Outcomes of recent efforts at rice university to incorporate entrepreneurship concepts into interdisciplinary capstone design

Many engineering departments use the capstone engineering design experience to introduce students to additional skills that will berequired of them in professional practice. Two skills that can help young engineers are the ability to work in interdisciplinary teamsand a good understanding of the business implications of their work. Young engineers entering an industry job are likely to beimmediately placed into a division or team that is comprised of people from a wide variety of educational backgrounds, includingother engineering disciplines and, depending on the industry, individuals with business, marketing, public relations, policy orscience backgrounds. While students often leave their undergraduate education with a firm grasp on the fundamentals ofengineering, they often have not been trained to consider the business aspects of their work. This paper describes the efforts andearly outcomes at Rice University to incorporate entrepreneurship concepts into our interdisciplinary capstone design program.