The Deming Center: Where Engineering and Entrepreneurship Meet, continued

Entrepreneurship student Kate Tallman, left, greets new program director Kathy Simon, who joined the center in fall 2001.

In December, a team of engineering graduate students won third place and $750 in the graduate division of the 2001 Bank One Business Plan Competition. SynchroStatics, founded by Shreve Caile, Jeff Hellings, Amy Javernick, and Ryan Linderman, won the prize with a plan to provide researchers with tools to better understand and build atomic and molecular structures. Sponsored by the Deming Center, the competition offers students the opportunity to present a comprehensive business plan that supports an innovative concept for a product or service.

Meanwhile, the general engineering course, "Invention and Innovation" is attracting attention as engineering students obtain financial support and patents for their designs. The course enables students to invent a product with significant marketplace potential, and in the process, students get a hands-on introduction to product development and entrepreneurship in a small-class setting. The course also allows students to exploit the state-of-the-art CAD/CAM capabilities of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory.

In addition, the Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program offers undergraduates a nine-hour elective mini-track in entrepreneurship. The mini-track meets the criteria for technical electives, gives students the opportunity to explore topics in business and entrepreneurship, and addresses the growing demand for this type of education.

http://bus.colorado.edu/centers/entrep/home.htm