Engineering students with an innovative spark are exploring how to turn their ideas into viable products or services through Engineering Entrepreneurship, a one-credit-hour course offered at UNL in the fall.
Created in partnership between NUtech Ventures and the College of Engineering, Engineering Entrepreneurship is co-taught by Eric Markvicka, Robert F. and Myrna L. Krohn Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Joy Eakin, entrepreneurship program manager for NUtech Ventures.
Open to undergraduate and graduate students, the course introduces students to the Lean Startup framework and the fundamentals of customer discovery by teaching them to understand who cares about a problem, why a solution matters, and whether people would buy it. There are also guest speakers to help engage students and expand their networks as well as preparation for pitching their ideas at various pitch competitions on campus and throughout the community.
“We are fortunate to have the flexibility to offer a class like this at UNL,” said Eakin. “Building entrepreneurial mindsets as early as possible is absolutely crucial for engineering students in our world today.”
Through a semester-long hands-on project requiring interviews with startup founders and industry experts, students learn how to evaluate opportunities from both a business and customer perspective, like stakeholder needs and market demand. Eakin also emphasizes, regardless of the career paths students choose, the skills and business mindsets students develop from the class will stay with them.
“It’s exciting to see students not just get excited about a business idea they may have but also develop into more confident and innovative individuals who are ready to face the world after graduation,” she added. “I love to remind students that they are in a special era of life where they can get a pass to just about anywhere.”