Integrating Entrepreneurship Opportunities to Improve Engineering Students Experiential Learning

Entrepreneurship is associated with a combination of intelligence, creativity, risk-management, dealing with uncertainties, and persistence in achieving one's goals.Many of these traits are also characteristics of engineers, who bring about innovation.Indeed, it has been stated that engineers make great entrepreneurs.Following are few distinguishing attributes: problem solving, optimism, high tolerance for uncertainties, insightful, creative, and forward thinking.Lyles College of Engineering at Fresno State, in partnership with the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is in the process of incorporating entrepreneurship concepts longitudinally in the engineering curricula in various forms to enhance student experiential learning.We believe integrating entrepreneurship in engineering education will help students better prepare for productive careers as leaders in their profession.We have been exploring different ways of integrating entrepreneurship endeavors in the engineering curricula in order to promote student engagement and well roundedness.Through workshops and seminars on product commercialization, intellectual property, business plan drafting, and microcredit financing, students are able to bridge the gap between the technical world and business world.Students work together in teams for growing their ventures, as well as meet regularly with instructors and local business leaders; further giving them the ability to enhance their soft skills and develop a sense of belonging.Initial assessments have revealed that students become more passionate about the subjects at hand, because they are able to establish a legacy that lasts beyond a simple classroom assignment.Furthermore, these are consistent with the ABET requirements that the 21 st century engineer needs to have, both breadth and depth, to be prepared for challenges and complexities of the modern technological society.