Changes

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.  DesignHub, 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.

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

•   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

•   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

Students on campus need more space to work on projects. These spaces will not only meet that need, they will also improve the innovative culture by giving students a home base, a hang out spot, where innovative communities can form.

After the development of the makerspaces in the engineering school, additional spaces across campus with easier and more versatile accessibility to students of all majors is necessary to continually foster growth in design thinking and creative confidence for all students without unintentionally segregating student groups based on major or location. In this sense, mobile lab spaces that encourage low-tech, immediate solutions to all manners of creative problems, as well as collaboration of thought and ideals across different areas of study are required to come up with the next generation fo innovative and sustainable solutions with the constitution of multiple perspectives. 

•   Secured space in engineering building to serve as the first space. Space was remodelled and essentially inheirited as a blank slate.

The space is managed by 4 subteams. Each subteam has a team leader. All of the team leaders serve as the overall management team for the space, which is led by Zach Patterson. Dr. Buddy Clark serves as a faculty mentor & leader. Subteams are:

*Outreach Team: In charge of promoting the space both on and off campus. Seeks industry sponsors. Led by Reshef Elisha

*Paint and outfit the room to make it a more welcoming and thought provoking place

*Secure industry sponsors

After completely setting up the space, ensuring everthing runs smoothly, and perfecting our data tracking techniquies, we will begin to heavily promote the space in the new school year, holding events and doing our best to bring in more students than we have space and resources. By doing this, we hope to prove that demand has outgrown the space and that it is time to expand to more and better spaces. 

The data collected over the course of the year will serve as the basis for a proposal to greatly increase the resources put into makerspaces and to rapidly expand our space to other location. We will propose both more spaces for general project work along with additional spaces for higher fildelity work.

Using funding hopefully aquired from Milestone #5, we will scale up our proven management structure and launch additional spaces around campus

At the start of development (February 2016), the student creative network concepts are conceptualized and elaborated with under the guidance of the University Innovation Fellows spring 2016 cohort, the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute, and student leaders and activists across campus in the form of the ideation of a new club called the Pitt Master Minds network, inspired by a statement by Andrew Carnegie that a Master Mind is a "coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose." Aakash Sudhakar (current University Innovation Candidate) serves as the main student leader of developing and promoting the use of design-based student creative networks within the Pitt community. It is important to note that the potential club will be affiliated with organizations and groups outside of Pitt, including mentorship networks and other Master Mind groups that can help provide problem scenarios and creative topics to direct Pitt's Master Mind network in innovative and constructive directions. 

•   Description: The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences currently does not have an effective way to advertise innovation, entrepreneurship, and design thinking programs. In order to A&S to establish a stronger presence in the innovation and entrepreneurship community, there needs to be a better method of advertising programs available to students and increase communication between colleges. •   Team Leader: Emily Klonicki (current microbiology candidate) 

*Have teams from A&S compete and participate in I&E programs

•   Description: Currently, Pitt provides multiple I&E programs available for students such as the Blast Furnace, Big Idea competition, Hackathons, Design Expo and, the Series. However, most participants come from either the business or engineering school. By recruiting potential project teams from A&S to participate in these programs, it will help establish an innovation and entrepreneurship community in this college. Team Leader: Emily Klonicki

•   Description: In the long term, with increasing student support we would hope to establish a space for A&S students to have low resolution prototyping material and whiteboards available for student use. Another future goal is to increase active learning opportunities within the classroom and for A&S students develop their own programs and hackathons which could be held in this space. Team Leader: Emily Klonicki

•   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.

*In Spring 2015, the engineering school launched The Art of Making, a course initially designed for freshmen honors engineering students. The course is a demanding journey through the world of design thinking and rapid prototyping. Students leave the course having been introduced to a wide array of prototyping skills in fabrication, electronics, pretotyping, etc. More importantly, students gain the confidence to be doers and the background to better learn and apply material from theoretical coursework to come. As a cherry on top, the course drastically improves students' ability to choose a major within engineering as they get much better exposure to the sorts of things that different engineers might do.&nbsp;<br/>The course has since been adapted for upperclassmen students both in and outside of engineering as an elective. Students who have participated in the course have gone on to be leaders in project based clubs and other similar endeavors.<br/>Dr. Joe Samosky is the preofessor and creator of the course. Many Pitt UIFs and UIFCs are co-creators and original TAs of the course including [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Nathan_Smialek Nate Smialek], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Zachary_Patterson Zach Patterson], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Brian_Rhindress Brian Rhindress], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Madhur_Malhotra Madhur Malhotra], and [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Ian_McIntyre Ian McIntyre].&nbsp;[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Jennifer_Sommer Jenny Sommer]&nbsp;is currently a TA for the Spring 2016 offering.

•&nbsp;&nbsp; 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.

•&nbsp;&nbsp; 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.

<div>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. &nbsp;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?</div><div><br/></div><div>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.</div><div><br/></div>

<div>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 &nbsp;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.</div><div><br/></div><div>Startup Pitt provides a flexible hiring duration for startups and for students who are looking for an internship. &nbsp;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.</div><div><br/></div><div>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.</div><div><br/></div>

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

<div>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</div>

*Would you (students) be interested in working for a startup?

*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?

<div><br/></div>

<div>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.&nbsp;</div><div><br/></div>

*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)

<div>

Options are currently being explored to incorporate entrepreneruship modules into business general education classes in order to spark interest in the subject and familiarize Pitt Business students with the large amount of resources available. It is important to get students where they are "captive" in the classroom setting and monitor our conversion rate from there to the workshops being offered on campus.

'''Entrepreneurship Cafe''' During the spring semester, Enactus and Pitt Business will host several "Entrepreneurship Cafe" sessions in which students, Entrepreneurs in Residence, and other I&E leaders will mingle and share ideas about innovation and entrepreneurship. Student participants are encouraged to come with ideas and topics they would like to discuss with the mentors present at the event. The concept is meant to foster a more organic approach to entrepreneurship and create an informal environment where people can share ideas and learn from each other.&nbsp;

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