1. ISSUE TWO
HOW ENGINEERS
CHANGED OUR
VIEW OF SPORTS
PAGE 4
ED DOUGHERTY AND
THE CREATION OF THE
AERIAL SPORTS CAMERA
PAGE 6 PAGE 28 PAGE 32
Construct curriculum
using the KEEN framework
The Silicon Valley of
Water Technology
Explore a variety of
KEEN resources
2. Engineering Unleashed
L
et’s start with a truism. The key to instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering
students is for professors to teach it. But it’s not always that simple. Professors may not
immediately recognize the need for or value in such an approach. Even if they do, it’s
not always clear how entrepreneurial learning can be melded into an existing pedagogy or
curriculum.
Fortunately, the concept of entrepreneurial engineering is spreading – and being adopted
in classrooms and labs around the country. Turn the pages in this issue to see stories of
how professors evolved from skeptics to champions, inspired students in unforeseen
ways, blended entrepreneurial learning with technical acumen and academic rigor, and
transformed entire departments. There are also stories of how these principles prepare
students for the workplace and promote creativity that generates economic growth.
The need to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in our nation’s undergraduate engineering
students is urgent and clear. In a complex, global environment, engineers need to be
curious and persistent, to habitually think about how people, processes, and systems
are connected, and to find unexpected opportunities to create value. An entrepreneurial
mindset is increasingly essential to a fulfilling life for our young people, especially for
engineering students who will lead tomorrow’s job creation and economic growth.
This is what we mean by “engineering unleashed.” Students, engineering faculty, and
business leaders alike are unleashed when their passions and training are directed at
a problem or need, and the result is surprising and positive. We are inspired by the
examples of this that we see every day. Our hope is that the stories in this issue excite and
motivate you in the same way.
The KEEN program team
Doug Melton, Steve Hasbrook, Karen Wilken
4 Going Pro
6 Bridging the Knowledge Gap
9 Why KEEN?
11 Entrepreneurial Mindset Defined
12 The Engineer We Need –
KEEN Framework
18 KEEN – A Springboard for
Student Success
20 Classroom Conversion
22 Teaching the Entrepreneurial Mindest
24 A Healthy Approcach
26 A Model for Engineering
and Enterprise
28 The Silicon Valley of
Water Technology
30 A Lifetime of
Entrepreneurial Engineering
32 KEEN Resources
KEEN’zine is a publication of The Kern Family Foundation and the Kern Entrepreneurial
Engineering Network (KEEN). Our mission is to graduate engineers with an
entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value
through a lifetime of meaningful work. In a dynamic and interconnected world, it is critical
for undergraduate engineering schools to teach technical skills while fostering curiosity,
connections, and the creation of value. KEEN promotes collaboration among institutions
and individuals who share this compelling vision.
ISSUE TWO
WELCOME
CONTENTS
4. 7
EML
ISSUE TWO
opportunities, and interact socially to initiate,
organize and manage ventures.”
“[Entrepreneurial learning] is a dynamic
process of awareness, reflection, association,
and application that involves transforming
experience and knowledge into functional
learning outcomes (Rae 2006).”
“Entrepreneurial learning is hence complex
and interconnected with a somewhat ad hoc
approach to formal learning and a heavy
reliance on experiential learning (Warren
2004). … This learning cannot and should
not be divorced from the specific context,
including organizational context, within which
it takes place.”
This student-centered pedagogy allows students
to learn through the experience of identifying
opportunities to create value. They develop both
thinking strategies and domain knowledge. This
approach originates from a school of thought
where engineering, business, and societal interests
converge. EML encompasses all modes of
opportunity identification, including gap analysis,
recognition of a mismatch between supply
and demand, creative use of new or existing
technologies, new opportunities arising from
societal and economic trends, etc.
One EML learning mode redefines problems as
opportunities to create valuable solutions for a
new or existing market (perhaps incorporating
problem-based learning). The goal is to help
students develop methods of integrating
knowledge, identifying opportunities, performing
self-directed and continuous learning, and
learning effective skills that support enterprising
behavior. EML is a style of constructivist and active
learning, and the constructs differ markedly from
traditional classroom teaching.
Is there really a need for another pedagogical
approach? Definitely. EML fills an important gap
in the suite of tools available to engineering
instructors. Emphasizing the creation of value in
engineering students’ education provides a much
needed bridge to a bright future,
both for students and for the
society they will inhabit.
6
Bridging the
Knowledge Gap
KEEN Program Director Doug Melton on
entrepreneurially minded learning from
a student and faculty perspective
M
y introduction to engineering began
during a particularly warm Kansas summer
at Wichita State University. The collection
of pre-freshmen met in a non-air conditioned
classroom. Our assignment was to span a two-foot
gap with a model balsa-wood-and-glue bridge
that would support commerce between two
fictitious cities.
Left to our own devices, our group guessed at
what design would best support the test weight.
Our final product depended upon extensive
truss work and dubious connections despite
all the glue. My takeaway was that 45-degree
trusses were the key to success. Eager to win and
please the professor, we built a bridge that easily
withstood the tests.
In retrospect, I wish we had inquired about the
changing demographics of the fictitious cities and
the nature of the commerce between them. What
economic model would justify the construction of
a new bridge? What would be the budget? Were
there other alternatives?
I wonder how our engineering professor would
have reacted. Would he have encouraged our
curiosity – or suggested we pursue an alternate
major? Perhaps he would have guided us to
contextual information to make the scenario
more authentic. Unfortunately, we focused only
on developing “know-how” without the “know-
why.” This approach characterized my entire
undergraduate engineering education. Something
was missing.
Colleges of engineering within KEEN are
redefining engineering education as the creation
of value through the artful application of science
and technology. These schools are fostering an
entrepreneurial mindset in their engineering
undergraduates. Emphasis on value creation is
intrinsically connected to the “why” part of any
engineering equation. Faculty members in KEEN
now teach the “know-why” alongside the “know-
how.” Their work is creating lasting change.
Bridge construction is analogous to engineering
education. Working from each side of a
knowledge gap, instructor and student construct
a bridge of understanding. Selection of a
pedagogical approach is akin to selecting a
building method. Pedagogy may build upon
deeply rooted pylons of fundamentals or be
suspended by connections to a project. Given
the diversity of material, and students, a faculty
member can be effective by taking advantage
of a variety of pedagogical approaches, which
lend themselves to engineering education and
are often used in combination. The table below
highlights well-known pedagogies, as well as
one that is emergent: entrepreneurially minded
learning (EML).
EML can be found increasingly on campus and in
literature. In an introduction to a thematic journal
issue on the topic, Karim Moustaghfir and Nada
Trunk Širca [2010] wrote the following regarding
entrepreneurial learning:
“Entrepreneurial Learning has recently
emerged as a new practice involving both
entrepreneurship and higher education
processes. …Building on an educational case
study, Rae (2009) defines entrepreneurial
learning as learning to recognize and act on
PEDAGOGY EMPHASIS
SBL Subject-Based Learning Students learn in a variety of settings, but the focus is
mastery of domain knowledge.
EL Experiential Learning Students learn through direct experience in a domain
(learn by doing).
PBL Project-Based Learning Students learn domain and contextual knowledge from
an instructional approach utilizing multifaceted projects
as a central organizing strategy.
ACL Active/Collaborative Learning Students learn through peer interaction.
CBL Case-Based Learning Students learn domain knowledge and decision-making
processes employed by experienced professionals in a
historical case.
PBL Problem-Based Learning Students determine the information, strategies, and
domain knowledge required to solve the problem.
EML Entrepreneurially Minded Learning Students learn to create value, gathering and assimilating
information to discover opportunities or insights for
further action.
5. 9 ISSUE TWO
“CREATING VALUE IS
THE BE-ALL END-ALL.
IT REALLY MAKES YOU
THINK HARD ABOUT THE
PURPOSE OF WHAT
YOU’RE WORKING ON.”
EDDIE SCHODOWSKI,
KETTERING UNIVERSITY
YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS’ SUCCESS.
AND SO DO WE.
Your greatest moment as a professor is when
you see your students succeed and find personal
fulfillment. That is often what drives us to connect
our students’ innate passions with new technical
skills. But what if our role is greater?
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SKILL.
IT’S ABOUT A MINDSET.
Technical understanding is essential to engineering.
But engineers find success and personal fulfillment
when they couple these skills with a mindset to
create extraordinary value for others. The key is an
entrepreneurial mindset. And it can be applied to
any subject, including engineering.
ENTER KEEN.
ENGINEERING UNLEASHED.
To champion the entrepreneurial mindset in
undergraduate engineering, we created KEEN, the
Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network. KEEN is
a collaborative network of colleges and professors
dedicated to cultivating the core principles of the
entrepreneurial mindset in their students. Together
we unleash the full potential of engineering.
6. 11 ISSUE TWO
“MOST ENGINEERING STUDENTS ARE INSPIRING
INTELLECTUALS AND SPECTACULAR ANALYSTS,
BUT IT’S THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET THAT
MAKES YOU A PASSIONATE GO-GETTER.”
HRISTINA MILOJEVIC, UNION COLLEGE
CURIOSITY
In a world of accelerating change, today’s solutions are often obsolete tomorrow.
Since discoveries are made by the curious, we must empower our students to
investigate a rapidly changing world with an insatiable curiosity.
CONNECTIONS
Discoveries, however, are not enough. Information only yields insight when
connected with other information. We must teach our students to habitually pursue
knowledge and integrate it with their own discoveries to reveal innovative solutions.
CREATING VALUE
Innovative solutions are most meaningful when they create extraordinary value for
others. Therefore, students must be champions of value creation. As educators, we
must train students to persistently anticipate and meet the needs of a changing world.
7. THE ENGINEER WE NEED
HAS AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET COUPLED WITH ENGINEERING
THOUGHT AND ACTION, EXPRESSED THROUGH COLLABORATION AND
COMMUNICATION, AND FOUNDED ON CHARACTER.
These five KEEN Student Outcomes are expressed through various student behaviors.
Teachable Skills support the development of KEEN Student Outcomes. Together,
the KEEN Student Outcomes and the Teachable Skills documents form the KEEN
Framework.
KEEN professors reimagine engineering education as they explore the framework in
their classroom.
8. 17 ISSUE TWO
16
“AS A STUDENT ATHLETE
I UNDERSTAND THE RISKS
ASSOCIATED WITH CONCUSSIONS.
THANKS TO KEEN, MY TEAM
DESIGNED A CONCUSSION
DETECTION SYSTEM IN
COLLABORATION WITH STUDENTS
OVER 500 MILES AWAY.”
ERIN PEAVY, UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
9. 19
STUDENTPROFILE
ISSUE TWO
transmitters, receptors, and alarm systems. Their
solution was an onboard system that would
alert drivers to the presence and direction of
emergency vehicles, even if they’re listening to
music or the radio.
Besides earning top honors and winning a
cash prize, the team was asked to present their
concept via teleconference to Ford engineers
and executives. “I had been nominated as the
spokesperson for our group,” Mitrovich says, “so
I was the one who had to thank everyone at Ford
and describe our concept. At the beginning of the
call, I heard each of the Ford divisions reporting
in – Ford Europe, Ford Asia, and so on. I got super
nervous, but my professor, Dr. Sridhar Condoor,
took me aside to reassure me and said, ‘People
don’t get opportunities like this very often – you
have to step up and do it’... and I did. That was the
moment that really impacted me for the rest of my
college career. It was an awesome experience and
the kind of opportunity that would not have been
available to me without iScholars.”
Mitrovich credits the interdisciplinary nature
of the iScholars program with enhancing her
curiosity and exposing her to what others were
doing in different fields. “I began seeking my
own opportunities in addition to those that came
about through the program,” she notes. “If it
was interesting to me, I always sought out more
information – just more, more, and more.”
Mitrovich’s fondest moments at SLU were those
spent working side by side with peers. “Without
the KEEN program, I never would have interacted
with so many others who were in different class
years or majors and who had different areas of
interest and expertise. Every single one has helped
me to be better and to find value in what others
have to say.”
Now Mitrovich is on a mission to instill that
mindset in her students at Chicago’s Muchin
College Prep, one of the high schools in the Noble
Network of Charter Schools. As a new Teach for
America corps member, Mitrovich feels prepared
for the challenge.
“Honestly, KEEN is at the heart of the class I’m
teaching on teamwork,” she says. “No matter what
challenge you’re facing, you can accomplish so
much more by considering different perspectives.
That’s what I learned from my college experience,
and that’s what I want to convey to my own
students.”
KEEN – A Springboard
for Student Success
SLU’s iScholars program blends student
leadership, creativity, and community
18
P
eering out at a sea of new faces, Rebecca
Mitrovich, a 2014 Saint Louis University
graduate, takes a deep breath and begins,
“Good morning, class!”
Graduates with degrees in civil engineering and
chemistry don’t often choose to start their careers
in K12 education, but an entrepreneurial mindset
allowed Mitrovich to be comfortable choosing an
unexpected path.
“I really owe a lot to the KEEN program at
SLU,” says Mitrovich. “I was given a number of
experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and it
broadened my ability to meet new challenges and
think on my feet.”
Mitrovich specifically credits SLU’s iScholars
program as transformative. SLU began iScholars
(innovative scholars) with program support from
The Kern Family Foundation and now funds the
effort within institutional budgets. For students
like Mitrovich, the timing was perfect. “I started
participating in iScholars as a sophomore, when it
was just taking off, and I was involved through my
senior year.”
She continues: “Students in iScholars came
from different backgrounds and were studying
different subjects, but we all had the same ‘itch’ to
improve and build upon things. We were never
satisfied and were always challenging the status
quo – and I think that trait is definitely a part of the
entrepreneurial mindset.”
Through iScholars, Mitrovich was invited to join
a team to compete in the 2011 National Ford
Innovation competition, hosted each fall at the
University of Detroit – Mercy and sponsored by
Ford Motor Company. Though her teammates
were all seniors, all mechanical engineers, and
all males, she accepted their invitation without
hesitation and became deeply involved in a
multidisciplinary collaborative project.
The competition, open to 20 teams from KEEN
partner institutions, challenged students to
identify and investigate an automotive problem
or opportunity that would lead to innovations for
future vehicles.
“Initially, our group came up with a number of
proposals that were presented to Ford,” Mitrovich
explains. “From that list, they indicated which ideas
were most promising and feasible, giving us the
opportunity to pursue one of those. We chose
to address the problem of drivers being unaware
of an approaching emergency vehicle or the
direction it was coming from.”
“We all had the same ‘itch’ to
improve and build upon things.
We were never satisfied and
were always challenging the
status quo.”
In developing their concept, Mitrovich’s team
worked collaboratively to examine current and
emerging technology options. They delved into
the fields of communications and electronics while
considering available frequencies and evaluating
iScholars is a student program within the
Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and
Technology at Saint Louis University.
Students learn by leading and develop
entrepreneurial and innovation skills through
community outreach, innovation leadership,
creative thinking, and entrepreneurial projects.
The program was established in 2011 in
conjunction with other KEEN-related activities.
The university continues to develop iScholars
for students who wish to take a deep dive
toward developing an entrepreneurial mindset.
Students must apply to become an iScholar.
More than 30 students, ranging from freshman
to seniors, have participated in the program.
10. 20
J
oe, a graduate from your program, has
butterflies as the hiring manager leans in
and asks the all-important question, “Why
don’t you tell me about one of the most impactful
experiences you had as an undergraduate?” And
Joe, without missing a beat, looks the interviewer
directly in the eye, smiles, and says, “You probably
won’t believe it, but in my junior year things really
clicked in my signals processing course, and that’s
when I knew I made the right decision to pursue
electrical engineering. My professor assigned a
lab …”
Will your students take their classroom experience
into the job interview? One-time skeptic, Will Ebel,
professor of electrical engineering at Saint Louis
University, now believes that they can and should.
One of the goals of the KEEN program is to
transform teaching to instill an entrepreneurial
mindset in engineering students, which, of course,
requires faculty to first embrace KEEN concepts.
Some professors are resistant, however, believing
that adopting this approach could diminish rigor
or reduce the time available to cover essential
concepts.
Ebel was one such skeptic. He questioned whether
KEEN principles were suitable for his courses or
worth the trouble of incorporating.
“I was skeptical for two reasons,” Ebel explains.
“The first was practical. As an instructor I have
specific technical ideas and skills I’m trying to get
across to the students. Where do I find the time
to do more in the classroom? This is an important
question because as technology matures and
grows, there is ever-increasing pressure to bring
students further along in their undergraduate
education.”
“At first, I viewed this as an
experiment. What I found
surprised me. The laboratory
projects energized the students
and made them much more
interested in learning.”
The second reason was the nature of electrical
engineering. “Other engineering disciplines, such
as mechanical and aerospace, deal with ideas that
are tangible,” Ebel says. “You can touch a gear or
the wing of an aircraft. You can detect heat and
already have a sense of how it transfers across a
metal plate because you’ve felt a hot toaster. But
most areas of electrical engineering are abstract.
You can’t see electricity and you can’t, or shouldn’t,
touch it. In many ways, students who enter our
EE program really don’t have any personal
experiences to relate to it.”
Despite these misgivings, Ebel kept an open
mind. As he considered ways to improve his
courses and teaching methods, he recalled his
experience as an undergrad at the University of
21 ISSUE TWO
Missouri - Rolla (now the Missouri University of
Science & Technology). “When I graduated, there
were a couple of things that really frustrated
me,” he notes. “The first was that I didn’t really
understand how the various courses I took fit
together or related to each other. I also did not
have a concept for how these courses applied to
practical problems. My education was outstanding
in learning basic principles and fundamental ideas
in these topical areas, but I just didn’t know why
they were useful.”
Ebel resolved to give his students a more
connected learning experience, if possible. He
recognized that an entrepreneurial approach can
be a unifying element in curriculum development,
and began to prepare a rigorous laboratory course
to complement his Signals & Systems lecture
course. By design, this lab draws connections with
other areas of EE and requires students to engage
in multidimensional thinking.
The result is a laboratory curriculum that requires
students to:
• Work with problems that are not well-defined
and do not necessarily have a single correct
solution
• Develop an understanding of how the ideas
presented in the lecture relate to the real world
• Combine a number of skills such as computer
programming, collecting/generating data,
assessing and modeling data, system design,
technical writing, etc., to see how these activities
intertwine
• Learn how to work in groups and interact with
people with varying personalities and skill sets
• Develop an understanding of how to self-
organize as an engineering group.
The original lab focused on voice pattern analysis;
students recorded their own vowel sounds,
examined the spectral content, and identified
particular patterns. The new lab requires students
to investigate the market for commercial speech
recognition. Through their research and testing,
they discovered the vast worldwide potential for
such technology – and got excited about it.
“At first, I viewed this as an experiment,” Ebel
says. “What I found surprised me. The laboratory
projects energized the students and made
them much more interested in learning. I heard
comments like, ‘I spend more time on this class
than all my others, but I really like it.’ Not only did
the activities motivate the students, but this lab
also changed the way they thought about the
lecture class.”
Exposing students to an entrepreneurial mindset
had additional benefits. “I discovered that when
students were interviewing for summer internships
or for jobs near graduation, they talked about
their experiences in this lab more often than any
other experiences they had,” Ebel says. “That was a
game changer for me.”
Converted, Ebel now urges other engineering
institutions and faculty to embrace entrepreneurial
engineering. “The truth is that at many universities,
education has remained relatively unchanged for
many years. Courses involve instructor lectures,
well-defined homework with singularly correct
answers, and test questions that are mostly the
same. This activity, repeated over many courses,
instills the mindset that engineering is about
solving well-defined problems that have singularly
correct solutions.
“In that sense, we unknowingly crush any creative
thinking from our students’ minds and turn them
into robots,” he adds. “They’re great at solving
specific math/science/engineering problems, but
can’t think on their feet, don’t have a vision for
the future, and struggle to get their arms around
problems that are not fully defined.”
Ebel believes that integrating KEEN principles can
be a unifying factor that brings together different
elements within the discipline while broadening
the learning experience.
“Students with an entrepreneurial mindset think
creatively and apply their technical knowledge
more effectively, which will make them better
engineers in a world where technology
is rapidly accelerating,” he observes. “For
university professors, I believe that teaching
multidimensional thinking to students is every bit
as important as any specific research contribution
we can make.”
Classroom
Conversion
From skeptic to advocate, professor applies KEEN principles
in signals lab
CONNECTIONS
11. 23
CURIOSITY
ISSUE TWO22
Teaching the
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Students plumb the depths of engineering failure –
and find success
T
he idea of modifying an entire course to
incorporate entrepreneurially minded
learning can seem overwhelming. But Dr.
Erin Jablonski, associate professor of chemical
engineering at Bucknell University, discovered that
presenting traditional content using KEEN student
outcomes (see page 13) can produce game-
changing results. And, in one course, she starts the
lesson with a toilet.
The KEEN program aims to develop in
engineering students an entrepreneurial mindset
that broadens their horizons and, combined with
solid technical knowledge, serves as a powerful
catalyst for future success. Even on the road
to engineering greatness, however, students
are likely to encounter a few wrong turns or
dead ends. One of the Kern student outcomes
addresses this by encouraging students to “persist
through and learn from failure.” By making KEEN
principles an integral part of her coursework,
Jablonski helps students embrace this reality and
learn to “fail forward” in beneficial ways.
“What we value in professional engineers is
curiosity, the capacity to envision alternative
solutions, and the knack for defining problems in
the absence of information,” Jablonski explains.
“However, traditional instructional and evaluation
methods may make students overly risk averse,
impacting their willingness to innovate to the
extent necessary to make disruptive changes to
technology. Fostering an entrepreneurial spirit
in engineering undergraduates allows them to
be more creative and less risk averse in their
approach to solving multi-faceted, ill-defined
problems – which they’ll certainly encounter in the
future.”
Jablonski found the pedagogical aspects of KEEN
to be a natural fit for both upper level design
courses and traditional technical courses such as
Fluid Mechanics, a required course for chemical
engineering sophomores. By using methods of
problem- and project-based learning, her students
did not lose any of the content, but were deeply
engaged and developed skills that will serve them
well in upper-level courses and in their careers.
Jablonski begins the course by engaging students
with the following question: “Why do we flush
toilets with potable water?” Their challenge is to
evaluate that question with little prior knowledge
of the field, and to design a complete plumbing
and grey-water recovery system for a campus
residence hall. The design should take into
account building codes, plumbing standards,
and physical plant limitations. Working within
a hypothetical budget, students consider the
technical feasibility of pipes, fittings, pumps,
filters, and delivery points, as well as the economic
feasibility of capital expenditures, consulting fees,
labor, operating costs, and time to payback. All
of these elements promote the importance of
discovery before design – and even then success
is by no means assured.
“Students work in groups of three and typically
assign each member a number of specific
responsibilities,” Jablonski says. “During
their solution development, they experience
small, localized failures that often make them
doubt their abilities. For example, one group
selected copper piping for their drains, which
led to exorbitant costs that made their project
economically unfeasible. In another instance,
students neglected to vent any of the drains
in their design, so I asked that they perform
an experiment on water draining with and
without venting to demonstrate why venting was
necessary. In the face of technical challenges, they
also learn the value – and the cost – of consulting
with knowledgeable sources to help them arrive at
solutions.”
As the deadline approaches, Jablonski notes that
students often become discouraged when they
realize they are unlikely to complete the project.
“At this point it is important to provide constructive
coaching,” she says. “In those last few days of
intense work, students discover that they do have
the skills and resources available to complete the
deliverables and often produce impressive work.”
The outcomes are a professional presentation
delivered to the class and visiting experts, a
complete project report including technical
and economic feasibility, and a confident group
of students ready to tackle the next project.
Although some find the ill-defined problem and
the potential for failure unsettling, most students
recognize the value of what they’re learning and
appreciate the challenge.
“I think many technical courses are well-suited for
adaptation of KEEN outcomes,” Jablonski says.
“My interpretation of making a course ‘KEEN-
oriented’ is to teach using authentic problems.
This drives discussion of technical concepts in
team projects that require the preparation of a
significant technical report outlining methods,
assumptions, and feasibility analyses (technical,
economic, etc.). The explicit objective is for
students to develop an understanding of the
big picture of the field, the topic, and the related
societal need and economic impact.”
Fostering the right mindset about failure is
important, she adds. “Although it is often a
struggle, students value these lessons because it
prepares them for the reality of making decisions
with incomplete information and working through
design alternatives. The most rewarding part of
teaching with the fail forward model, and perhaps
the most valuable outcome, is building students’
confidence in both their knowledge and their
willingness to just give it a try.”
When asked if incorporating KEEN elements
has reduced the rigor of her courses, Jablonski
is direct: “The simple answer is, absolutely not.
The notion that we have to cover some number
of topics, give a certain number of exams, or
otherwise utilize artificial constructs that have
no operational basis in the working world of
engineering is somewhat ludicrous.”
Jablonski finds that her students benefit when
they have to go through a discovery phase before
beginning design of a potential solution, and
it’s become an important goal for her courses.
“Context is instrumental in getting students to
deeply engage with course material and technical
concepts, so asking them to solve authentic
problems – and also having the expectation that
they learn independently – will help the vocabulary
and the concepts to ‘stick.’ There is evidence from
project-based learning that this approach results in
greater understanding and retention of concepts.”
12. 24 25
CONNECTIONS
ISSUE TWO
A Healthy Approach
A course update to encompass KEEN outcomes transforms
a biomedical engineering program
G
o to any gym across America, and you
will likely see evidence of “quantified
self” (QS) technology. Fitness buffs are
wearing devices that monitor heart rate, calorie
burn, speed, and other data bits that enhance
awareness and performance. Technology once
limited to intensive care units in elite hospitals is
now ubiquitous. The application of QS technology
has become a social movement where people use
biometric sensors in smartphones and wearable
devices to track and analyze personal health data
ranging from steps taken to sleep cycles.
Eric Meyer and Mansoor Nasir, both assistant
professors of biomedical engineering at
Lawrence Technological University in Southfield,
Mich., saw the QS craze as an ideal way to
teach entrepreneurial mindedness to first-year
biomedical students.
“We were trying to find a way to present students
with engaging, accessible projects in their
earliest courses so that our students would
develop confidence in approaching open-ended
problems,” says Meyer.
Through a KEEN topical grant, Meyer and
Nasir were able to teach an early biomedical
engineering course from a new entrepreneurial
perspective.
“Typically, biomedical engineering courses
focus on medical devices, which is an area of
engineering that is difficult to work in due to the
stringent regulatory and marketing environment
of the U.S. healthcare industry,” Meyer says. “But
the emerging fitness device industry in many cases
closely aligns with similar medical devices, only
with a much more entrepreneurial spirit and much
less regulation. We saw QS as a timely, exciting,
real-world entrepreneurship opportunity for our
students to work on using the technical skills they
were learning in courses across the curriculum.”
Because QS combines miniaturization, biomedical
testing technology, social media, and interest in
personal improvement, it is ideal for applying
active, collaborative, interdisciplinary, and
problem-based pedagogical techniques.
“Teaching QS requires technical instruction in
human physiology and sensors, computer science
and software development, networking, data
analysis, and visualization,” says Meyer. “But it also
provides rich discussion opportunities for non-
technical issues such as privacy, medical ethics,
regulations, intellectual property, social issues, and
marketing.”
The field is highly accessible to students – many
carry QS technology in their pockets, Nasir notes.
That familiarity makes it easier for students to
practice the market-based skill of opportunity
recognition. Building on this foundation will help
students foster the entrepreneurial skills necessary
for more advanced projects.
Meyer and Nasir initially intended to modify
one or two courses to instill the entrepreneurial
mindset. “But then we realized the modules could
be incorporated throughout the course sequence,
even from the earliest introductory course, to ramp
up students’ entrepreneurial skills year-by-year in
preparation for the meaty projects of their later
courses,” Meyer says.
The movement from a simple course upgrade
to a program-wide application started with a
conversation among biomedical engineering
faculty when preparing for ABET accreditation. The
staff realized the focus of their program favored
narrow research at the expense of design – so
much so that some students’ first foray into open-
ended engineering was in their senior capstone
course.
“It’s sort of unfair to expose students to that for the
first time in their senior project,” says Nasir.
“We decided we needed to do more to promote
engineering design and give our students
opportunities throughout the program to gain
experience and broaden their thinking,” Meyer
adds. “Our experience showed us that most of
our students are initially uncomfortable with
assignments and projects that are completely
open-ended. If we can help by giving them a
target and some familiar, real-world examples,
some of their trepidation can be alleviated.”
When handed open-ended projects, students
tend to design a device or system from scratch,
says Nasir. If they find their idea has flaws or that
others are working on a similar concept, they view
it as a failure. “But in the real world this happens all
the time,” he says. “Engineers revisit old devices,
repeat what others in the industry are working on,
and sometimes find their idea doesn’t work as
hoped. These are all steps in developing better
products.
“The first thing you have to get students to realize
is that in the real world, problems don’t present
themselves where ‘here is the problem, here is the
answer,’” he adds. “In many cases the problems
aren’t obvious, and the answers are many.”
Now the entrepreneurial approach is being
woven throughout the biomedical engineering
program. “We have embraced the KEEN belief
that entrepreneurship is a mindset and that the
entrepreneurial process can be formalized,”
Meyer says. “We are modifying courses across the
curriculum to train students to stop thinking only
like an engineer or scientist and start thinking like
a product developer.”
Continued on page 36
BME students observe as Mansoor Nasir (right) and Eric Meyer demonstrate how data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and
pressure sensors in the Nike+ Shoe can be used to monitor and improve user performance.
DEVICE DESIGN
BME 4113
BEST PRACTICES
BME 3002
FUNDAMENTALS
EGE 1001
SOPHOMORE
STUDIO CLASS
13. 27
CREATINGVALUE
ISSUE TWO26
A Model for Engineering
and Enterprise
Chris Kitts gives “droning professor” a whole new meaning
E
ngineering faculty members are by nature
passionate about the technical aspects
of their discipline. But it’s not always easy
to develop that technical knowledge while at
the same time helping students broaden their
understanding of other success factors needed
in their role as engineers. How does a faculty
member use technical topics to inspire and
develop an entrepreneurial mindset in students?
Business models and real-world experiences are
part of the equation, according to Chris Kitts,
associate dean of engineering at Santa Clara
University (SCU) in California. Kitts has led the
integration of the entrepreneurial mindset on
SCU’s campus, providing students with real-world
experiential education in the form of competitive
professional engineering services to paying
customers.
“Conventional engineering degrees often don’t
cover topics that are essential or that benefit
graduates, companies, and the U.S. economy,”
Kitts observes. “The two areas that engineering
programs don’t truly emphasize are business
acumen and deep customer understanding.”
Kitts believes the entrepreneurial mindset is most
effectively taught – both inside and outside of the
classroom – through the exploration of leading-
edge technology and the real-world issues that
engineers must consider when these technologies
disrupt the status quo.
“I’m most excited at the teaching opportunities
that arise when emerging technologies provide
complex challenges for businesses and market
applications,” Kitts explains.
Kitts directs the SCU Robotics Systems Laboratory
(RSL), which has established its reputation with
space and sea robotics technologies, even earning
a nod from the National Academy of Engineering
as an exemplar for including entrepreneurship into
the student experience.
The latest emerging market Kitts is incorporating
in his teaching is that of unmanned aerial vehicles,
commonly known as UAVs or drones.
“UAVs are exploding as a market, and students are
incredibly excited to do anything with them,” Kitts
says. “Getting them involved with the technology
is easy. So the opportunity to complement their
technical interest with ‘entrepreneurial mindset’
topics is incredible – we want them to help find
the customers, the products and services, and the
markets.”
Kitts’ students are building relationships with new
UAV customers in both public and private markets.
For starters, the RSL is using UAVs to create 3-D
models of SCU campus buildings and to inspect
solar panel installations. On the public side, the
laboratory has been tapped for a government-
sponsored environmental survey of Lake Tahoe.
They’ve also been contacted about conducting
bridge inspections using UAVs above the water
and underwater robots below.
“Applications for UAV technologies are limitless,
but the business complexity is incredibly
interesting,” Kitts states. He explains that articles
abound citing various market applications,
including package delivery, agriculture, and
disaster relief to name a few. Business contexts,
however, add to the complexity surrounding UAVs.
As an example, an article in USA Today on
transforming agriculture through the use of drones
cites distribution channels and federal regulations
as key variables for success in this market.1
The
article echoes reports that question why the U.S. is
so far behind other countries that have been using
UAV technology in agriculture for decades. “As
engineers,” Kitts explains, “we have to be aware
of and make connections among the systems and
influences on emerging technologies in order
to make the right decisions from a competitive
business perspective.”
Within the RSL, Kitts has developed
Entrepreneurial Engineering Enterprises (EEE), a
model for combining emerging technologies with
entrepreneurial initiatives. The EEE model secures
multi-year grants and contracts from a host of
public, private, nonprofit, and academic clients,
including the U.S. Navy, NASA, the University of
Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Nevada Reno,
and a small tech firm, Canopus Corporation.
Kitts says that each year these projects generate
$300,000 to $750,000, and are tightly aligned
with curriculum and students’ academic needs.
Students develop both the technical skills to
perform professional level work, as well as the
relationship skills needed to manage and interact
with customers and provide on-site training.
Unlike a lot of senior capstone projects or co-op
experiences, EEE projects necessitate ongoing
services to clients over many years.
“EEE projects promise real customer deliverables,
so students gain experience exploring new
markets, soliciting customer feedback, and
understanding competitive pressures within
various business models,” Kitts says. “In essence,
EEE engages students in real engineering. That
doesn’t mean that traditional educational industry
projects aren’t worthwhile – not at all.
“While such projects are incredibly valuable, I’m
interested in offering additional opportunities
to address those real-world challenges,” Kitts
continues. “For example, maturing a prototype
system to the point that it is routinely used by
a customer, providing customer services over
time, and improving products and services with
subsequent releases, all contribute to developing
deep customer empathy and mastering a business
model. Several ongoing EEEs have been going
on for a decade with a growing set of customers;
I hope to achieve the same level of success with
multiple KEEN partners as part of the new UAV
program.”
In March, Kitts organized a workshop for KEEN
faculty to brainstorm ways to incorporate UAV
technology and the EEE model at their own
colleges. A dozen faculty members attended from
Union College, Ohio Northern University, Bucknell
University, Mercer University, the Milwaukee
School of Engineering, and St. Louis University.
“It was a great opportunity to share, and a number
of KEEN partners are piloting efforts in their fall
courses or extra-curricular activities,” Kitts says.
“I’m glad The Kern Family Foundation is supportive
of these collaborations so we can share techniques
to teach technical content while fostering the
broader considerations of the entrepreneurial
mindset. It’s really exciting to be a part of the
Network.”
1
”Growing use of drones poised to transform agriculture,” USA
Today (March 23, 2014)
14. 28 29
CREATINGVALUE
ISSUE TWO
I
t’s no small feat to kickstart a regional business
and academic collaboration that fuels economic
growth, attracts international attention, and at
the same time conserves one of our world’s most
precious natural resources. Rich Meeusen is living
that experience and is a compelling example of
the entrepreneurial mindset in action.
Meeusen’s business is water. He is CEO of Badger
Meter, a 110-year-old, Milwaukee-based company
that is North America’s largest manufacturer
of water meters. His curiosity and connections
translate into a deep-seated interest in regional
economic efforts that foster growth and job
opportunities. In 2007, while reading a paper
on regionalism by Michael Porter, the renowned
Harvard Business School professor who writes
about identifying and exploiting competitive
advantages, Meeusen had a revelation that
allowed his experience and connections to flow
into one big idea.
“Porter emphasizes that regions should focus
on what strengths they have, then try to attract
and grow businesses within their region around
those advantages,” Meeusen says. “Recognizing
the mobility of talent and the ability of certain
places to attract it – such as Nashville, Hollywood,
and Silicon Valley – I started to think about
what Milwaukee does well. With more than 150
businesses in our region specializing in water-
related products, it’s obviously a cluster of water
technology expertise.”
Once Meeusen began to pitch the concept of a
regional hub for water research and technology to
his network of business contacts, the idea gained
traction. “We invited all the water companies we
knew to come to a meeting – and were shocked
that they all came. We presented our idea and
it was a surprisingly easy sell. The result was the
Water Council.”
The goal of the Water Council is to address
a pivotal worldwide challenge – conserving
fresh water and using it more efficiently. Under
Meeusen’s leadership, Milwaukee has become
a global center for water technology. Its success
has created an abundance of opportunities for
tomorrow’s engineers.
Getting regional academic institutions involved
was key. “The days of the ivory tower universities
are over,” Meeusen says. “I was amazed at the
thirst the schools had for closer relationships with
business. Today’s students want to contribute
their talents to something that matters when they
graduate, and the universities realize they need
to work more closely with business to make sure
they’re educating students to make an impact on
real world needs.”
The Water Council has become an internationally
recognized force in the world of water.
Infrastructure investments include the creation
of the School for Freshwater Sciences at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a new $53
million classroom and research building near
Milwaukee’s south harbor, and the transformation
of a historic downtown building into the
Global Water Center. This renovated structure
was designed to solve complex water-related
problems and facilitate collaboration between
the building’s tenants, including established
companies, startups, and research laboratories.
A number of international companies have
research offices at the Global Water Center,
confirming Porter’s prediction that a regional
network of specialized expertise will attract
growth. The decision of the European-based
International Water Association to hold its
annual meeting this year in conjunction with the
Council’s annual Water Summit further confirmed
Milwaukee’s premier position as a World Water
Hub.
“Today’s students want to
contribute their talents to
something that matters when they
graduate, and the universities
realize they need to work more
closely with business to make sure
they’re educating students to make
an impact on real world needs.”
The Water Council has proven to be a magnet
for engineering and other technical talent. As
a business leader who routinely interacts with
engineering students and professors, Meeusen
didn’t hesitate when asked what advice he might
give to each.
“Young people in America are more open to
taking risks and developing their ideas than
anywhere else in the world,” he notes, “but they
are often so focused on what they’ve developed
that they lack the big picture. To broaden their
horizons, I urge them to make the most of their
electives, taking courses in marketing, accounting,
and other business-related subjects. In any
company, they’re going to be working with
people in those areas, so having at least some
appreciation for what they do is very important.”
Developing a network of personal and
professional contacts can also be extremely
valuable, Meeusen contends, but realizing its
full value comes through helping others. “It’s not
what you know – and it’s not who you know,” he
says. “It’s what you do for who you know. The way
you build a network and develop relationships
is to inspire and to help other people, who will
naturally be inclined to help you in the future.
You need to be out there all the time – meeting
people, working with them, and constantly asking
questions and finding ways to connect. This is
not something that happens overnight, but is a
persistent investment of time and energy.”
Meeusen’s recommendation to faculty is to always
be looking for ways to engage the business
community, especially in manufacturing. “The
needs of businesses change over time and if
professors aren’t aware of those changes, they’re
not fully preparing their students for what industry
needs.” He believes the mission of the university is
to prepare and provide the entrepreneurial talent
to companies – both large and small – so that
engineering graduates can hit the ground running.
“Water issues are already a critical concern in
many regions of the world,” Meeusen emphasizes,
“so that sense of urgency will only increase in the
future. As the speed of technology continues to
accelerate, we’ll need entrepreneurial engineers
who can recognize unexpected opportunities and
develop innovative solutions.”
The Silicon Valley of
WaterTechnology
The confluence of curiosity and connections
produces an international hub
A $500,000 flow calibration test, donated by Badger Meter,
is free for all Water Council tenants to use.
15. 31
FEATURE
ISSUE TWO
the early 1980s, Kern focused on ways to navigate
into new markets by anticipating economic and
social trends. Within a year, Generac shifted into
the industrial market, challenging international
giants such as Caterpillar and Kohler. Kern’s new
designs, willingness to change and diversify, and
ability to see the big picture kept the company
moving forward.
“In today’s world, there are many factors that have
to come into play for any idea to be successful,” he
says. “The goal is the much broader understanding
of how your thought processes, your ideas are
going to fit into the world that you’re looking at
and anticipate what’s coming over the horizon.”
Through the 1990s, Generac adapted and
expanded. Partnerships with major retailers such
as The Home Depot pushed Generac products
into American hands at an increased rate. Strategic
business moves led the company deep into the
industrial market, while the Y2K computer scare
spurred unprecedented demand for private
generators.
“You certainly have to have a pretty broad
understanding of what’s taking place around you,”
Kern says of engineering in the global economy.
“What are the markets you’re looking at, what
are the issues involved, what are the economics?
You can’t do it in isolation. That’s how we kept the
company competitive.”
Development of the multiple generator system
(another innovation of Kern’s), the Bi-Fuel
generator, low sound and fuel emission systems,
and movement into the technical training field
brought Generac to the top of its field in 2006.
After 47 years, the Kerns sold Generac and
shifted their focus to the work of The Kern Family
Foundation.
If you ask him today, Kern will tell you that
cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset in today’s
increasingly technical, diverse world is more
important than ever.
“Based on my experience, technical engineering
training is not the beginning and end all,” he says.
“Our version of entrepreneurial activity is not what
most people think of – starting your own business
– but it is preparing students so that they can think
entrepreneurially whatever environment they’re
in.”
30
T
he Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering
Network (KEEN) was established to instill the
entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate
engineers – a mindset that Bob and Patricia Kern,
founders of Generac Power Systems and The
Kern Family Foundation, know is key to business
success. Generac, a long-time industry leader,
serves as a testimony to their vision and approach.
Bob Kern’s pioneer spirit has been a trait since
his youth, leading him to move to Waukesha,
Wis., where he began his career as a mechanical
engineer at the Waukesha Motor Company. By
cultivating a broad understanding of electronics,
Kern soon recognized a business opportunity to
expand into the development of small, portable
generators. When the company rejected his idea,
Kern left to pursue it on his own.
“Your idea doesn’t do any good if it doesn’t fit a
need,” Kern emphasizes. Once you recognize a
need, he adds, an entrepreneurial mindset will
drive you to fill that market.
By 1956, Kern was successfully running Electric
Controls, producing generators out of a rented
garage. When his business partner left, the
fledgling company faltered; yet Kern refused to let
go of his conviction that there was a viable market
for his products. After attracting new investors and
the partnership of Sears, Roebuck & Company,
the business – renamed Generac – saw substantial
growth, producing 500 generators within the first
year. The company graduated from the garage to
a dairy barn.
Eventually, Generac grew to the extent that it was
able to construct a permanent facility in Waukesha.
The company flourished until 1967 when disaster
struck. Kern watched as the facility burned to
the ground. But his entrepreneurial, never-
say-die spirit prevented him from considering
this a defeat. While fire trucks were still at the
scene, Kern was at a nearby farmhouse, phoning
contractors to start rebuilding as quickly as
possible.
“Our version of entrepreneurial
activity is not what most people
think of – starting your own
business – but it is preparing
students so that they can think
entrepreneurially whatever
environment they’re in.”
Only a week later, with new product already
headed out the door of a makeshift facility, Kern
told his employees that Generac was composed
of people – not a building – and that the company
would be greater than before. Within seven weeks,
Generac had returned to normal operations. No
one lost a job, and no paychecks were missed.
The next dozen years saw the company grow
rapidly in retail, opening several new facilities and
hiring thousands of employees. While the United
States struggled through the sluggish economy of
A Lifetime of
Entrepreneurial Engineering
16. 33 ISSUE TWO32
KEEN Resources
Contributions to the Network are available to any institution interested
in increasing the impact and value of an engineering education through
instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate students. Here is a
sample of some recent resources contributed by Network partners.
Links can be found in the online KEEN’zine at www.keennetwork.org/KEENzine2.
TOOLS
The value proposition of the entrepreneurial
engineer is told in a variety of ways. (videos)
The KEEN Framework is useful for planning a
program, course, or module. (Documents)
WEBINARS
Webinars by Penn State’s Melissa Marshall on effective
communications and WPI’s Glenn Gaudette on computer-
assisted learning environments that engage student curiosity
are available at our website. More to come in this monthly
series! (Website)
CASE STUDIES
How do you embed entrepreneurially minded learning in a technical topic like material
properties? UDM’s Jonathan Weaver creates case studies integrating technical material with
voices of entrepreneurs. (video and instructor materials)
Faculty members at SLU developed an aerospace sequence that relies on case studies,
including studies of failed space missions or comparative business value propositions.
(Instructor materials)
VIDEO SERIES
Intrapreneurship – being entrepreneurial within an established company – is the challenge Art
DeMonte and Larry Navarre took on in a series of course modules for mechanical engineering
students at Kettering University. (video and instructor materials)
SLU’s Entrepreneurship Diplomate offers students a specialized track of online video trainings
followed by short quizzes. The Diplomate is freely available to KEEN partners and their students.
(Website)
RESOURCES
Got KEEN?
CURRICULUM
LTU’s Don Carpenter brings freshmen civil
engineering students into the real world with
a simple exercise where they have to think, ask
questions, and pivot based on the progressive
disclosure of information in the construction of a
house of cards. (instructor materials)
University of Dayton’s Kim Bigelow helps
freshmen biomedical engineering students
go beyond their comfort zones to talk with
practitioners and discover problems worth
solving. (Instructor materials)
17. 34 35
FEATURE
ISSUE TWO
ACCESSING MORE
KEEN members constantly contribute materials and resources designed for a wide range of
curricular and extra-curricular materials. For the latest information, see www.keennetwork.org.
RESOURCES
CASE STUDIES
A team at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology developed a case study about a neonatal
incubator. It’s engineered to be low-cost and simple-to-assemble, and was recognized as a top
invention in TIME Magazine. Despite all expectations, it wasn’t an immediate success. The case
study reveals why. (Instructor materials and videos)
SHARING SUCCESSES
Through an intensive engineering boot camp called KWIDE, Bucknell University’s Charles Kim
and Joe Tranquillo train engineering students to nimbly alternate between narrow and broad
views – five-foot and 50,000-foot views of engineering projects. It’s a model others
have followed.
In a magazine geared toward alumni and friends, Ohio Northern University demonstrated how
its engineering program is focused on developing an entrepreneurial mindset.
Placing the entrepreneurial engineer front and center, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
highlighted its partnership with KEEN to transform faculty culture and the student learning
environment.
18. 36
Entrepreneurial engineering opportunities in
QS abound due to accelerator and developer
programs. Last year, investors pumped hundreds
of millions of dollars into digital medical devices
and wearable biosensors. This excites faculty and
students alike, from business opportunity and
academic perspectives, since market dynamics are
changing rapidly and students are familiar with the
products.
Nasir notes that this could not have happened
without collaboration that The Kern Family
Foundation encourages. As the program matures,
the LTU biomedical engineering team aims to
work with other departments at LTU and even
other universities within KEEN.
“By collaborating with faculty from many
engineering and life science disciplines, we
could distribute these experiences broadly
across courses and at various levels of the
curriculum,” Meyer says. “So far we have five
faculty from various departments and KEEN
universities interested in building a resource
base for pedagogical techniques promoting
entrepreneurial engineering mindsets. We’re
excited to work together to develop more
modules, and we encourage others to consider
using these modules across biomedical
engineering programs.”
BUILDING
ENTREPRENEURIAL
SKILLS INTO
BIOMEDICAL
CURRICULUM
Using project-based learning modules
developed through KEEN Topical
Grant funding, professors at Lawrence
Technological University have made
the following additions into four of their
courses:
• INTRO TO BIOMEDICAL
ENGINEERING (FRESHMAN)
Using the Nike+ Sensor Suite to practice
a “painstorming” process, develop new
devices, conduct market research, and
present business plans that culminate in
elevator speeches.
• BME BEST PRACTICES (JUNIOR)
“Repurposing” QS devices for
Global Health needs and navigating
the intellectual property regulations
involved.
• MEDICAL DEVICE DESIGN
(JUNIOR)
Design prototype or model to
address student-identified
opportunities and present customer
and economic value.
• ORTHOPEDICS (SENIOR)
Individual research into technical
issue in orthopedics, identifying
opportunity, reviewing recently
approved relevant devices and
patents, and submitting manual for
Good Manufacturing Practice.
Continued from page 25
“BECAUSE OF KEEN, MY CLASSMATE AND I PURSUED
OUR PROJECT AS A REAL WORLD VENTURE. THE
LESSONS FROM THIS EXPERIENCE ARE MORE
POWERFUL THAN ALL MY CO-OPS COMBINED!”
WESLEY STEEN,
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY
Nasir demonstrates the iHealth wireless blood pressure
wrist monitor to BME students. Data is recorded on the app
allowing users to track personal health trends.
