Priorities:University of Pittsburgh Student Priorities

Overview

The University of Pittsburgh is a well-known leader in innovation within the fields of engineering and medical research.  Translational research and entrepreneurship exist primarily at the institutional level.  Many organizations exist, like the Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence, to give budding entrepreneurs the needed resources and inspiration to proceed from ideation to market.  In the last 20 years alone, such programs have created more than 800 startups and 7,000 jobs in the Pittsburgh area.  Between the sheer amount of research conducted and available seed funding (Coulter Program for bioengineering devices, other VC connections through Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence) Innovation and Entrepreneurship needs only to be catalyzed to take off, since all necessary ingredients are in abundance at the University of Pittsburgh.

However, there is a huge gap on campus between these institutions and undergraduate students.  Most students are unaware of PantherlabWorks (a commercialization accelerator) and do not know that the university offers patent and IP counseling through the Office of Technology Management/Office of Enterprise Development.  At present, these institutions mainly serve graduate students and faculty. 

Fortunately, administrators are beginning to take a strong interest in university-facilitated patent development and product realization for undergraduate students.  Professors from the Industrial Engineering department will soon introduce a product realization certificate to span all majors and the chemical engineering department has recently revamped its sophomore and junior year curriculum to more intently convey design principles.  The mechanical engineering department, too, has been steadily increasing the focus on sustainability and marketability in undergraduate design classes, as in ‘MEMS 0024: Intro to Mechanical Engineering Design.’

Still, it is clear that there is more work to be done.  In many other disciplines, serious project management/design courses are not mandatory until senior year.  Further, freshman students are NEVER formally exposed to the opportunities of product development for engineers.  The best opportunities for undergrads to get involved in projects are in extracurricular clubs.  Engineers for Sustainable Medical Development (ESMD), Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), and Engineers Without Borders (EWB) are three of the strongest organizations on campus for completing actual projects with significant impact in local and global communities.

We seek to expand upon and merge into a community, the values and practices of these groups.  Two gaps we seek to bridge as UI Fellows are as follows:

1. Inspire and Forge Project Teams (applied/realized value)
   • Connect product ideas that have market value with teams capable of producing them.  Provide access to funding and guidance for these teams.  
2. Provide an incubator space (applied/realized value)
   • Allow such teams to function effectively and provide the necessary inspiration/motivation to get undergraduates interested in I&E.
3. Increase awareness of I&E on campus
   • TEDx Event
   • Creativity Wall
   • 1000 Pitches
   • Club of Clubs
4. Change Curriculum 
   • First Year Classes
   • Provide an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship class
   • Give credit to entrepreneurs
5. Build Entreneurship Community at Pitt Business and Connect Different Departments
   • Connect student organizations across departments in Entrepreneurship through Suitable
   • Hold site visits and lectures series for business students interested in entreperneurship
   • Run and operate one hackathon per semester at Pitt Business
   • Organize 3 projects to compete at the Enactus National and Regional Competitions

Calling all Students

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Academic Year Challenge

• Where: Benedum Hall, Room TBD 
• When: November 19th, 2013
• RSVP: TBD

Strategy #1: Inspire and Forge Project Teams

Following are an array of strategies that will fully address Gap #1 over a 2-3 year period:

Tactic #1: Create Advisory Board/Panel to Promote I&E

•   Description: Students in the Pitt Business school are currently looking to launch an entrepreneurship club- one that would connect mixed groups of students to form cohesive teams (engineering, business, law, etc. students) and validate market potential.  In partnering with this effort, an advisory board for I&E would seek out possible projects and give them to an able team.  It would be the goal of such a board to find the need on campus for different products, looking for possible ideas in extracurricular clubs, professors, and perhaps, industry.  These projects would be assigned to a team that applies with a plan to complete them, and they would be guided to the IP resources on campus and eventually to the proper contacts in the Business school for marketing advice.    

•   Team Leader:: TBD

Tactic #2: Host Seminars/Grand Challenges to Educate/Inspire

•   Description: Professors in the Engineering Education Resource Center (EERC), are in the process of applying for a grant to host seminars and challenge sessions for next semester.  As Innovation Fellows, we have been given the opportunity to help plan these events and hope to use them to foster support (especially at the freshman/sophomore level) for the movement.  Current seminar ideas include: Dinner with entrepreneurs, microGrant challenge, skill seminars. 

•   Team Leader:: TBD

Strategy #2: Provide an Incubator Space 

Following are an array of strategies that will fully address Gap #2 over a 2-3 year period:

Tactic #1: Find and Create a Space

•   Description:  If students are now coming up with ideas or being given projects, they will need a space to work in.  Also, a design room provides inspiration and success stories to work with.  With UC-Berkeley and other successful UI incubator spaces as a model, this design room would serve as a hub for students interested in getting involved with projects and competitions. 

•   Team Leader: TBD

Tactic #2: Technical Skills Sessions

•   Description: Often, young students need to learn some basic skills before they are ready to take on a design project.  One way to do this would be skills seminars in the design room that include 3D CAD drawing, arduinos, etc.  Also, it may be conducive to get students to apply for machine room certification so that they can work safely in the shop when their design has reached that stage.    

•   Team Leader: TBD

Tactic #3: Host Design Competitions

•   Description: Another way to inspire students is to actually host design competitions in the incubator space.  This could mean finding a competition through “mindsumo.com” or facilitating the completion of a project for entry in a local competition like the Randall Big Idea Competition.  A winner in one of these competitions is very likely to attract many other students to the space.

•   Team Leader: TBD

Strategy #3: Increase awareness of I&E on campus 

Tactic #1: TEDx Event

•   Description: University of Pittsburgh currently has lectures about various subjects with key speakers through Pitt Program Council. Most of these events are sold out and students have to line up to get tickets. Adding a TEDx events will connect students to interdisciplinary opportunities and start them in design thinking. •   Team Leader: David Jacob (current bioengineering candidate) 

Milestones:

• Apply for TEDx event license
• Form committees (advertising, sponsors, speakers, visuals, etc.)
• Invite speakers
• Search for sponsors
• Reserve event space
• Advertise the event on campus
• Hold the TEDx event

Tactic #2: Creativity Wall

•   Description: In the engineering building, there are already many white boards on the wall to increase innovation, talk about upcoming events, and have challenges or problems presented. If they could use one of the walls that gets the most traffic and pose an open ended question, students could add to the ideas and come up with new ways to solve it. This could also be put on the outside of classrooms so that students write on it before entering a class. If they also added more whiteboards in the Business and Arts and Sciences buildings, they could pose the same question that week that was posed in the Engineering building and see how other students approach this. Team Leader: Student TBD

Tactic #3: 1000 Pitches

•   Description: Currently, Pitt students are starting 1000 pitches on campus. They are using this platform to encourage innovation and design thinking, and allowing everyone to feel creative and innovative. This should continue on campus to add to awareness on campus.

Strategy #4: Change Curriculum 

Tactic #1: First Year Classes

•   Description: Students at each of the schools at University of Pittsburgh are required to take an introductory class their freshman year. We could incorporate design thinking or innovation and entrepreneurship into the curriculum.

Tactic #2: Provide an Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Class

•   Description: Currently, Pitt has entrepreneurship and design thinking classes in all three schools. However, each class is only allowed to be taken by students from their respective schools. Pitt should add a course that allows students to take a class about innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship that is open to all disciplines. That would allow students to see how to approach these problems from various viewpoints and will lead them to more creative thinking due to the interdisciplinary collaboration.

Tactic #3: Give credit to entrepreneurs

•   Description: Pitt offers credit to students with internships and research on campus. Pitt could apply the same thing to entrepreneurial ventures which would allow students to manage their time more effectively because their projects would go back to school credit.

Strategy #5: Startup Pitt

Innovation cannot thrive in a bubble. Entrepreneurship is up-and-coming in Pittsburgh, and it’s important that undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh are exposed to this awesome movement. Ian is experiencing the entrepreneurial drive first-hand. Regardless of the value of his bioengineering degree, Ian pondered dropping out of school after his startup was admitted into the Alphalab Gear Accelerator program. Ian has feet in both realms: one in the University, one in the community. At the University, Ian is watching groups of students practicing design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship, all which are valuable skills for those involved in startups. These students are driven and searching to use what they learn in the classroom on real-world projects. On the other side, Ian is (somewhat firsthand) witnessing the need for startups to hire interns with engineering, design, and business experience.  In fact, Ian worked as an intern with his project to further the technological and business development before the thought of commercialization occurred. Why can’t other interns help young startups succeed?

Startup Pitt is a smaller-scale model of Venture for America, a program that places recent college graduates in startups throughout the country. VFA Fellows have been instrumental in building businesses and helping startups succeed. Likewise, Startup Pitt interns will help Pittsburgh startups become successful while earning salary and a valuable internship experience. Of course, Startup Pitt keeps to it’s title: starting-up Pittsburgh as a center of entrepreneurship.

Program Specifics

The Startup Pitt process may be compared to an engineering cooperative-education (co-op) program, an educational program that places engineering students in an established company or engineering firm. A co-op student works for three semesters -- one full year -- with a schedule negotiated between the employer and student. A student may alternate between work and school semesters; work in the fall, assume classes in the spring, work in the summer, assume classes in the fall, etc. On the other hand, a company may want a student to work for a year through, during which time the student would not return to classes. There are subjective benefits and disadvantages to each schedule setup that vary with students and courses of studies. However, a  co-op trumps a traditional internship in that a student maintains full-time student status during the co-op semesters. Full-time student status permits a student to reside in on-campus dormitories and receive all the stipulations of being a student. A co-op student does not pay tuition unless she enrolls in night classes.

Startup Pitt provides a flexible hiring duration for startups and for students who are looking for an internship.  While a co-op is expected to work for three semesters, the Startup Pitt program adapts to the needs of the intern and the startup to satisfy both parties. For example, if a startup can only hire a student for one semester, Startup Pitt may provide an intern who appreciates the short-term work experience that will not delay graduation. Furthermore, Startup Pitt provides internships to not only engineering students, but also business students, students of design, and students who possess skillsets desired by a Pittsburgh startup. Startup Pitt allows a more flexible internship duration.

Finances hinder a startup’s ability to hire appropriate help. The Startup Pitt program acknowledges that startups may want to hire an intern but may not be able to afford an intern. Startup Pitt works with departments and organizations at the University of Pittsburgh as well as the supporters of Pittsburgh incubators to subsidize the pay for an intern. In this manner, a startup receives extra help to grow a business without the concern of paying an intern, and an intern receives pay while gaining valuable work experience.

Timeline

All objectives and tasks in the timeline are subject to change.

Customer discovery (March 2015)

Identify the needs of students at the University of Pittsburgh. Student groups include engineering students, business students, and those involved in I&E activities. Channels to reach students include department and program coordinators, seminars, and student / faculty organizations. Survey questions include

• Would you (students) be interested in working for a startup?
• How important is maintaining your full-time student status?
• For how many academic semesters could you see yourself working an internship at a startup?
• Why does working at a startup interest you?
• What kinds of skills do you believe are needed to be successful with growing a startup?
• Would you be willing to potentially delay your graduation?
• How much pay (hourly rate) would you see yourself making while interning at a startup?

Identify the needs of startups in Pittsburgh incubators and accelerators, such as startups involved in Alphalab, Alphalab Gear, Thrill Mill, Idea Foundry, and Revv Oakland.  Survey questions include

• Do you believe a college student pursuing an engineering / business / etc. major could make a contribution to your startup as an intern?
• What skills would you look for in a student intern for your startup?
• How long would you hire a Startup Pitt intern?
• If at all, how much could you afford to pay a Startup Pitt intern?
• If the Startup Pitt inter’s pay was subsidized through the University of Pittsburgh and/or your accelerator/incubator, would you be more likely to hire a Startup Pitt intern?

Prototype financial infrastructure (April 2015)

Coordinate with the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute, the Swanson School of Engineering, the College of Business Administration, and the investor networks who support Pittsburgh incubators/accelerators to assess the potential of subsidizing a Startup Pitt’s hourly pay. Establish the value of Startup Pitt with each supporter, and evaluate how much each supporter is willing to contribute to a Startup Pitt intern. 

Future tasks

• Discuss program with University of Pittsburgh administration. Investigate potential of maintaining full-time student status during employment (May 2015)
• Formulate a faculty and student committee to evaluate student applications (June 2015)

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