Exploring What We Don't Know About Entrepreneurship Education for Engineers

What do we still need to learn about entrepreneurship education for engineers? Who better to answer this question than a group of engineering educators, educational researchers, practicing entrepreneurs and innovators, and engineering students? Such a group was convened in August 2014 to examine and reflect on current knowledge of students’ entrepreneurial development and pathways, entrepreneurship programming models, and the efficacy of various curricular approaches. The event, known as the Epicenter Research Summit, was held at Stanford University and co-hosted by scholars at three universities; 70 attendees from 29 different institutions and organizations contributed to panel and poster sessions over two days. These sessions and the continuous dialogue, along with a series of individual and group exercises, allowed this community to identify gaps in knowledge about educational environments and pedagogies that support engineering students in becoming creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers. Findings from the interactive exercises led to the identification of three major research areas for future work: Linking Outcomes to Reform, Understanding Student Diversity, and Examining Contexts. Each of these areas includes a wide range of questions that could be collaboratively pursued in the coming years to direct the course of entrepreneurship and innovation education in engineering. This paper reviews such questions and makes recommendations for the next phase of both research and community building in this emergent space. Section 1: Introduction Technological innovation and commercialization continue to drive economic growth, and interest in understanding how to educate engineers to contribute to these activities is on the rise. Although a rich research space in engineering and entrepreneurship is taking shape, much remains unknown about the interrelation between engineering, entrepreneurship, and innovation education and how to prepare undergraduate engineers for the contemporary workforce and economy. For instance, to what extent are new engineers positioned to innovate and drive new ideas forward? What motivates them to be innovative, or to bring their ideas to market? Which educational environments and contextual factors support them in their next steps? Which hold them back? In considering these questions, the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) convened a Research Summit in August 2014 in order to identify the “state of play” in research on entrepreneurship and innovation education for engineers. Attendees representing a broad range of positions, interests, and sectors came together to reflect on current knowledge of students’ entrepreneurial development and pathways, entrepreneurship programming models, and the efficacy of various curricular approaches. The event was held at Stanford University and co-hosted by scholars at three universities; 70 attendees from 29 different institutions and organizations contributed to panel and poster sessions over two days. These sessions and the continuous dialogue, along with a series of individual and group exercises, allowed this community to identify gaps in knowledge about educational environments and pedagogies that support engineering students in becoming creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers. This paper begins with an introduction to the research initiative at Epicenter, and then describes the Summit event, from design to results. Findings from an in-depth, qualitative analysis of data from one particular Summit exercise are presented as a way to bring “gaps in knowledge” to the fore. These data were coded and categorized into themes that fell into one of three major research areas: Linking Outcomes to Reform, Understanding Student Diversity, and Examining Contexts. The paper concludes with a discussion of how research in these three areas might proceed, and makes a recommendation for a white paper series to document what is known and what needs to be known about entrepreneurship and innovation in engineering education. Section 2: The Roles of Research in Epicenter Epicenter is an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It is directed by Stanford University and VentureWell (formerly NCIIA), a national non-profit organization that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship education. Epicenter was established in 2011 to catalyze the infusion of innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) into undergraduate engineering education. Epicenter’s mission is to develop programs and initiatives that empower U.S. undergraduate engineering students to bring their ideas to life for the benefit of our economy and society. To do this, Epicenter helps undergraduate engineers connect their technical skills with the ability to develop innovative technologies that solve important problems, while fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset. Epicenter’s three core initiatives focus on students, faculty, and research. Students: The University Innovation Fellows Program The University Innovation Fellows (UIF) program for undergraduate engineering students and their peers gives students the training and support to become leaders who catalyze change on their home campuses and beyond. The Fellows, nominated by their deans and faculty, help to increase opportunities for all students to develop their creativity, design thinking, capacity for innovation and entrepreneurial mindset. As of April 2015, 291 UIFs at 115 schools have been trained to be change agents at their schools. Faculty: The Pathways to Innovation Program The Pathways to Innovation Program helps institutional teams of faculty and university leaders transform the experience of their undergraduate engineering students. Over a two-year process, these teams learn ways to fully incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into a range of courses as well as strengthen coand extra-curricular offerings. As of April 2015, 12 schools are taking part in the first cohort of the Pathways program (2014-2016) and 25 schools are taking part in the second cohort (2015-2017). Research: Fostering Innovative Generation Studies The Epicenter research initiative encompasses several large, multi-method, national studies of entrepreneurship and innovation in engineering collectively known as the Fostering Innovative Generations Studies (FIGS). As part of FIGS, the research team is pursuing four major research questions (RQs) that focus on program models , engineering students’ interests and goals, curriculum development, and research community building. To advance the community building effort, the research team communicates regularly with a wide variety of stakeholders to inform them of Epicenter activities and offer research-based perspectives and events that support the efforts of students, faculty, and leaders in Epicenter’s programs. Through meetings such as the Research Summit, Epicenter strengthens the community of scholars engaged in entrepreneurship education research and contributes to national knowledge of the topic within the context of engineering education. Section 3: Epicenter Research Summit Design The Summit was envisioned as an opportunity to bring together individuals who study, teach, and/or develop practices and policies around I&E, in the context of either engineering education or higher education more broadly. The format — a series of themed, interactive sessions over a two-day time period — was meant to allow for deep conversation and movement towards building a research agenda in this space. The Summit was planned by a dedicated team of Epicenter researchers (Epicenter Co-PI Sheri Sheppard and research staff Drs. Shannon Gilmartin and Helen Chen of Stanford University), alongside a group of expert co-hosts (Dr. Nathalie Duval-Couetil of Purdue University, Drs. Anne Colby and William Damon of Stanford University, and Dr. Mary Besterfield-Sacre of University of Pittsburgh). 3.1 Summit Goals and Design The Summit was designed to achieve one overarching goal and four supporting sub-goals. The overarching goal was to “Convene individuals who are actively involved in I&E education and research in order to learn from one another, discuss opportunities, and lay the groundwork for a unifying research agenda.” The four sub-goals were to: 1. Create an event format for researchers and thought-leaders that allows them to develop connections 2. Actively share ideas and insights 3. Identify missing pieces and new opportunities 4. Imagine next steps Below, we describe the design decisions made and methods employed to meet each sub-goal. We cite external evaluation data that help to show how these sub-goals were achieved. Then, Section 4 provides a summary and analysis of content generated at the Summit, and Section 5 provides a discussion of emergent research areas and associated partnerships and projects to pursue in the future. We conclude in Section 6 with comments on our overarching Summit goal and recommendations for the next phase of both research and community building. Sub-goal 1: Create an event format for researchers and thought-leaders that allows them to develop connections The first step in creating this event format was compiling a diverse list of invitees. Over a seven-month period in 2013-14, personalized save-the-date and invitation emails were sent to select individuals who were involved in entrepreneurship education research and/or practice. In the aggregate, these individuals represented a range of disciplines (e.g., business, education, engineering, sociology), sectors (e.g., postsecondary education, private industry, government), and roles (e.g., undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, academic administrators, program officers, chief executives). These individuals were either personal contacts (individuals whom we had met prior to or through Epicenter activities) or suggested to us by other invitees. This process resembled chain-referr