Ambassadors

Exciting Projects From the 2020 Engineering Unleashed Ambassadors

by Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Curious about Engineering Unleashed Ambassadors, who they are, and what they are up to? Wonder no more! 

Over the past 8 months, the first cohort of Engineering Unleashed Ambassadors have initiated their work to connect their professional societies to KEEN and to the entrepreneurial mindset. 

14 KEEN faculty came together beginning in October 2020 to plan strategies for raising awareness of the entrepreneurial mindset within their societies and to learn from each other about their professional goals. Each Ambassador is an advocate for the entrepreneurial mindset, since they have each seen the impact of the entrepreneurial mindset on student learning and on their own teaching. 

As part of their preparation, they had the opportunity to acquire useful tools through a customized curriculum and monthly coaching designed by Julia Williams. Check out a few of the planned projects:

Jean Andino (Associate Professor, Arizona State University)

• Jean is working with the Senior Director of Academic Programs and Professional Development in the Society of Hispanic Engineers (SHiPE) in order to highlight the importance of the entrepreneurial mindset for students and their careers.

Louis DiBerardino (Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Ohio Northern University)

• Louis is collaborating with the American Society of Biomechanics and is working to get a session at their conference focused on the entrepreneurial mindset.

Nadiye Erdil (Associate Professor, University of New Haven)

• Nadiye is organizing a Panel Discussion of entrepreneurial mindset for the Engineering Education Track at the IISE 2021 Conference.

John Estell (Professor of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Ohio Northern University)

• John is engaging with both ABET and ASEE (he is now the Division III PIC Chair) in his role as an Ambassador.

Robert Nagel (Associate Professor, James Madison University)

• Robert is working with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to identify best practices for collegiate chapters on professional development to explore the possibilities of informing professional development with the entrepreneurial mindset.

Bill Schell (Associate Professor, Montana State University)

• Bill is a member of the board of the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM). In this role, he is discussing potential partnerships as part of new strategic planning exercises that reflect numerous changes brought to professional societies in light of the pandemic.

Timothy Takahashi (Professor of Practice, Arizona State University) and Sid Gunasekaran (Assistant Professor, University of Dayton)

• Timothy and Sid are working in conjunction with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Timothy is interested in encouraging the use of the entrepreneurial mindset in real world design projects for students, while Sid is planning to do a Lunch and Learn on the entrepreneurial mindset for his local AIAA section.

Wujie Zhang (Associate Professor, Milwaukee School of Engineering)

• Wujie is collaborating with the American Chemical Society to introduce EM as part of the ACS and American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) educational outreach initiative. The program pairs chemists (coaches) with AACT teacher members in elementary, middle, and high schools. Coaches accepted into the program will have the opportunity to form a valuable relationship with a teacher by volunteering face-to-face over the course of a school year.