Engineering Entrepreneurs Program
Students in EEP take on challenges, create solutions and prepare products for the market.
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, simulation-like learning environment. The EEP seeks to inspire, empower and challenge its students to change the world and radically improve the human condition. Students in the EEP choose an engineering problem and form an entrepreneurial venture or product aimed to solve or mitigate the problem. In a small team environment, students take on challenges, create solutions and prepare products for market.
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) Spring semester only.
- An Introduction to Entrepreneurship and New Product Development (1-credit: ECE 383-002) Embedded in Entrepreneurship Clinic. Offered in the spring and fall semesters.
- An Introduction to Entrepreneurship and New Product Development (1-credit: ECE 383-003) LaunchPad incubator course.
- Engineering Entrepreneurship and New Product Development I (3-credit: ECE 482 for engineering majors)
- Engineering Entrepreneurship and New Product Development II (3-credit: ECE 483 for engineering majors)
ECE 482 and ECE 483 comprise a 2-semester new product or service design sequence with ECE 482 weighted toward product definition and high-level design, and ECE 483 weighted toward the actual implementation of the product or service defined and designed in ECE 482.
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.
Today, more than 1000 students have completed the EEP. Donald (Donnie) J. Barnes (CSC ’95), a former EEP student, was the first employee of Red Hat and 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?
Contact the EEP program director, Marshall Brain II, at mdbrain@ncsu.edu.