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Academic Plan

Academic Plan Diagram

*Note: Number of core course credits = 12
Six additional credits are selected by student with the consultation of the minor coordinator.

Courses

ENGR 310 | QMM 492 | ENGR 411 | ENGR 407 | ENGR 497A/ENTR 430

E-SHIP courses are designed to encourage entrepreneurial thinking, regardless of your academic background. The minor consists of 12 credits of core courses and 6 credits of electives. One core class is tailored by major - engineering students learn business basics, while non-engineers learn about technology. Other classes combine all majors to let the creativity flow. View major-specific information for elective courses.

Several of our courses are shared with the Engineering Leadership Development Minor, so you'll also learn how to lead a business team in any setting.

ENGR 310 Entrepreneurial Leadership - Engineers and students from other majors collaborate on projects while learning about leadership and entrepreneurship. ENGR 310 is the "gateway" class for the E-SHIP minor and should be one of the first classes in the core course sequence.

ENGR 310 covers of the fundamentals of leadership, including theory, understanding of individual leadership styles, group and organizational leadership, values and ethics, and life cycles of organizations. This knowledge base supports an entrepreneurial project in the second part of the semester, when student teams select a "need-based" product, and do prototyping, strategic planning, business feasibility analysis, basic costing, business plan generation, and customer feedback.

This is a problem-based learning course; learning-by-doing is fundamental. Lecture time is minimal, with the faculty serving as mentors during most classes. Most activities are team-based, with solid expectations for students to take charge of their own learning. In-class presentations of task and project results will be done frequently, along with portfolios, idea journals, and analysis reports.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand contemporary leadership concepts, principles and theories
  • Gain the passion for lifelong study and practice of leadership
  • Understand the role of human behavior and motivation in performance
  • Experience situations and assignments where leadership and entrepreneurial thinking is needed for success.
  • Complete a new product "launch" project, including definition and design, strategic planning, business plan, funding analysis.

Sample Course Outline:

  • Understanding your personality type and leadership style. Is leadership born or learned?
  • Management vs. leadership
  • Individual, group and organizational leadership principles
  • Human behavior and motivation in performance
  • Values and ethics in leadership and decision-making
  • Life cycle of organizations
  • Nature of entrepreneurial work - risks, rewards, challenges
  • Team project: product concept development, selection, and "launch"

QMM 492 - Introduction to Engineering and Design Principles - Non-engineering majors learn about engineering fields, graphics, design, solid modeling, and failure analysis. QMM 492 is an introductory engineering design course, which uses a project-driven curriculum emphasizing collaboration, technical communication, and computer-aided design/analysis tools. Learn the engineering approach to problem solving using basic science and math skills, and test and evaluate design ideas by building working prototypes. Two major design projects will be assigned during the semester.

Throughout the course, strategies, methods, and means of the design process will be covered and practiced such as understanding client's needs, generating design concepts, developing design specifications, evaluating, and testing design ideas.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand and use the design process well in projects
  • Extend the design process to general problem solving
  • Recognize the value of creativity in the engineering design process.
  • Acquire 2D and 3D visualizations skills to draw and communicate design process.
  • Practice operating in multi-disciplinary teams engaged in design generation and development.

ENGR 411 - Entrepreneurial Business Basics - Engineers, IST, and other non-business majors learn about business finance, intellectual property, and marketing.

ENGR 411 covers three critical skill areas of non-business students: business finance, intellectual property, and marketing in three 5-week modules over the semester. This course emphasizes problem-based learning (PBL), in which students engage in real-world problem-solving exercises each class period. With this learning approach, students develop and use skill sets in financial management, intellectual property management, and business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing.

To encourage active learning of ENGR 411 course material, students are divided into small discussion and working teams. Discussion teams will be responsible for: 1) developing questions for class interaction; 2) highlighting the important points of the readings/case studies; and 3) solving problems and presenting solutions to the class.

Up to three technology businesses or events of current interest will be analyzed during the semester. These case studies bring out the interdependence of finance, intellectual property, and marketing decisions in product creation. Sample case studies include Napster and the Bridgestone/Firestone litigation.

Prerequisite: three credits in economics or economics-related course

ENGR 407 - Technology-Based Entrepreneurship -ENGR407 starts with individual and team-based tasks that draw out creative thinking skills and force students to become risk-takers, and to experience failure. The guiding principal for the course is that entrepreneurs are innovators and operate in an uncertain, risky environment where failure is endemic. The issue is not how to avoid failure, but how to learn quickly from the failures and capitalize on the knowledge gained - a process known as Intelligent Fast Failure.

This is a problem-based learning course: students do exercises and activities to discover entrepreneurship principles. (At the Altoona campus, the course is listed as ENTR430.....check it out at the Altoona Campus website, too!) Class lecture time is minimal. Teachers are mentors and coaches, and students are expected to take charge of their own learning.

Prerequisite: ECON 002 or ECON 004

Course Objectives:

  • Instill in students a creative, risk-taking attitude on challenges
  • Gain working understanding of fundamental business framework
  • Apply the analytical and design tools of engineering to new product development
  • Foster continued development of leadership and team skills

Course Outline:

  • Creativity exercises - looking at a design challenge from different angles
  • Failure resumes and idea journals
  • Product design, presentation and marketing: exploring failure and self-esteem
  • The mind of the entrepreneur
  • Crash and Burn - teams must grow $x into $10x two weeks (using legal methods)
  • Portfolio presentations
  • New product proposals: Patents, SWOT analysis, Finance/Marketing leading to Business Plan

ENGR 497A/ENTR 430 - Entrepreneurship and New Product Development - Examine the entrepreneurial mindset within a conventional company while designing, testing and launching new products.

ENGR497A looks at the entrepreneurial mindset within a conventional company, and the process of new product line launch. Student teams will design, prototype a new product family, and then present the product concept to venture seed fund representatives from companies like General Electric. Teamwork, cost and pricing, prototype quality, and market need assessment are all factors in a successful product family proposal.

This is a problem-based learning course: learning-by-doing is fundamental, with case studies and prototyping. (At the Altoona campus, the course is listed as ENTR430.....check it out at the Altoona Campus website, too!) Many activities are done in teams, with solid expectations for students to take charge of their own learning.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand how to identify opportunities for technological improvement in a product or product line
  • Effective mapping of customer needs and to product specifications
  • Understand and leverage off product families
  • Use the New Product Development Process
  • Cost and Pricing Techniques
  • Feasibility Analysis
  • FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis)
Major-specific information for elective courses