The days when an engineering education meant mastering predominantly technical skills are history. Jack Wilson, co-director of the Severino Center for Technical Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer, said new teaching initiatives are underway to transform quality engineers into great future business leaders, starting from the ground on up. Students think of entrepreneurship as invention, the old 'build a better mousetrap' concept, but the road of entrepreneurship is littered with the bodies of people with good ideas but no idea how to carry them out.
Invention is just the first step.
The Rensselaer Plan calls for specific strategies to bring entrepreneurship exposure to students enrolled in programs across the curriculum, but about 10 percent of engineering students at all grade levels have been gutsy enough to take on coursework at the Severino Center. If you want a nice quiet life, entrepreneurship is not for you. It's all about taking risks, and the success stories out there are people who thank goodness were willing to take risks. There are myriad benefits for students who immerse themselves in the curriculum. An Entrepreneur of the Year Award is given annually to an alumnus whose work serves as an inspiration to students.