Organization:KEEN Network

Overview

" The Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) is a collaboration of U.S. universities that strive to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineering and technology students. Graduates of KEEN schools will be prepared to identify new technology-based business opportunities in their engineering disciplines. This network of colleges creates synergy between member institutions that takes advantage of the network’s collective faculty in a manner that transcends an individual university’s status."

Purpose

" KEEN’s mission is to graduate engineers who will contribute to business success and in the process transform the American workforce."

The KEEN Program was established for three reasons: 

1. To support the development of entrepreneurial minded engineers who impact the U.S. economy.
2. Because higher education should foster an engineering entrepreneurial mindset, more than delivering only technical skills.
3. To enable individuals to pursue individual fulfillment and live a high impact life through entrepreneurial minded engineering.

Distinct Difference From Other Offerings

The following  are the four cornerstones of the program:

1) Gaining a business acumen. 

2) Understanding of customer engagement. 

3) Practice and understanding of technical fundamentals.

4)Gaining a understanding of societal values. 

Through the educational process, these cornerstones are integrated in two ways: through the development of skills, and by fostering an engineering entrepreneurial mindset. 

KEEN provides institutional grants, topical grants, and small group grants:

• Institutional grant proposals contain, but are not limited to, cultural, curricular, and extracurricular components such as faculty development and activities that foster relationships between colleges within the university, initiatives that engage the entire engineering student body, etc. This grant should aim toward permanent institutional change consistent with the broad mission of the KEEN Program.
• Topical grant proposals contain a single, sometimes tangible, proposed outcome. In contrast to institutional grants, topical grants are not intended to create institutional change; rather, they should provide a deliverable that will jointly further our shared mission and is readily transferable to other members of the Network.
• Small group grant proposals are intended to stimulate thought and discussion within the Network. The PI for a Small Group Grant must be a faculty member from an institution with an active institutional grant.

Framework and Resources:

Need for KEEN 
and Program Frameworks 

Robert Tercek: Thinking Critically About the Future

KEEN'zine 

Entrepreneurial Mindset Video

 

Sponsor

The Kern Family Foundation, a private, independent grant-making organization based in Waukesha, Wis. In 2006, the Kerns sold the balance of the business and directed a significant portion of the profits to grow the Foundation.

Impact Achieved For Students And Campus

The KEEN program reaches students through a network of institutions. KEEN currently involves 19 universities around the country.

News

• Johnson Controls to work with Lawrence Tech on energy storage research
  By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel Johnson…
• Robert Tercek: Thinking Critically about the Future
  At the 2014 KEEN Winter Conference, engineering educators…
• Innovation Challenges
  Coauthored by Saint Louis University Professor Sridhar Condoor…
• Entrepreneurial Activities Give Villanova Students an Edge
  Villanova University recently released its spring/summer edition of…
• Tom Vander Ark on KEEN and LTU
  By Tom Vander Ark “We can’t change the…

Events

• March 27-29, 2014 Design to Deploy: Kern Faculty Workshop on Biomedical Implementation
  The Boston University College of Engineering and its…
• ICE Faculty Workshop, Apr. 2014
  What: ICE Faculty Workshop When: Friday, Apr. 11, 2014 Where: Paccar…
• 2014 Innovation Encounter - Registration Now Open!
  The 2014 Innovation Encounter will be held Oct.…
• Innovating Curriculum with Entrepreneurial-Mindset Workshop
  Join the Univeristy of New Haven on June…

Steps Required To Bring Resource on Campus

If you would like to get involved with KEEN or learn more about our Network, simply click on this link : http://www.keennetwork.org/contact-us 

They will ask you to fill out a short form.

Contact Information:

The Kern Family Foundation

W305S4239 Brookhill Road Waukesha, WI 53189

Phone: (262) 968-6838 
Fax: (262) 968-9424

Email Us
info@kffdn.org

Contact us via phone for directions to the Foundation House if you have an appointment.

KEEN Network

</div> Location: W305 S4239 Brookhill Rd. Waukesha, Wis. 53189

Program Director - Doug Melton, Ph.D.

dmelton@kffdn.org