Epicenter Stories

Skills for Industry

Epicenter — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Deloitte Managing Partner Teresa Briggs describes the types of skills engineers must possess to be successful in industry. These not only include the ability to

Engineers as Designers

Epicenter — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

To explore ways to solve the pain points of undergraduate engineering students, the Epicenter hosted a design challenge workshop as part of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Week activities.

Solving Real Problems

Epicenter — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Purdue Ph.D student Sean Connell is an entrepreneurial engineer who is developing an innovative approach to improving wound care. As the co-founder of MedTric Biotech,

Design in Engineering

Epicenter — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Olin College is committed to design playing an important role in the education of their engineering students. Here Assistant Professors Lawrence Neeley and Mark Chang

Engineering is Innovation

Epicenter — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Within Humboldt State University’s Environmental Resources Engineering Program, Lonny Grafman helps his students apply their technical education and skills to tackling real-world challenges. Here he

Influencer @ Northeastern

Epicenter — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Matt Bilotti is pursuing a double major in entrepreneurship and marketing at Northeastern University. He is president of the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club, which boasts 100

Wise Words

Epicenter — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A chance meeting with Google's Larry Page inspired Stanford engineering student Lauryn Isford to take risks and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit.

A Purpose Beyond the Profit

Epicenter — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Tyler Whitsett University of Michigan-Dearborn Class of 2013 Major: Supply Chain Management As I enter into my senior year at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and

A Duke Entrepreneur

Epicenter — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Vidhan Agrawal Duke University Class of 2012 Majors: Biomedical Engineering and Economics When I first came to Duke University in the Fall semester of 2008

Return the Inspiration

Epicenter — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Taylor Harvey of the Illinois Institute of Technology strives to unite Chicago’s student and professional communities of entrepreneurs.

Engineering Change in Uganda

Epicenter — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Erin Fleurant and Misaki Nozawa are co-presidents of the Tufts University chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Erin Fleurant Class of 2013 Major: Child Development and

Building a VirtualU

Epicenter — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Caroline Pugh of Virginia Tech is helping to change the way we shop for clothes online. Caroline Pugh Virginia Tech Class of 2014 Major: Business Information

Challenges as Opportunities

Epicenter — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Jeremy Fiance, co-founder of the UC Berkeley chapter of The Kairos Society, believes that global challenges are entrepreneurs' greatest opportunities.

IDEA Accelerator

Epicenter — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Christopher Wolfel of Northeastern University, CEO of IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator, strives to make the program the best of its kind in the world.

Learning To Lead

Epicenter — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Meghan Lang of the University of Michigan-Dearborn describes her journey from shy sophomore to president of the university’s chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Coding and Community

Epicenter — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Momchil Tomov builds community at Princeton University with events like HackPrinceton and strives for inter-college collaboration around entrepreneurship.

The Digital Frontier

Epicenter — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Zachary Sperske from the University of California, Santa Barbara provides opportunities for entrepreneurial engineering students who want to explore the digital frontier.

Making Learning Social

Epicenter — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Daniel Dalton, a recent graduate of UC San Diego, is making learning social with Yodel, his new social matching platform for students.

The Entrepreneur as a Hacker

Epicenter — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Hongwen Henry Kang from Carnegie Mellon sees similarities between hackers and entrepreneurs: they both solve problems, take advantage of opportunity, and neither ask for permission.

From Real Estate to Tech

Epicenter — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In four years, Julian Jung from Northeastern University went from the bottom of the real estate food chain to millions in sales and a very personal new tech project.

Built by and for Entrepreneurs

Chase Harmon — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Chase Harmon of Stanford University shares two opportunities created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs: E2.0 and Stanford's new eDorm.

A Taste for New Ventures

Epicenter — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Starting a salsa company from scratch whetted Patrick Schwager’s appetite for entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs Are Artists

Epicenter — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

JD Wagner asks "What is the difference between entrepreneurs and artists?" and shares his activities at Oakland University.

A World of Technology Entrepreneurship

Epicenter — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

John Melas-Kyriazi describes how Stanford University's Mayfield Fellows Program and StartX opened his eyes to the world of technology entrepreneurship.

Planting a SEED

Elliot Roth — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Elliot Roth's pumpkin-explosion business planted a seed for founding a new engineering and design club at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Teaching Entrepreneurship in Engineering

Epicenter — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Babs Carryer speaks to the importance of engineers learning entrepreneurship and shares a story from her years teaching at Carnegie Mellon University.

A New Direction in Education

Epicenter — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Carl Shan from the University of California, Berkeley, describes how his school's chapter of the Kairos Society has inspired and impacted his national education venture.

1,000 Pitches and 1,000 Light Bulbs

Epicenter — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Scott Christopher from the University of Michigan explains how a truckload of light bulbs came to represent 1,000 Pitches, the world’s largest student-run elevator pitch competition.

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Kyle Bye — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Entrepreneurship is becoming a way of life at the University of Virginia. Five members of the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem describe how.

A Space for Design and Engineering

Epicenter — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ph.D. student Cory Hixson describes Virginia Tech's design-focused living-learning community.

A Born Innovator

Epicenter — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ian Cinnamon was born to make things, and he's had the opportunity to do so with some of MIT's brightest minds at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.

A Vast Ocean of Opportunities

Epicenter — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Nate Newman's pursuit of innovation has led him to obtain patents, write a successful grant proposal, and found an engineering company to develop marine ecosystem monitoring technology—all before graduating from high school.

Nurturing Curiosity and Creativity

Epicenter — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Paula Gangopadhyay shares how The Henry Ford museums inspire innovation by nurturing curiosity and creativity in children.

Offering Engineers a Chance to Build Businesses

Epicenter — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Venture For America is a two-year fellowship that places talented graduates at emerging start-ups and early-stage companies in lower-cost cities.

Empowering Student Entrepreneurs

Epicenter — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Brian Kidwell, president of San Diego State University's Entrepreneur Society, is helping to promote entrepreneurship across disciplines on his campus.

Changing the Way We Use Technology

Epicenter — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Catalin Voss tells the story of how he went from being a young programmer in Germany to a Stanford student and an Innovator in Residence at StartX.

Student-Driven Innovation

Epicenter — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Kurt Thoroughman from Washington University in St. Louis tells a story about a group of young engineers at his school and considers the ways faculty can support student innovation.

Don't celebrate failure. Learn from it.

Epicenter — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Rick Klau from the Google Ventures Startup Lab shared advice and kicked off an evening of small-group roundtable discussions with entrepreneurs and students at a recent event hosted by Google Ventures and Epicenter.

Designing Games for Education

Epicenter — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Six teams competed to design new educational games in just one day at a recent event hosted by GameDesk and Epicenter at Stanford University.

Entrepreneurs Build to Learn

Epicenter — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and private equity gurus shared important lessons learned with students from across the nation at the 10th Annual University Private Equity Summit in Utah.

A Deep Dive to Rethink Engineering Education

Epicenter — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Big Beacon is an Illinois not-for-profit organization catalyzing a global social movement to transform engineering education.

Heart to Heart

Epicenter — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Carnegie Mellon engineering alumnus Doug Bernstein is saving lives with his pediatric cardiology startup PecaLabs.

Blog: Innovation in Action at Draper University

Epicenter — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Stanford University student Grace Wang is learning how to change the world as an entrepreneur and innovator at Silicon Valley school Draper University of Heroes. Here, Grace details her experiences as part of the inaugural class from April 17 to June 7, 2013.

Viterbi Startup Garage

Epicenter — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A new technology accelerator program in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering offers funding, space and resources to student and alumni entrepreneurs.

BetaVersity – Taking Innovation to School

Epicenter — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Student Ambassadors Sean Maroni, Lucas Arzola, Blake Margraff and Jared Karp have founded a startup, BetaVersity, to build innovation ecosystems at universities across the country.

Entrepreneurship: Its Role in Engineering Education

Epicenter — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT

An article by Epicenter's Tom Byers, Tina Seelig, Sheri Sheppard and Phil Weilerstein is featured in the summer issue of the National Academy of Engineering journal The Bridge.

Setting Entrepreneurship Education in Motion

Epicenter — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A Q&A with Bucknell engineering professor Joe Tranquillo on his year with Epicenter and the Stanford Technology Ventures Program

From Prototype to Company

Epicenter — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Nathan Furr from Brigham Young University discovered a gap between understanding and practice of commercialization when he taught an interdisciplinary innovation class with business and engineering school students.

A World of Design Thinking

Epicenter — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Design Thinking Action Lab, a free online course taught by Epicenter's Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, brought together more than 45,000 participants to create the largest design team in the world.

Childlike Thinking in Engineering

Epicenter — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Design Thinking Action Lab class member Melanie Thomas shares the connections she's found between design thinking, her work at Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company and her studies as an undergraduate engineering student at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Community-Driven Change

Epicenter — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Class member Cathy Stephensen hopes to apply her design thinking skills to help drive change in the community and economy of her hometown in Scotland.

Driven to Learn

Epicenter — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Vignesh Vishwanathan, an engineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, sees many connections between design thinking and his internship designing and building parts for electric racecars.

The Landscape of Empathy

Epicenter — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The design thinking process helps Bryndie Beach use different perspectives to approach issues that she deals with as the manager of a custom home community in Carmel, California.

Student Innovators Lead Change in Higher Education

Epicenter — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Students in the University Innovation Fellows program are driving a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at their schools.

A Global Perspective

Epicenter — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Design Thinking Action Lab class member and engineering student Wade Colburn learned about the impact of design thinking and entrepreneurship aboard a ship during Semester at Sea.

Tips for First-Time Entrepreneurs

Epicenter — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Entrepreneur Rebecca Gilbert offers young entrepreneurs tips and basic business strategies for starting a company and managing its early development.

UNCF HBCU Innovation Summit

Epicenter — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Leaders and faculty from historically black colleges and universities around the country gathered at Stanford University at the first annual UNCF HBCU Innnovation Summit to share ideas about how to encourage students, especially underrepresented minorities, to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Innovation and Determination

Epicenter — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

University Innovation Fellow Atin Mittra led a service learning trip to the Dominican Republic's Barrio Blanco and learned a lesson about determination in the process.

Brechtian Estrangement and the Effect on Learning

Epicenter — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Mary Wilcox, a University Innovation Fellow from Arizona State University, discovered the immeasurable value of experiential engineering in Ghana and Togo this summer.

You Must Be This Tall to Start a Business

Epicenter — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Atin Mittra, a University Innovation Fellow from the University of Maryland, helped facilitate the first Young Innovators Camp for high school juniors. During the two week workshop, Mittra learned just as much from his students as they did from him.

Big Questions: Epicenter Research Summit 2014

Epicenter — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Educators, researchers and students gathered at Stanford University in August for the first Epicenter Research Summit on the topic of entrepreneurship and innovation in engineering education.

Sheri Sheppard Wins National Teaching Award

Epicenter — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Sheri Sheppard of Stanford University and Epicenter has been named a 2014 U.S. Professor of the Year.

Ben Riddle, Furman University

Epicenter — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

January 20, 2015 - Humans of the University Innovation Fellows program: Ben Riddle, Furman University

New Pathways Schools Selected

Epicenter — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

February 2, 2015 - 25 U.S. institutions join Epicenter's national Pathways to Innovation Program.

123 Students Named University Innovation Fellows

Epicenter — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

February 25, 2015 - 123 students from 52 schools joined the University Innovation Fellows program in Spring 2015. New Fellows met for the first time at the University Innovation Fellows Annual Meetup 2015.

Epicenter FIGS Team Launches Engineering Majors Survey

Epicenter — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

February 25, 2015 - Epicenter's Fostering Innovative Generations Studies (FIGS) team has launched a major longitudinal study of engineering students' interests and career goals surrounding innovation and entrepreneurship.

Change Agents Activated

Epicenter — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

March 5, 2015 - Students take the lead in changing higher education at the University Innovation Fellows 2015 Annual Meetup.

Are Our Students Actually Learning Anything?

Epicenter — Wed, 06 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

May 6, 2015 - Pathways program advisor and Lehigh University Professor John Ochs ponders whether our engineering students are truly learning anything. Is integrating entrepreneurship the answer?

Evidence of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Epicenter — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

June 9, 2015 - Dr. Helen L. Chen, member of Epicenter's FIGS research team, shares three questions for faculty to consider when designing experiences and documenting evidence of an entrepreneurial mindset in students.

The Melting Pot

Epicenter — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

June 10, 2015 - The Universidad del Turabo in Puerto Rico, a Pathways to Innovation Program school, recently held the first event in their entrepreneurship and innovation event collection The Melting Pot Series.

Why It’s Imperative To Teach Entrepreneurship

Epicenter — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

August 31, 2015 - Epicenter founding director Tina Seelig, author of the new book Insight Out, shares her thoughts on why it's so important to teach students an entrepreneurial mindset.

Orientation Forward: Beginning the Jewell Journey with Creativity and Innovation

Epicenter — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

September 15, 2015 - Bradley Dice, a University Innovation Fellow from William Jewell College, shares his perspective on an event his team held for the incoming class of students as part of Epicenter's #uifresh initiative.

Spotlight on Pathways Success in the City of Lights

Epicenter — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

October 13, 2015 - In October 2015, Epicenter’s Pathways to Innovation Program held a workshop at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas exploring the vital relationship between institutions and their off-campus ecosystems.

Just Make It

Epicenter — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

November 23, 2015 - Students forged new collaborations and learned how to connect their disciplines with fashion and tech at the University Innovation Fellows Kent State Regional Meetup.

The Power of a Peer Community

Epicenter — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

January 10, 2016 - University Innovation Fellows shared strategies for student-led change in higher education at the James Madison University Regional Meetup in November 2015.

Prototyping to Prove a Concept

Epicenter — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

February 4, 2016 - University Innovation Fellow Tanner Wheadon created a mobile prototyping cart to test the need for a permanent makerspace at Utah Valley University.

How to Activate Student Changemakers

Epicenter — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

April 8, 2016 - More than 300 University Innovation Fellows and their faculty sponsors spent four days in Silicon Valley learning how to make lasting change in higher education.

InVenture Prize Comes to Clemson

Epicenter — Tue, 10 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

May 10, 2016 - A partnership between Epicenter community members brought the InVenture Prize competition to Clemson University this spring.

Creating a Connected City

Epicenter — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

June 10, 2016 - At the William Jewell College Regional Meetup, University Innovation Fellows took part in a city-wide event to help Kansas City become a smart and sustainable city.

A Journey towards I&E

Epicenter — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

June 20, 2016 - The road to integrating innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education is never an easy one. Pathways program co-leader Alizabeth M. Sánchez-López shares how the Universidad del Turabo has propelled their campus forward despite Puerto Rico's current economic challenges.