

& Experiments!

Implement Programs!

Scale !Programs!

Sustain !& Support!

1.  Lack of widespread effective and accessible innovation and entrepreneurship offerings for engineering students

2.  Need for faculty and student training, materials and resources to develop strong innovation and entrepreneurship offerings

3.  Innovation and entrepreneurship instruction is an emerging engineering education priority that struggles to be implemented

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Challenges Identified by Epicenter

•  Identify and reduce barriers to implementing innovation and entrepreneurship offerings

•  Provide resources for faculty and students to implement effective innovation and entrepreneurship offerings

•  Contribute to knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering education

•  Catalyze grassroots efforts to elevate innovation and entrepreneurship for engineering students

•  Support faculty communities engaged in implementing innovation and entrepreneurship

•  Influence leaders in academia, government and industry to focus on innovation and entrepreneurship as a core priority

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Strategy

University Innovation Fellows!!Training and support to help engineering students lead innovation and entrepreneurship movements at their schools!!•  118 student leaders at 92 U.S.

universities!

•  Fellows analyze their entrepreneurial ecosystems and develop unique strategies for each school!

•  In 2012-13, Fellows hosted 124 activities including seminars, clubs, challenges and competitions, reaching 9,000 students and faculty!

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Key Activities: Students

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UIF  1  minute  video  

Pathways to Innovation Program!Helps institutions integrate entrepreneurship and innovation into the undergraduate engineering experience!!•  12 institutions in Year 1 serve more than

24,000 undergraduate engineers!

•  Teams engage in a two-year strategic process to design and implement unique plans for each institution!

•  Participants gain access to models, online resources, guidance and membership in a peer network of schools with similar goals!

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Key Activities: Faculty

•  Local  Landscape  and  needs  analysis  

•  Planning  workshop  

• Workshops  •  Resources  •  Accountability  Process  •  Tracking  and  EvaluaBon  

•  Increasing  depth  within  the  insBtuBon  

•  Spreading  to  other  insBtuBons  

2  year  process  

Pathways to Innovation

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•  Designed to enable change at institutional as well as departmental levels !•  Required commitment from leadership and grassroots faculty change team!•  Based in research and proven change models combined with access to models

and materials from Epicenter research!

Research Questions!•  What are current models of educating

engineers for entrepreneurial thinking?!

•  What are undergraduate engineering students’ entrepreneurial interests, abilities and achievements, and how do they change over time?!

•  How can fundamental engineering curricula be reframed to stimulate integrative thinking and entrepreneurial thinking?!

Community!•  The Epicenter research community

engages 23 scholars and experts from 8 schools and organizations.!

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Key Activities: Research

Strategic Relationships

•  American Society for Engineering Education!

•  National Science Foundation ERC and I-Corps!

•  National Academy of Engineering !•  ABET!•  White House Office of Science and

Technology Policy!

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National Advisory Board

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Cammy Abernathy – Dean, University of Florida!Steve Blank – Author, entrepreneur and educator!Susan Brennan – Chief Operations Officer, Bloom Energy!Jim Breyer – Partner, Accel PartnersCarlton Brown – President, Clark Atlanta University!Shona L. Brown – Startups and nonprofits adviserLeah H. Jamieson – Dean, Purdue UniversityKristina M. Johnson – Chief Executive Officer, Enduring Hydro LLC Gary S. May – Dean, Georgia Institute of Technology!Rick Miller – President, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering!David C. Munson – Dean, University of Michigan, Ann ArborJames D. Plummer – Dean, Stanford University!Beverly Daniel Tatum – President, Spelman College!Karan L. Watson – Provost, Texas A&M University!

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University !Innovation Fellows!

Research! Pathways to !Innovation Program!

National !Advisory Board!

Faculty !Grantees!

Epicenter !Retreat!

Lean Launchpad!Programs!

NCIIA Open!Conference!

HBCU Innovation!Summit!

!!!!!!!!!

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Thank you!

@EpicenterUSA facebook.com/EpicenterUSA bit.ly/epi-email