Technology Century V.17 N.1 - ESD

KETTERING:MORE THANINNOVATION 101School nurtures entrepreneurial spiritBY DAWN HIBBARDWhen it comes to the business ofinnovation, Kettering Universityredefines the paradigm ofincorporating entrepreneurshipinto higher education. Frombeginning to end, Ketteringstudents are encouraged to exploreand reshape their notion ofinnovation in a multitude of ways, said Dr. Doug Melton,Program Director for Kettering’s Entrepreneurship Acrossthe University (EAU) initiative and an Associate Professorof Electrical Engineering. “We’re passionate aboutchanging our institution on this topic,” Dr. Melton said.“There are many ways to accomplish it and our list justkeeps getting longer and longer.”FROM CURRICULUM TO BOARDROOMTwo of the newest innovations are additions to thecurriculum: Innovation 101 and a new entrepreneuriallyminded option for the Kettering Senior Thesis.The projects are made possible through a KernEntrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) programgrant from the Kern Family Foundation. According toDr. Melton, Innovation 101 is designed to frame thestudent’s academic career in terms of solving importantengineering and societal problems. “I believe this piece ofthe EAU Initiative will have the largest impact of anythingwe do,” he said.Innovation 101 is a course for the Freshman-2term that complements Freshman-1 Orientation andfeatures a problem-based approach to science andengineering needs. The course has an emphasis onsignificant engineering challenges with businessand commercialization opportunities, includingco-curricular activities outside the classroom. To besuccessful, the scope of the Innovation 101 courserequires coordination across all nine academicdepartments at Kettering, explained Dr. Melton.The pilot course that began January 9, 2012, isimplemented by a multidisciplinary team appointed bythe provost, which includes a Kettering corporate partner.In partnership with Mid-Michigan Solar, the focus of theengineering challenge for the first course is “Making SolarEnergy Economical.” This term, the emphasis of the courseis combining both technical skills and business acumen toaddress the challenge. On the first day of the course, Dr.Melton asked his class, “How many of you have solar energyon your home?” No one raised a hand. “Why? That’s thequestion we’ll address this term through guest lecturers inphysics, chemistry, electrical engineering, and business,”Dr. Melton said. Through experiential learning exercisesstudents will be introduced to the technology and scienceunderlying solar energy systems in addition an introductionto the business side of designing and installing thesesystems, and the challenges faced by green technologycompanies.42 | Technology Century | SPRING 2012