IDEAS, the cornerstone course of UDM's entrepreneurship program, is under way. Offered as ENT 300 and 500, the IDEAS (interdisciplinary design, entrepreneurship and service) studio-based design course includes two Mechanical Engineering (ME) students, two Architecture students plus one each from Business Administration and Psychology. This is a pilot offering limited to a single team. In the future, the class will have open enrollment and, therefore, many more teams.

The group's project is to create materials to help the WARM Training Center demonstrate the need for energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. WARM promotes the development of resource efficient, affordable, healthy homes and communities through education, training and technical assistance.

The course is taught by faculty from the four disciplines. Professor of Mechanical Engineering Nassif Rayess is the studio lab instructor. Lecturers are Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jonathan Weaver, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alan Hoback, Assistant Professor of Psychology Linda Slowik, Professors of Business Administration Oswald Mascarenhas and Ram Kesavan, and Assistant Professor of Architecture Allegra Pitera and Associate Professor of Architecture Will Wittig.  

"Students and faculty from different colleges bring rich and diverse perspectives," says Rayess. "That makes for a wonderful learning experience and creates the best chance for innovative and creative work to emerge."

Next term, Weaver and Mascarenhas will team-teach a new course entitled, "Innovation and Creativity." Says Weaver, "This course will develop the broad framework of innovation techniques and explore creativity, both in theory and practice, to provide students with the skills necessary to compete in this rapidly changing global economy. The course will be open to upper level and graduate students in Engineering and Business."

The goal of the entrepreneurship program is to instill an entrepreneurial mindset and competencies aimed at making a difference in the workplace and in society. UDM hopes to pilot an entrepreneurship certificate program in 2007-2008 and an entrepreneurship minor in 2008-2009.