A Model for Stimulating Industrial Participation in Undergraduate Engineering Programs: 12 Years of Rose-Hulman Ventures

Rose-Hulman Ventures is a program at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology where students work as paid interns on engineering projects supplied by commercial clients. Based upon the needs of the clients, multi-disciplinary student intern teams are assembled for each project and are led by full-time experienced engineers. Most project engagements are on fee-for-service basis with typical fees ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Since the program was started in 1999, it has employed more than 880 student interns working with 144 client companies. This paper describes the Rose-Hulman Ventures’ operating model, the facilities and staffing for the program, and the impact the program has had on the student interns, the client companies, the university and the regional innovation ecosystem. Introduction The program started in 1999 and focused on three activities: providing engineering services for companies, making investments in early stage technology based companies, and providing incubator space to small start-up companies. The overarching objective of these activities was – and continues to beproviding outstanding educational experiences. The opportunity for student participation in the program is provided through the engineering services activities and is the focus of this paper. The students work on projects for the client companies as paid interns. Typically there are approximately 25 client companies engaged with the program at any point in time with a total of 50-80 interns working on engineering projects for those companies. The investment and incubator activities are largely used as mechanisms to help attract companies that can provide meaningful projects for our students and to help sustain the program. Since the inception of the program, more than 880 student interns have worked with 144 client companies. The infrastructure in place to support the program includes a staff of 14 individuals and a building located five miles from the main campus. The majority of the staff members are technical project managers. These project managers are degreed engineers with industrial experience and are not members of the university faculty. They hire and manage the student interns, help develop the proposals that are presented to potential clients, ensure that the needs of P ge 2.69.2 the client companies are met, and educate the interns both with respect to technical matters and also with respect to the norms of professional practice. The program also employs additional technical and administrative staff. The technical staff maintains the equipment and provides general technical support. The administrative staff recruits new clients and administers the program. The program is located in a 35,000 ft 2 building that is equipped with an electronics shop, a machine shop, an IT infrastructure and an assortment of rapid prototyping equipment (e.g. waterjet cutter, polyjet rapid prototype and laser welder). The facility and the equipment have been configured to accommodate a wide range of engineering projects as opposed to focusing on a particular technology or industry. Figure 1: Aerial view of the building that houses the program.