A Three-Semester Program
Highlights of the three-semester program include:
- Participating in entrepreneurial courses and activities.
- Touring centers of innovation and product development.
- Meeting entrepreneurs and leaders of industry.
- Developing your own idea and competing in pitch competitions.
Expectations
Scholars are expected to perform professionally in the classroom as well as serve the Cougar community. Specific commitments that will be asked of you:
- Enroll in and complete the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp course (ENGR 320) in the spring.
- Participation in a set of “on-campus” activities to include lectures, interviews, and experiences in local businesses and research laboratories organized by The Frank Institute of Entrepreneurship the week following the end of the spring semester.
- Participation in a set of off-campus activities the second week following the end of the spring semester. The program will provide travel expenses, housing, and meals.
- Return to the WSU campus before school starts in the fall in order to be available for planning activities the Friday before school starts.
- Enroll in the two-semester capstone classes, ENGR 420/421, the fall of your senior year.
Scholarship
For your participation in the program you will receive a $2,500 scholarship. One third will be distributed each semester of the three-semester sequence.
Courses
Frank Scholars will be given preferential placement in the three courses that make up the “entrepreneurial track” of studies within the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture their junior and senior years.
Junior Year
Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Course (ENGR 320) – Spring
This introductory course is offered spring semester for students of junior standing. This is an introduction to the various facets of entrepreneurship, including developing your own entrepreneurial mindset, how to be a successful contributor in a startup environment, how to capture and communicate your ideas, and how to discover your own passion for building a technology venture or establishing your own startup.
Senior Year
Multidisciplinary Engineering Design I (ENGR 420) – Fall
Part 1 of a yearlong multidisciplinary, team-based senior design project experience for senior students interested in an entrepreneurial focus for developing engineered solutions of value for customers. Students will form their own teams, discover and pursue their passion, and research their own ideas for a senior design project.
Engineering Senior Design II (ENGR 421) – Spring
Part 2 of a yearlong multidisciplinary, team-based senior design project experience. Students will learn how to apply the entrepreneurial mindset, critical thinking, and the various interdisciplinary skills within their team to investigate, research, propose, and create a compelling plan for a product or service of the student’s design. Hardware or software prototyping will be required. Course topics, learnings, and generated materials may be applicable for the launching of a startup, if desired, by the student team.
Activities
Details of the academic year activities for the entrepreneurship program vary depending on opportunities and current events. The following are typical:
Business Plan Competition
All students will be expected to apply to and, if selected, participate in the annual WSU Business Plan Competition that is sponsored by the Carson College of Business and judged by external referees. Other pitch competitions will be promoted during the year for extra credit or added experience.
Entrepreneur Interviews
Students will participate in interviews with multiple industry leaders throughout the year. Students will be given the opportunity to ask questions directly of these executives and get to know them and learn insights into their successes or failures.
Summer Program
On Campus
On the Pullman campus, students spend a week learning a variety of skills that provide them with a firm foundation in entrepreneurship. Focus areas include:
- Visits with local Angel Investments, Startups, and IP legal firms
- Marketing seminars
- Business etiquette
- Building a professional profile
- Oral communication boot camp
- Research companies that will be visited
Field Trips
Following the initial week in Pullman, students head to a center of innovation and product development. Tours include:
- Informal interactions with entrepreneurs
- Networking opportunities
- Bank, Angel and Venture Capital Funding information
- Founder, CEO, and corporate attorney interviews
- Company operations from the inside
Past visits have included Google, Tesla, Facebook, Bloom Reach, Plug and Play Tech Center, HP Labs, Pebble Tech, BWise Vineyards, Chocolate Garage, Coherent, Pivotal, Alta Devices, CMC Rescue, and Stanford Product Realization Lab.