Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor

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As a Mechanical Engineering student at U.M.B.C., I saw that a number of courses offered in the curriculum can count toward obtaining a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. These courses included mechanical engineering design with CAD (ENME 204) course, systems design (ENME 444) course, and special topics: global engineering (ENME 408) course. In order to complete the requirements for the minor, I took three additional courses including introduction to entrepreneurship (ENTR 200), the entrepreneurial mindset (ENTR 201) and entrepreneurial marketing (ENTR 320). The engineering courses provided an opportunity for me to use my technical skills in developing products for various applications. I designed and prototyped a mechanical spider toy for children in the ENME 204 course. In ENME 444, I designed a guitar adaptation device to help a physically disabled man play chord and perform the "sliding trick" on his electric guitar. I also conducted a new business opportunity report for a hypothetical company in ENME 408. The entrepreneurial courses allowed me to see a different perspective of approach to these problems. In ENTR 201, I conducted a pitch presentation for a hypothetical product that combines a bookbag with an umbrella for students. In ENTR 320, I launched an actual Facebook/Instagram marketing advertisement for Authntk Walkaround Videos. 

 

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Gold Experience (~270 hours)

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I initially was simply just intrigued by the field of entrepreneurship and wanted to learn more about it. However, after completing the minor, I saw many parallels in entrepreneurial thinking that I can benefit from as an engineer. As an undergraduate heading into graduate school for my Ph.D., I saw how the entrepreneurship mindset can be applied to conducting research. The need to do your homework and understand the existing market is crucial to know what others have tried and explore successes as well as failures in these attempts. The similarity in identifying an opportunity in the market can be related to finding a gap or problem no one has tried to address. The biggest similarity I saw was the ability to deal with an uncertain future. Whether it's starting a new business or doing research, you won't know if what you are doing will be successful but you won't know until you try. This experience has equipped me with the mindset to approach problems relating to my grand challenge for restoring and improving urban infrastructure. 

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Learning Objectives:

• Realistic Vision

• Being a team member

• Persistence

• Developing strategies for recognizing opportunities and identifying the tools for quality risk assessment. 

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