New SEAS Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>This is seriously sweet, I wish it had been around when I was there. I would've said to hell with Compsci.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.engineering.columbia.edu/announcements/2007/Entrepreneurship/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.engineering.columbia.edu/announcements/2007/Entrepreneurship/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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New SEAS Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship</p>

<p>Engineers and applied scientists play a critical role in creating new technologies and starting new businesses. But the opportunities for establishing a viable innovation in a garage or basement are rapidly giving way to the need for advanced training in finance, marketing, and intellectual property management. In order to give budding SEAS entrepreneurs a leg up on the competition, in November the Committee on Instruction approved the creation of a new undergraduate minor in technological entrepreneurship.</p>

<p>“Embracing entrepreneurship broadens the mission of SEAS beyond teaching and research,” says Interim Dean Gerald Navratil, who has made entrepreneurship education a priority for the School. “It is an extension of our community-based learning approach to undergraduate education and allows our students to apply their imaginations and technical skills to benefit people’s lives through technology ventures.”</p>

<p>The interdisciplinary minor will consist of five courses (worth 15 credits) from a list of approved SEAS and Business School courses. “Managing Technological Innovation,” an engineering course required for the minor, will help students understand managing technological innovation, with a focus on managing new products and processes from conception through market diffusion. The other engineering courses will provide students with a focused look at the development and diffusion of new technologies from both a commercial and social perspective. The business courses will allow students to gain a fundamental understanding of financial management and market strategies.</p>

<p>According to Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Jack McGourty, the minor is structured so that students who come up with viable product or process ideas will be able to work on their realization throughout their undergraduate careers. This will include supporting students who want to work on their ideas as independent projects and later as senior design projects. SEAS will encourage students to work on their ideas with faculty members. The Dean’s Office will coordinate the minor and will work actively with students and faculty to provide co-curricular opportunities to support their ideas.</p>

<p>Students interested in entrepreneurship can also participate in co-curricular activities (lectures, conferences, contests, and other events) sponsored by the Center for Career Education, the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship (part of the Business School), and other Columbia organizations.</p>

<p>McGourty sees the undergraduate minor as a critical first step in establishing SEAS as a leader in entrepreneurship education. “We have the potential to create entrepreneurship programming not only for SEAS undergraduates and graduate students, but also for local Harlem public schools, local entrepreneurs, and nearby businesses,” he says. “Our goal is to stimulate the creation and growth of technology ventures among a range of people, from Columbia students and faculty to local entrepreneurs.”</p>

<p>Sophomores interested in the minor in technological entrepreneurship should consider beginning the coursework in the spring of 2008. For more information, please contact Dean McGourty at <a href="mailto:jm723@columbia.edu">jm723@columbia.edu</a> .

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<p>Not. Freaking. Bad.</p>

2

<p>Interesting. SEAS is quickly becoming the college for analytically-inclined kids who like math/science and want to make a lot of money instead of spending their lives in dead-end engineering jobs. Seems like they’re carving an nice little niche.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I’m wondering whether the strides SEAS is making on that front hinder the ability of SEAS to make itself competitive with the traditional engineering powerhouse schools.</p>

3

<p>frankly, i’m ok with it even if it does hinder that secondary goal. we’re never going to have the resources to compete with an MIT or Caltech or Purdue in traditional engineering research. If you’re not going to change the world by helping to build the next space shuttle, you might as well try to change the world by applying an analytical ability with a business understanding.</p>

<p>traditional engineering skills are becoming a commodity. if I need someone to design my circuit board or oversee a mineral processing plant, someone from IIT (at half the cost) is probably just as good as a SEAS grad. If SEAS grads plan to compete based on innovation, people/management skills, well-rounded understanding of the world, and general American ballsyness, that’s great. If true, that’s a plan to make us relevant over the next 20 years.</p>

4

<p>Wow, this sounds really cool! Just another reason to attend SEAS if I get admitted(fat chance; I was deferred ED).</p>

<p>I agree with Denzera on the topic of engineering. Quite frankly, almost no one wants to be an engineer after college, at least the way engineering jobs are now. If you go to places like MIT, most students are more interested in going to a hedge fund and earning millions of dollars designing mathematical algorithms than becoming, for example, a mechanical engineer. I think I saw a quote somewhere here about this that was something to the effect of “Engineering companies don’t pay MIT students what they’re worth, so MIT students go to hedge funds where they are paid what they are truly worth.” While engineering is no doubt a worthy and important profession, it simply does not pay well, comparatively to other jobs a smart, mathematically- or business-savvy person can get(starting a business, working for a hedge fund etc).</p>

5

<p>This just from the 08-09 SEAS bulletin:</p>

<p>Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship</p>

<p>Minimum: 15 points </p>

<p>1-3. Required courses:
ENGI E2261: Introduction to accounting and finance (3.0 points)
BUSI W3020: Introduction to marketing and marketing management (3.0 points)
IEOR E4998: Mnaging technological innovation and entrepreneurship (3.0 points) </p>

<p>4-5. Electives (either two courses from list A or one course from list A and one from list B): </p>

<p>A. Engineering electives (at least one)
CHEN E4020: Protection of industrial and business property (3.0 points)
CIEN E4136: Entrepreneurship in civil engineering and construction (3.0 points)
COMS W4444: Programming and problem solving (3.0 points)
BMEN E3998: Projects in biomedical engineering (3.0 points)
IEOR E4550: Entrepreneurial business creation for engineers (3.0 points)
ISME E4310: The manufacturing enterprise (3.0 points) </p>

<p>Either SCNC W3010: Science, technology, and society (3.0 points)
or
URBS V3310: Science and technology in urban environments (3.0 points)
(but not both) </p>

<p>B. Other electives (no more than one)
ECON W4280: Corporate finance (3.0 points)
BUSI W3010: Managing human behavior in the organization (3.0 points)
IEOR W4308: Industrial budgeting and finance control (3.0 points)</p>

6

<p>You are all lucky sons of beeches.</p>

<p>That is all.</p>

7

<p>this is awesome!</p>

<p>BUSI W3010: Managing human behavior in the organization (3.0 points)
Why didn’t I know about this class?</p>

<p>BUSI W3020: Introduction to marketing and marketing management (3.0 points)
This class was BADASS</p>

8

<p>cerberus, do undergrads take BUSI classes at the school of continuing education or at the business school itself?</p>

9

<p>My marketing class was at the b-school, taught by a b-school professor, conducted like a b-school class, aligned with the b-school schedule, but all undergraduates :)</p>

<p>Once a week for 3 hours</p>