Priorities:California State University of Fullerton Student Priorities

Strategy One:Create an organization called Student Innovation Collective (SINC) that brings together multidisciplinary departments to work on project oriented activities

MISSION AND VISION

The goal of this organization is to bring together different departments in campus to work on industry level projects in the collegiate level. Students from different disciplines collaborating on projects promotes innovation and creativity. This will allow students to become well-rounded individuals. The organization’s goal is to mold students into T-Shaped Individuals. These are individuals who are well-versed in their own disciplines but also have the ability to collaborate and communicate with other disciplines. Having these skills will give the students the advantage in the workplace and ultimately close the school-industry divide.

PLAN

Currently the organization will focus on engineering design projects. The mechanical engineering department has design projects where they build or update projects like cars, drones or rockets. They usually consist of engineering students with different skillsets that can contribute to the project. The whole design project is treated like a business where students need to market their product, raise funds and understand their finances. This is where a multi-disciplinary team comes in. The organization will connect students to these engineering design projects to help them with their “business”. While we are planning to focus solely on business and engineering students for now, the organization will expand to include computer science, film, arts, graphics design and other kinds of majors to have an inclusive and a truly multidisciplinary team.

KEY METRICS

• Number of business students in an engineering team
• Number of students who joined the engineering team through the organization
• Number of other students from different departments in an engineering team
• Success rate or ranking of engineering team in their final competition with a multidisciplinary team

Related Links:

http://business.fullerton.edu/Center/Entrepreneurship/#Default

http://www.dailytitan.com/2014/03/titan-mechanical-engineers-hope-to-build-uav-for-the-future/

http://ecs.fullerton.edu/~titanuav/

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Strategy 2: Create a pop up incubator/makerspace in campus

MISSION AND VISION

There is no space where students can collaborate on different projects. While there is the Student Union and the library, there is no dedicated space where students have all the tools and resources that they would need to rapidly prototype ideas. This is where a makerspace will be useful for students. It will be a place where students such as engineers and business students can come together to work on solving problems that they have identified within their environment. The makerspace would be a place to define problems, brainstorm ideas, prototype, test and iterate when necessary. When students develop ideas that are worth taking to the market, they can transition to the school’s own incubator.

PLAN

A makerspace is very difficult to implement in a public university. That is to say it is not impossible. There will be key steps that will lead to a successful implementation of makerspace. They are listed below:

1. Create a list of key stakeholders in campus
2. Provide case studies of makerspaces outside of campus
3. Provide testimonials of students who needs a makerspace
4. Provide a signed petition of more than 1000 students who wants a makerspace
5. Provide a report on successful makerspaces around the area
6. Create a document on the benefits of a makerspace for the school
7. Create a prototype of the makerspace to show student interest

KEY METRICS

• Students developing and working on projects
• Students successfully creating a business
• Students transitioning to the incubator
• Students using the makerspace

Strategy Three: Create more awareness for I&E Courses in the campus

MISSION AND VISION:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship are concepts that are not fully realized within the university space. While these are very useful tools for student success, they are largely unknown. The mission of this strategy is to promote these frameworks through different channels in campus thereby increasing the awareness about these topics.

PLAN:

There will be several different plans for creating more awareness for I&E:

1. Create a pop up design thinking workshop by the Business or Engineering building
2. Offer more I&E courses
3. Work with administrators on how to implement courses
4. Have experiential learning settings
5. Promote these courses as part of the GE

Create a page in the university website that talks about I&E and the resources for it

KEY METRICS:

• Students who participated in pop up workshops
• Students who participated in I&E courses
• Students who visited the I&E website