Lawrence Tech Extends Entrepreneurial Education

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SOUTHFIELD— Lawrence Technological University has received a three-year $697,000 grant from the Wisconsin-based Kern Family Foundation to support further expansion of entrepreneurial-minded learning in the curricula for undergraduate engineering students.

This is the final phase of a series of grants adding up to over $2.4 million from the Kern Family Foundation that began in 2003. The goal is to incorporate the entrepreneurial mindset into undergraduate engineering education at LTU.

“We believe that this final phase of support will result in a comprehensive entrepreneurial education experience for our engineering undergraduates,” said Maria Vaz, the principal investigator for two of the Kern grants including the most recent one.

A key component of the program supported by previous grants is the modification of close to 50 courses with problem-based learning and active-and-collaborative learning within an entrepreneurial context. Classroom work has been supplemented by co-curricular and extra-curricular entrepreneurial activities such as internships and industry-sponsored projects.

“Having the students solve open-ended design problems and learning how to ask the right questions of a customer are critical entrepreneurial skills that students engage in right from the beginning of their college education,” said Donald Carpenter, co-principal investigator for the grant.

For more information, visit ltu.edu