Abstract
Inspired by the KEEN Foundation’s mission, results are shared from incorporating entrepreneurial minded learning (EML) into an undergraduate Dynamics course within a mechanical engineering program. A “KEEN” team project was given to the students in which they were asked to pretend that they were members of a startup company that would design, build, test, market, and sell a product with some dynamics content to it. As part of the exercise, the 20 teams worked on idea generation, concept development and identification of required activities, in addition to writing a draft Business Plan. Product ideas varied across different economic sectors including power generation, sports technology, transportation, food and beverage technology, and health care. Grading of the resulting reports incorporated factors such as: (1) was there sufficient dynamics content, (2) could it work, (3) was is innovative, (4) were the students familiar with the technology, and (5) would J (January)-Term and spring semester and modest funding (if needed) significantly advance the idea? The top 3 teams made more progress during J-Term and spring semester, with each team fabricating a prototype device. Students were also asked to answer a short survey about the KEEN project and the results were generally positive, such as being more interested in dynamics due to participating in the KEEN project