Priorities:Milwaukee School of Engineering Student Priorities
Contents
- 1 Overview
- 2 Cohort 6: 2023
- 3 Cohort 5: 2022
- 4 Cohort 4: 2020
- 5 Cohort 3: 2019
- 5.1 Why: Many students on campus have ideas about side projects, businesses, etc. but they don't know how to move forward with an idea, who to connect with, where to obtain funding, etc.
- 5.2 Why: Some business students don't understand the technical side of product development and many engineering students don't understand the business side of idea development. While many students have amazing ideas, they don't know how to reach out to the other discipline to understand their perspective/knowledge.
- 5.3 Why: Students do not understand the value of I & E in MSOE, in Milwaukee, or even in the whole world. We want to help them develop as I & E leaders, as this knowledge can help them in any future path they decide to take. Early exposure will help students better apply their knowledge to their classes, internships, etc.
- 5.4 Why: Students do not understand the value of I & E in MSOE, in Milwaukee, or even in the whole world. We want to help them develop as I & E leaders, as this knowledge can help them in any future path they decide to take. By developing a culture, we can leave an I & E legacy that can be carried throughout generations even when we don't attend MSOE as students.
- 6 COHORT 2: 2018
- 7 Cohort 1: 2017
- 8 Related Links
Overview
Milwaukee School of Engineering is excited to share with you the strategies we have created for establishing I&E on campus and in our community. We currently have a presence on campus,but feel that it is too disperse and needs to be connected, strengthened, and highlighted as a priority in order to educate and excite people about the power of I&E.
On this page you will find five strategies to create a presence of I&E on our MSOE campus that will help students, faculty, staff, the community, and all other people where our outreach extends to learn and get excited about brainstorming, entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, forming creative solutions, thinking future-forward, prototyping, design thinking, and implementation.
Cohort 6: 2023
Priority 1: Increasing relations between current students at MSOE and alumni
Time-frame
Ideas will be tested over the course of the 23/24 school year and fully implemented in the 24/25.
Point People
Noah Nieberle - Primary
Key Tactics
- Identify current connection between students and alumni
- Ease or improve avenues of communication for students and alumni
- Provide opportunities for groups to interact in established events
Priority 2 : Provide a space for CAECM students to experience 3d concrete printing
Point People - Louisa Essuman
Key Tactics
- Identify building projects ongoing at MSOE through conversations with senior faculty members.
- Talk with people leading on campus maker spaces.
- Conduct surveys to understand the needs of the CAECM student population.
- Research new tech innovations in the Construction space.
Cohort 5: 2022
Priority 1: Recognizing Opportunity Cost for Students Who Want to Participate in I&E
"The loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen" is how Oxford languages defines Opportunity Cost. For many MSOE students, the opportunity cost of engaging in I&E activities as they currently stand (generally campus events) is simply too high; many simply don't see enough value to sacrifice time that they could spend on their coursework and others have already committed themselves to various meetings for student organizations. In this priority, we seek to identify how we can lower the opportunity cost for students to engage in I&E activities
Time-frame
- Ideas tested over the course of the 2022-23 academic year
Point People
- James Siedchlag - Primary
- Ben Paulson - Support
Key Tactics
- Identify specific reasons why students do or do not identify I&E events
- Connect with campus leaders who are involved in the planning of events (I&E and otherwise, for example: Campus Life) to determine what makes a good event for MSOE
- Explore non-event ways that students can engage with I&E content and develop community, for example, a wiki.
- Make it possible for students who don't have room for business and entrepreneurship topics on their course track to engage with that course content outside of classes.
- Maintain events on a regular schedule, allowing students a lengthy, future-track calendar to build their schedules around.
Priority 2: Community Outreach
The resources provided by UIF are beneficial to all majors, and helping more people realize their I&E journey helps us. Based in a larger school in downtown of the most populated city in Wisconsin provides an immense network of possible connections to enhance both UIF and others in the Milwaukee area. By increasing collaboration between student organizations at MSOE, UIF becomes well-known around campus throughout an increasing number of majors, as well as providing all clubs avenues to incorporate I&E in their agendas for a meeting. Collaboration outside of MSOE also increases the quality of knowledge provided at UIF events to students, showcasing alternative viewpoints not available within the current MSOE-networking ecosystem.
Time-frame
- Current contacts with/within tech-focused student organizations.
- 2022-2023 expansion of relationships to include non-tech student organizations.
- 2022-2023 discussion series to be determined with MKE Tech Hub
Point People
- Benjamin Paulson - Primary
- Bansari Modi - Support
Key Tactics
- Expand UIF events to more majors -- beyond current trend of tech-heavy majors. Follow up for student organization outreach.
- Joint-effort workshops between UIF and another student-drive organization. Builds connections for both involved parties, as well as expanding to topics attendees may not be exposed to in their majors.
- Collaborate with Milwaukee entrepreneurs through platforms like MKE Tech Coalition, Milky Way Tech Hub, and Gener8or.
- Build regular series to integrate Milwaukee entrepreneurs with MSOE entrepreneurial mindset.
- Follow up with business platforms to invite UIF-event attendees to spin-out events.
Priority 3: Motivating Others by Making Student Success More Visible
For the majority of human history, it was thought beyond the capabilities of the human body for an individual to run a mile in under four minutes. When Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four minute mile, seven other athletes then accomplished the same within two months. There is invaluable power, and also incredible restrictions, that come with the mindsets we hold in our daily lives. While we can't hope to change everyone's minds instantly, we can work to make students believe that they can succeed with their independent ventures. Through creating more opportunities to display student success, we can help others visualize and pursue their passions.
Time-frame
- Preliminary Tactics to be planned and proposed by the end of 2022
- Permanent fixtures to be implemented around campus by the end of the 2022-2023 school year
Point People
- Asher Sprigler - Primary
- James Siedchlag - Support
Key Tactics
- Work with Student Success coaches in RCAS and the CREATE Institute to research peer motivation
- Collaborate with MSOE Marketing to advertise independent projects through existing digital signage and Online Website
- Establish a permanent display of some variety in The COVE (existing Maker Space)
- Work with the Innovent Center in the Rader School of Business to create a standing record of start-ups
Priority 4: Fostering Creativity Through Entrepreneurial Mindfulness
As an engineering school, MSOE often prioritizes rapid recall of knowledge that requires convergent thinking from students instead of divergent thinking. This needs to change because part of being a successful innovator is embracing creativity and learning to look at a situation through multiple perspectives. Despite what is normally thought of creativity in engineering, the engineering field is one that requires it the most. STEM fields are constantly required to design new ideas to overcome problems and by giving students a chance to practice this we ensure that they are prepared to think outside of the box.
Time-frame
- Planning will be done throughout the 2022-2023 year
- Results should hopefully be seen in the 2023-2024 year when there is a change from trimesters to semesters
Point People
- Bansari Modi
- Asher Sprigler
Key Tactics
- Help to improve Students' Mental, Physical, and Spiritual health through the prototyping and introduction of the MSOE Morning
- Encourage professors to create student led projects that are ambiguous in nature
- Creative thinking workshops in classes
Cohort 4: 2020
Priority 1: Increase Awareness of MSOE's I&E Resources
As we identified in our I&E landscape, building off of past cohorts, we have a ton of I&E resources at MSOE! However, many students only learn about these resources through connections they make in specific classes and with specific people, often half way or later through their academic careers. What if we could introduce MSOE students to these resources right away? What if students could get plugged in to
Time-frame
- Initial plan is by end of 2021 School year
Point People
- Jonathan Wagenknecht
Key Tactics
- Advertise MSOE's I&E resources across campus in the form of posters and advertisements that convey the who, what, when, where, and why of I&E
- Create Hub of MSOE's I&E resources online so students and professors know what is available
- be sure to convey the value behind these resources
- Explain WHAT Innovation, Design Thinking, and Entrepreneurship are
Priority 2: I&E Accesible Tools for MSOE Students
- Portable d.thinking cart on-campus & pop-up d.thinking workshops: The goal of these accesible tools is to push students to practice I&E skills outside of typical academic courses. These accesible tools are a way for all innovators students to reach further than before to network, come up with innovative solutions to problems, and utilize entrepreneurship in the classroom as well as outside of it.
Time-frame
- The initial plan is to have a prototype running by the Winter Quarter of 2020 and will continue on if it succeeds.
Point People
- Sofia Paredes along with other innovators on-campus will be in-charged of this project.
Key Tactics
- Identify the suitable locations for these I&E accesible tools
- Present the data acquired from the pop up d.thinking workshop prototype
- Connect with Academic Heads, Residence Life, Student Life and Create Institute regarding the long-term effect of the project towards the MSOE community
- Request for funding from the school or student government to have a prototype made available
- Each cart will have a ton of post-it notes, markers, and other extra materials that will suit the majors' needs
Priority 3: Community Board
Purpose
Thar goal of this project to create a centralized area which notifies, connects and enhances the I&E landscape of MSOE. The community board will be a focal point for people to be aware of the "maker" resources MSOE has to offer as well as broadcast the success stories of MSOE students.
Strategy
To implement this project the following are key items that need to be addressed:
- The community board needs to be in a location which has a diverse high foot traffic.
- The board itself needs to be catch the observers eye and bring the in to read what is on it.
- Condense all f MSOE's resources into one easy to follow document
- Offer the ability to connect students with similar goals
Time-frame
ideal launch date is during Spring quarter. The physical project can be created at anytime but for the full roll out to happen, concerns over the spread of COVIS-19 need to subside.
Point People
Lead: Alex Wilhelm
Key Tactics
Create a survey to find key areas which feel like they get stuck when trying to innovate or start a business Reach out to department heads that are in charge of the makers spaces to compile the requirements to use the spaces.
Priority 4: Improving student confidence and ability to Spin Out: Story Series with Connections
"There are a lot of successful entrepreneurs who studied at MSOE. Their stories are not being told. We find their stories and we share them each Friday in a short bulleted email."
https://innovationhub.carrd.co
Time-frame
- The newsletter will be sent each week
- Within 4 weeks there should be enough feedback/learning done to uncover target student sentiment
Point People
- Paul Rinaldi
Key Tactics
- Validate market segment of students interested
- Collect stories from campus story champions
- Send newsletter emails(emails or on our msoe uif website on webflow?) with feedback forms to track hypotheses/assumptions (put on a webflow?)
- Present data/results at stakeholder meeting
Cohort 3: 2019
Strategy One: Bringing student ideas to life
Why: Many students on campus have ideas about side projects, businesses, etc. but they don't know how to move forward with an idea, who to connect with, where to obtain funding, etc.
Possible solutions:
- Idea Consulting
- Students ("Ideators") with ideas sit down with a consultant (either UIFellows or students trained by UIFellows) to develop their ideas into action items they can actually walk away with and work on to bring their idea to life. Ideators work through the following activities with a consultant:
- Developing a HMW statement
- Brainstorming ideas for the HMW statement
- Identifying stakeholders
Strategy Two: Encouraging engineering/business major collaboration
Why: Some business students don't understand the technical side of product development and many engineering students don't understand the business side of idea development. While many students have amazing ideas, they don't know how to reach out to the other discipline to understand their perspective/knowledge.
Possible solutions:
- Startup Fair
- Mirroring the BioE Reverse Career Fair that occurs at MSOE, students with an idea would set up booths around a public area (such as our Campus Center) to "pitch" their ideas and obtain feedback, mentors, partners, funding etc. Students looking for projects to work on would walk around the fair and could possibly discover a project to work on, be inspired to develop their own ideas, or be able to network with other like-minded individuals. Industry professionals could also be invited.
Strategy Three: Continuously exposing students to I & E early in their careers
Why: Students do not understand the value of I & E in MSOE, in Milwaukee, or even in the whole world. We want to help them develop as I & E leaders, as this knowledge can help them in any future path they decide to take. Early exposure will help students better apply their knowledge to their classes, internships, etc.
Possible solutions:
- Introducing freshmen to I & E early on in their higher education journey
- Holding d.thinking workshops in PBL classes (such as the Honors courses)
- Helping develop lab procedures through d.thinking
- Training student organizations about how to conduct and leverage the power of d.thinking workshops
- Holding d.thinking workshops to foster growth in student organizations abd help develop/brainstorm new project ideas (geared towards newer organizations)
- Conduct landscape canvas activity in order to help organizations identify key resources available to them (campus, local community, etc.)
- Have a freshman design lab
- This would mirror the senior design labs, but it would only be a trimester long and it would be a smaller-scale project. This could be implemented during the introductory class for each major.
Strategy Four: Strengthening on-campus I & E culture
Why: Students do not understand the value of I & E in MSOE, in Milwaukee, or even in the whole world. We want to help them develop as I & E leaders, as this knowledge can help them in any future path they decide to take. By developing a culture, we can leave an I & E legacy that can be carried throughout generations even when we don't attend MSOE as students.
Possible solutions:
- Having a student I & E council
- This could be an offshoot of UIF, where students take ideas developed by us and continue them when we can't (as we continuously undertake new projects).
- This could be unassociated with UIF. Currently, we have an Investment and Entrepreneurship Club on campus, but it isn't well recognized. We could work with them to develop events and a culture of I & E on campus.
COHORT 2: 2018
Idea 1: #MSOE-Inspire Competition
Summary
#MSOE-Inspire is a competition geared towards teaching students about the process of coming up with new and innovative ideas. This is done through communicating with people from other majors as well as doing everything in a time limit. Students will form at least a group of two members, with a partner from another major. They will have 48 hours to come up with a new and innovative idea and create a prototype or proof of concept. The competition will begin Saturday morning, giving the students the full weekend to work on the project, before concluding with a presentation in fair-style during Monday on free hour. The incentive will be that the winning team will get guidance or funding to help them start a start up, meanwhile the losing teams will have a good start on something to work on or pursue should they want to continue down that path.
Goal
The goal of this project is to encourage students to be more involved within their community and instil a sense of entrepreneurship. As it stands, it is a topic that is rarely tackled at the school, and when it is, its very low profile.The other goal is to encourage communication between the majors in the school.
Materials
10 Tables
Attendees
>20 Students
5 Judges
5 Faculty
Location
Todd Wehr Auditorium
Idea 2: Dog Mid-Semester Destresser
Summary
When speaking with MSOE students we notice that they often lose their sense of wonder along with their enthusiasm for school after the first semester of their freshman year. We want to make sure that they are able to continue succeeding along with having a good school life balance. To do this we interviewed a few students and we noticed that they tend to be the most stressed around midterms around weeks 5-7. This is even more apparent during the fall semester when they have no breaks during the semester and feels like the longest of the three. To remedy this we will be providing therapy dogs and pizza during Week 5 to ensure students are able to get through the ‘hump’ of the semester. We hope that this will allow students to be happier throughout their stay in the school.
Goal
The goal of this project is to ensure students are able to make it through the mid semester hump where all of their midterms are beginning to take a toll on them. We want to ensure that MSOE students are able to keep their school life balance and not just focus on their school work at all times.
Materials
5 Dogs
10 Pizzas
Attendees
>40 Students
Location
Campus Center’s Multipurpose Room
Idea 3: Startup Meetup
Summary
For our startup meetup idea, we would have a big startup fair, where students with ideas can come and present either their polished startup ideas, or their very early stage ideas to a crowd of students who want to participate in a startup, but don’t necessarily have a specific startup idea. After the presentations all of the attendees will have time to walk around and connect with the founders of other startups. The goal of this whole event would be to help the student founders fill gaps in their company with other students at MSOE. This way not only are we providing an invaluable resource of a talent pool to these student founders, but we are also providing a way for other students, who don’t have a specific idea but want to be involved in entrepreneurship, a way to follow their passion and start innovating on someone else’s idea.
Goal
The goal of this quarterly event would be for to increase the innovation related opportunities that are on campus for students to participate in them. It also is an interesting and low cost way for the school to help and support these startups with resources besides just money. It would provide the talent pool of the student body and allow everyone to work on something they are passionate about, whether they came to the event with an idea, or came looking for one.
Materials
Tables
Microphone
Fliers for each startup
Attendees
>35 Student
15 Industry Representatives
Location
Todd Wehr Auditorium
Idea 4: Funky Fridays
Summary
To prototype this type of event I hosted a small study group in my room and compared two scenarios. For the first part of the study group everyone sat quietly and did not interact amongst each other however once I started playing some music and passed around a plate of cookies everyone started to warm up and started mingling and working together. At the end of the study group I interviewed some of the attendees and tried to get their opinions on if they thought this type of event could help boost the campus vibe between everyone on campus. We hope to do this, but on a much larger scale in the Campus Center. This is where many students hangout and do homework and would be a cool place to have everyone gather to chill on Friday afternoons for free cookies and a DJ.
Goal
The main goal of this recurring event would be to help MSOE students destress and take a break from their academic studies. Also this would be a good way to improve the connection of the students, and create a more unified student body.
Materials
2 Large Speakers
Laptop w/ Music
Attendees
15-20 Students
1 DJ
Location
Campus Center 3rd Floor
Cohort 1: 2017
Strategy One: Lack of Strong Entrepreneurial Foundation
Our solution was to create a dedicated space on campus that would allow students to come together, hold events, meetings, run workshops, and be entrepreneurs. This space would enable thinkers and tinkerers to ponder their ideas. It wouldhaveaconference roomsformeetings to take place - especially those involving proprietary information. Thespacewouldbe outlined as follows:
What does it have (~1200 sq ft space)?
What does it offer?
Strategy Two: Improve Overbearing IP/Patent Policy
The IP policy for MSOE outlines a process in which MSOE is involved every step of the way and should know of any ideas emerging from use of campus resources immediately. The policy is written in vague terms when it comes to what qualifies an idea as belongingtothembut is very explicit when it comes to qualifying the only circumstances under which an idea or project is solely that the of the student who created it. Many students are not aware of this, and many faculty have not thoroughly read through the policy if at all. The problem truly stems from the university’s reaction to students creating ideas and jumping on their intuition.
Rewriting the policy is a good start to driving the mindset and reaction of staff and faculty members here towards truly embracing student’s creativity and innovative leaps. The policy should also define a lesser imposition on faculty members to report any and all of their breakthroughs and ideas as those of the university. It should fall under the same or similar rules to students. MSOE claims to have the desire to drive forward ideas that benefit the greater good of anyone and everyone, but have yet to act on such claims significantly.
Suggestions of revisions are below (in unofficial terminology):
- WHOLE IP POLICY: If the idea was of the student and the student has demonstrated control of the project and has been the driving force for the idea/business/project, it is theirs. If the student used MSOE resources including and limited to class time, seed funding, regular use of space, and a faculty champion, they are to attribute 5% of earnings back to MSOE.
- WHOLE IP POLICY: If the student can demonstrate and convince the current president that they were able to do this without MSOE resources or intervention, the idea is wholly the students. If not, MSOE is entitled to 10% equity or royalties.
Feedback: having things simpler might not work - easier to flex things one particular way or another if it’s too simple. In this case, things will need to be more explicit. Current policy is also not explicit with some things, leaving room for MSOE to be overbearing
Strategy Three: Inspire and Create a Startup Community
MSOE I&E Lecture Series is the first step to building a strong, connected and vibrant I&E community on campus. Every week the Lecture Series will host a new speaker who will present on the theme of innovation and entrepreneurship. Each lecture session will provide free food for audience members and Q&A sessions after the presentation.
Topics are not strictly focused on business and engineering! Anyone who deals with innovation can be a presenter. Artists, musicians, dancers, actors, designers - many different careers use I&E and are topics for discussion. The goal of the lecture series is to inspire, teach and motivate viewers to explore I&E. By generating conversations and excitement around I&E, it will provide market research and support to further develop I&E activities, facilities and venues across campus.
Strategy Four: Series of Innovative and Entrepreneurial Events
Once the first step of creating the makerspace oncampusis complete, there a number of events, ideas, and activities that thespace willbe used for. One way thespace willserve I&E is through different events on campus that are listed below. These include (but are not limited to) Speakers and TED Talks, Pop-Up Classes, an annual Make-a-thon, I&E Workshops, and a number of other events that are sure to pop up as thespace becomesutilized and available to other groups on and off of campus. These events can be brought to thespace bystudent organizations, facultyandstaff, interested students, the community, professors for class applications, theunviersity, and a number of other avenues. Findexample ofactivities below.
Speakers and TED Talks
Bringing speakers to our campus and our makerspace totalk about I&E would be an amazing way to motivate students to get involved and get thinking about I&E. We would like speakers to cover topics such as startups, design thinking, entrepreneurial financing, and many other topics. We would really like to see the TED-X Speakers come to our campus and present to our students, faculty and staff, the community and any other interested party. TED talks would be a great way to expand knowledge and interest in the I&E field. We would also like to see our own faculty speak about the research that they are a part of outside of classes and office hours so that we can get to know what it is that they are truly passionate about.
Pop-Up Classes
These classes are an opportunity for those with experience in I&E to share that experience and for those who want to learn more/ expand their knowledge to continue to grow in I&E. Classes would cover topics such as brainstorming, prototyping, design thinking, and creating innovative solutions. === Make-a-thon
An annual Make-a-thon wouldprovide students an opportunity to collaborate between disciplines and to work together to think in terms of I&E and come up with new, future-forward ideas. This is an event for students to come together, brainstorm, prototype, andpossible implementand ideathat they are passionate about. === I&E Workshops
Workshops would be a more hands-on version of the pop-up classes that would allow students the opportunity to drop in a session and learn a few things about I&E by physically prototyping, brainstorming, and creating ideas.
Strategy Five: Lack of Involvement from Staff/Faculty to Ensure we Move Forward
The key to success through change on campus stems from transparent communication between staff/faculty and students. Tomaintanconstant transparent communication, the campus community would benefit from a monthly fish bowl exercise between staff/faculty and students. The fish bowl exercise would consist of a safe space for students to communicate with higher level staff/faculty who are stakeholders at MSOE and have the power to implement change. The exercisewould havetworounds: 1) Staff/faculty in the middle and students on the outside 2) Students in the middle and staff/faculty on the outside. Students would submit any question they wanted to discuss via an anonymous survey and a facilitator would run the discussion between staff/faculty and students. Staff/faculty would ensure thatthe space is welcoming for students to feel comfortable sharing how they feel about campus. The fishbowl exercisescould be broken down into categories per month such as academics, student life, athletics, internships, etc. Thefish bowl exercise would also be live streamed and recorded for students and staff/faculty that could not attend that month's meeting.
Makerspace:
Stay tuned! There is more to come on the Makerspace as we get information and develop the space furthur. This will be an exciting space for the internal operations, external operations, community, and students, facultyand staffat MSOE. It will be a space for events, activities, studying, collaboration, speakers, outside events, community involvement, and many MANY other applications.
Key Features: Movable furniture, Prototyping supplies, Technology, Other
Related Links
Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) UIF
Milwaukee School of Engineering Student Priorities
2019: Miwaukee School of Engineering Landscape Canvas
2018: Miwaukee School of Engineering Landscape Canvas
Milwaukee School of Engineering Website
2019 Candidates:
2018 Fellows:
2017 Fellows:
Related links
