Program updates
Civil & Environmental Engineering student with Associate Professor Alexa Rihana-Abdalla.
Engineering Law Program accelerated
Up to 30 freshmen who enroll in this fall's new UDM Engineering Law Program— to prepare for a career in intellectual property (IP) or environmental law— may be able to cut up to a term off their studies if they take courses that satisfy requirements for both the bachelor's degree in Engineering and the Juris Doctor. The projected timeframe to complete the program was initially seven years (four for an engineering degree and three for the JD).
The program now can be accelerated by taking law courses that also count as technical electives or general electives in Engineering. The transferable courses and credit-transfer criteria are listed on the program's new web site at eng-sci.udmercy.edu/programs/englaw/
The web site's page on focal areas addresses careers that combine:
- Law and Civil & Environmental Engineering, such as biotech patents and construction-method patents;
- Law and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, such as patent law; and
- Law and Electrical & Computer Engineering, including e-commerce, internet law and biotech patents.
Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Alan Hoback, left, with Engineering student
According to Alan Hoback, chairman and associate professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, "We also are working on a way to facilitate an additional acceleration whereby advanced engineering could count for a law credit."
An engineering or science degree, or the equivalent, is required to take the Patent Bar Exam and is helpful in other types of IP law. The Juris Doctor will qualify students to take the state bar exam and become practicing lawyers.
Admission to the Engineering Law Program is selective. After admission to UDM's Engineering program, a seat in the School of Law is reserved for students in the program who record an LSAT score of 150 or higher and maintain a 3.25 GPA in Engineering studies.
Plans progress for Technical Entrepreneurship Minor
UDM faculty members are currently working to develop a minor in Technical Entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on the creation of technical products and services. Ultimately, the program aims to develop the mindset and competencies needed to create and manage intellectual property and related ventures.
Entrepreneurial class in session.
Two primary contexts support interest in Technical Entrepreneurship at UDM:
- A regional context born out of the University's commitment to Detroit and created to promote educating and training men and women to be leaders. According to Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jonathan Weaver, "With the serious economic downturn in Southeast Michigan, a pronounced need exists to graduate students who are adaptable, innovative and able to generate economic 'waves' (e.g. start small businesses, develop ventures, thrive in high-tech start-ups)."
- An institutional context related to UDM's identity as a Catholic university in the tradition of the Jesuits and Sisters of Mercy. As such, the University's mission emphasizes not only a well-rounded, quality education but also a high level of awareness of social and ethical issues. "Service learning and voluntarism are at the bedrock of the Jesuit and Mercy traditions at UDM," Professor of Mechanical Engineering Nassif Rayess explains. "Entrepreneurship skills act as a multiplier to any community service effort. A prototypical UDM Entrepreneurship student will seek to improve the lives and livelihoods of the underprivileged through a marriage of creativity, business acumen and technology."
The Entrepreneurship program at UDM started in the winter of 2006 with a $50,000 Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) grant from the Kern Family Foundation and a $23,500 Lemelson Course and Program Grant administered by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). Through these grants and other support, University faculty have collaborated to develop and pilot four courses in entrepreneurship, plus several case studies.
More recently, a $50,000 KEEN II grant is supporting the institutionalization of the Entrepreneurship program in the form of the proposed Technical Entrepreneurship Minor. The proposal is currently in draft stage and undergoing internal review. The interdisciplinary team of Business Administration Professor Oswald Mascarenhas, S.J., and Mechanical Engineering Professors Weaver and Rayess, is leading the program development efforts.
