Instilling an Entrepreneurial Engineering Mindset through a Freshman Design Course

Abstract

The course "Fundamentals of Engineering Design" was developed at University of Detroit Mercy in response to the need for introducing the entrepreneurial mindset to engineering students at a very early stage. The course is required of all undergraduate students in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Robotics/Mechatronic Systems Engineering. The course is centered on a recently developed commercial technology where the students are tasked with analyzing that technology and associated intellectual property. They are then tasked with proposing ventures in other markets using that technology and to do so in business terms. Assessment results indicate an increased level of self-confidence and self-efficacy in relation to developing and presenting product ideas. The balance between technical and business content was brought into question with a small but vocal minority indicating a desire for less business content.