Fostering entrepreneurship while teaching design

Abstract

Rowan University has a unique 8-semester Engineering Clinic sequence. This sequence helps develop professional skills identified in the ABET A-K criteria though project-based-learning. The Freshman Engineering Clinics are an introduction to the profession, teamwork, and measurements. The Sophomore Engineering Clinics provide an introduction to technical communication and engineering design principles, and in the Junior/Senior Engineering Clinics, students work in multidisciplinary teams on real research and design projects. Most Junior/Senior Engineering clinics are sponsored by companies, or federal or state government agencies. As a secondary objective, the Engineering Clinic supports entrepreneurship in engineering students. The College of Engineering has a long-standing program that allows students to apply for funding to pursue their own entrepreneurial ideas through the Junior/Senior Engineering Clinics. However, the program has been utilized by very few students. Recently, two new assignments- an entrepreneurial design project and a white paper- have been added to the Sophomore Engineering Clinic sequence. This paper describes these new assignments and discusses how entrepreneurship provides an excellent framework for meeting the main pedagogical objectives of the course: teaching technical communication and engineering design. It will also give an assessment of whether the new assignments have been effective in causing more students to pursue entrepreneurship in the Junior/Senior Engineering Clinic. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.