Although primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) are well positioned to provide innovation and entrepreneurship training to students early in their career, direct and meaningful exposure to a commercial/industrial ecosystem, including technology translation, is rarely part of the undergraduate curriculum. In our cross-disciplinary research group, the Union College Aerogel Laboratory, undergraduate students work alongside chemistry and mechanical engineering faculty mentors and peers, and across disciplinary boundaries. Students and early-career (bachelors-degree) graduates have contributed significantly to a variety of research projects resulting in journal publications, patents and a start-up company. This presentation will highlight the involvement of students (and faculty members!) in research and entrepreneurship that has been enabled by funding from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and Partnership for Innovation (PFI) programs. These are all programs in which faculty members from PUIs are eligible to participate but rarely do. In addition to involving students meaningfully in fundamental and applied research, we are currently piloting a research and entrepreneurship practicum experience to engage students in developing entrepreneurial ideas and learning what is involved in bringing technology developed through research to the marketplace. The curriculum is bootstrapped from existing NSF I-Corps materials and methods and is providing the students with substantial entrepreneurial experience at precisely the point at which such training could have maximal impact: prior to entering graduate school or the STEM workforce.

Engaging in entrepreneurial activities at a predominantly undergraduate institution

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.