Epicenter’s Tom Byers and Phil Weilerstein co-authored a guest editorial in a special issue of Advances in Engineering Education focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Phil Weilerstein and Tom Byers of Epicenter have co-authored the guest editorial “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Engineering Education” in the Winter 2016 issue of Advances in Engineering Education, published by the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Weilerstein is the deputy director Epicenter and the president of VentureWell, and Byers is the director and co-PI of Epicenter and a professor at Stanford University.

In their editorial, Weilerstein and Byers share their perspective on the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) in engineering education, a field that has been Epicenter’s focus for the last five years. There has been significant growth in this field over the last twenty years, and many engineering students in the U.S. now have access to I&E offerings. There are still challenges to address, and several communities and organizations have emerged to share resources and support faculty and students. These communities — such as those created by organizations like VentureWell, Epicenter, ASEE, KEEN and I-Corps — are creating and adapting existing approaches to learning entrepreneurial skills to the engineering curriculum. Sustaining and scaling these communities is one way to support the spread of I&E in engineering education.

In addition to the editorial, this special issue of AEE features eight papers that address key issues and questions in the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education for engineering students. Several members of the Epicenter community have authored papers in this issue based on their work with our center. Papers include “The Role of Entrepreneurship Program Models and Experiential Activities on Engineering Student Outcomes" by Nathalie Duval-Couetil and Angela Shartrand; “Faculty and Student Perceptions of the Content of Entrepreneurship Courses in Engineering Education" by Mary Besterfield-Sacre, Sarah Zappe and Angela Shartrand; and “Entrepreneurial Thinking in Interdisciplinary Student Teams” by Xaver Neumeyer and Ann McKenna.

Read the full editorial: http://advances.asee.org/wp-content/uploads/vol05/issue01/Papers/AEE_17-Phil_-_Editorial.pdf

View the Winter 2016 issue of AEE: http://advances.asee.org/winter-2016-volume-5-issue-1/

Citation: Phil Weilerstein and Tom Byers, “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Engineering Education,” Advances in Engineering Education V5, (1) January 2016.

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