Engineering Entrepreneurs Program
Engineering the Latest Innovations
NC State’s Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) provides a transformational entrepreneurship education experience for students through its fully-immersive, multi-disciplinary, real learning environment. The EEP seeks to inspire, empower and challenge students to change the world and radically improve the human condition.
Students in the EEP choose an engineering challenge and form an entrepreneurial venture, product or service aimed to meet the challenge. Students learn business concepts while honing their engineering skills to create a solution that has market potential. They talk to and survey customers to enhance their product or service. While doing so, students learn essential skills required to become future leaders. Some students even go on to start their own companies.
Get Involved
NC State students can join the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program through a variety of course offerings available to engineering and non-engineering students.
Engineering Entrepreneurs Courses
- An Introduction to Entrepreneurship and New Product Development
- 1-credit: ECE 383-001
- Available to upperclassmen
- Engineering Entrepreneurship Senior Design I
- 3-credit: ECE 482 for engineering majors
- Available to seniors only
- Engineering Entrepreneurship Senior Design II
- 3-credit: ECE 483 for engineering majors
- Available to seniors only
ECE 482 and ECE 483 comprise a 2-semester new product or service design sequence, with ECE 482 focused on product definition, high-level design and market research to establish product-market fit.
ECE 483 is focused on the actual implementation of the product or service as designed in ECE 482, while defining the operational and financial parameters to create a working prototype and investor ready materials for the potential venture.
History of the EEP
Dr. Thomas (Tom) K. Miller III initiated the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) in 1993 under the sponsorship of the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED). The EEP is an extension of the NC State University Undergraduate Design Center, which is the umbrella program for senior design projects for the College of Engineering. The genesis for the EEP came out of Dr. Miller’s personal experience as a technology entrepreneur, his passion for undergraduate engineering education, and his deep commitment to his students and their futures. Because of this, he decided to teach engineering and computer science students skills in product development, organization, management, finance, marketing and entrepreneurship.
In 2012, Marshall Brain, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, became the director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program. A known entrepreneur, Mr. Brain was the founder of HowStuffWorks.com, an award-winning website that offers clear, objective and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world around us actually works. The site, which he created as a hobby in 1998 and took through several rounds of venture funding totaling approximately $8 million, and was eventually purchased for $250 million by Discovery Communications in 2007. In 2022 Marshall was recognized as the John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work to help engineering students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and learn about launching new ventures. He was known as a passionate advocate for the infusion of the principles of entrepreneurship as widely as possible at NC State and for teaching students to think creatively and outside the box in innovating engineering solutions.
Today, more than 1000 students have completed the EEP. Some notable examples are Donald (Donnie) J. Barnes (CSC ’95), a former EEP student, and the first employee of Red Hat who retired from Red Hat as a millionaire at age 27. Engineering student entrepreneurs Bill Nussey (EE ’87) and Chris Evans created DaVinci Systems, one of the world’s leading email products, at a time when NC State was emerging as a power in information technology.
Questions?
Director of Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, Associate Professor of Practice
pgill2@ncsu.edu