SD School of Mines selected for national engineering innovation program

BY KAYLA PRASEK

Ateam of faculty and administrators from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has been selected to participate in a national program designed to help institutions fully incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into undergraduate engineering education.

South Dakota Mines is among 14 universities selected for the Pathways to Innovation Program, which is administered by the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter). Epicenter is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and the VentureWell.

“Increasing opportunities for students to be involved in innovation and creating an ecosystem that supports innovation is a priority for Mines,” says South Dakota Mines President Heather Wilson in a news release. “This is one way in which we will chart our path forward.”

The team from South Dakota Mines will assess the university’s current offerings, design a unique strategy for change and lead peers in a transformation process to broaden and strengthen campus-based innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems, according to a news release.

“Economic development is one of the goals of higher education,” says Michael Langerman, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and one of Mines’ team leaders. “Entrepreneurship has a spinoff that involves more than just a startup company. Companies want employees who are more than just the technical acumen. They need to know the business side and we want to provide employers with a more well-rounded employee who is highly sought after and valued.”

Teams will receive access to models for integrating entrepreneurship into engineering curriculum, custom online resources, networking opportunities, guidance from a community of engineering and entrepreneurship faculty and membership in a national network of schools with similar goals, according to a news release.

Langerman says being part of the Pathways to Innovation Program “gives credibility to the efforts we’re already going through to bring entrepreneurship to campus while also using their expertise and learning from them. We’ll be able to see what (Stanford’s) programs are doing with STEM education and entrepreneurship.”

To be selected for the program, Langerman submitted a proposal outlining what South Dakota Mines is currently doing in regard to entrepreneurship and how those efforts can be integrated into the Pathways program.

Langerman and fellow team leader Darren Haar, South Dakota Mines entrepreneur in residence, met with the Pathways program for the first time at Stanford in November. A second meeting in January will bring together the full Mines team to analyze the needs and opportunities at individual schools and develop plans for transforming the undergraduate engineering experience. A third meeting will be held in March. PB

Kayla Prasek Staff Writer, Prairie Business 701.780.1187

kprasek@prairiebizmag.com