Fostering student innovators through small prototyping grants-student engagement in the beta program

Abstract

The Beta Project was created to inspire and support innovation in engineering students at Portland State University. Each academic term, student teams are invited to submit brief proposals for up to $1000 in funding to purchase materials and equipment for prototype development. Proposals are screened by the Innovation Council, which consists of faculty, staff and community members. If the proposal passes an initial screening, the student team is invited to give a 5-minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of questions from the Innovation Council. A simple majority vote of Council members decides whether the project is supported. In addition to funding for hardware and supplies, students with winning proposals are provided a faculty mentor and, as needed, access to lab space and other equipment. Since inception the Beta Project has received 259 applications and agreed to fund 124 projects (48%). However, despite impressive results in some projects, several of the approved projects have stalled or been abandoned by the student teams. We summarize the experience with the Beta Project and discuss our current understanding of how to increase student participation and success of projects funded by the program.