KEEN grant will nurture entrepreneurial engineers at Ohio State

Last summer, The Ohio State University became the newest member of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN)—a coalition of engineering programs from across the nation committed to preparing its students with an entrepreneurial mindset.

With 33 partnering institutions, KEEN, part of the Kern Family Foundation, has become a network of hundreds of engineering faculty working together to develop best practices in engineering education.

A new 18-month grant from KEEN will support Ohio State in equipping its engineering students with a mindset to be more curious about the changing world, make connections from disparate information, and create extraordinary value for themselves and their communities.

Under the leadership of the Department of Engineering Education, the grant will help incorporate entrepreneurial minded learning into core engineering courses, while also adding five courses to the curriculum each academic year. KEEN defines an entrepreneurial mindset as consisting of three core components: curiosity, connections and creating value.

Department Chair Monica Cox said the grant has the opportunity to build motivated leaders early in their collegiate experience so when they arrive in the workforce, they are solutions-based, collaborative and entrepreneurially minded. 

In celebration of Ohio State’s partnership with KEEN, the Department of Engineering Education will host a public forum focused on entrepreneurial minded learning. The forum is set for Tuesday, March 6 from 3:30-4:40 p.m. at The Blackwell. Visit go.osu.edu/CHWV for more information.

by Meggie Biss, College of Engineering Communications | biss.11@osu.edu