Incorporating Entrepreneurship Portfolio | Michael Ray | Connecting Science and Business ✅
Connecting Science and Business
Brief Description
Most physics programs teaching their students to be researchers to prepare them for graduate school. However, half of our students do not go to grad school, but rather look for jobs straight out of college. The physics community is starting to realize that traditional physics education is not always completely relevant for these students, and is starting to focus on providing resources and training for students who do not want to go to graduate school.
In this project I have explored ways that I can show students alternative ways that they can use their physics degrees. Specifically how they can incorporate an entrepreneurial mindset to to help them use the skills they have acquired as physics students to solve real-world problems. To do this I propose a course that includes both physics majors and business students that form pairs to develop solutions to problems in the community. Physics students will learn about the business side of a start-up while business students will learn the science behind the ideas and how to take a scientific approach to solving problems.
Pitch Deck
To learn more about this instructor's experience in the FLC, please review the presentation slides below.
Pitch Deck - ScienceAndBusiness-MWRay.pptx Download Pitch Deck - ScienceAndBusiness-MWRay.pptx
Reflection
I have to be honest, I misinterpreted this FLC when I signed up for it. I thought it was going to be about how to incorporate entrepreneurial concepts into our teaching. So I was quite surprised when Cameron introduced us to the Lean Canvas, and I had no business idea, and didn't know where to even start. However, I stuck with the FLC and I am really glad that I did. I learned so much about what it means to be an entrepreneur, and was able to make connections with my original ideas about the FLC. I am now starting to think if there is a way that I can incorporate the Lean Canvas into my courses and use it as a way for students to organize their thoughts as they are trying to solve homework problems. I even learned how to spell entrepreneur correctly the first time (without spell check)! In all it was a great experience, and I am glad that I took part in this FLC.
Thank you Cameron and Cheng!
Plans
The key to to continuing with this project will be to find a partner in the college of business who I can work with to develop the joint course. Then we'll need to start the work of actually developing what this course will look like, then go through the paperwork to get the new course approved and added into the catalog. I suspect this will likely take about 2 years. Once the course is in the books, we can start recruiting students from both colleges to take the course.
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I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy where I specialize in teaching lab-based classes. I also run the Sac-State Laboratory for Low Temperature physics where I perform experiments on liquid and solid helium. My passion is developing new and exciting experiments/projects for students to perform in the lab. |
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