Posted October 13, 2015 - Annie Yang '18, for the Daily Princetonian
Interest in entrepreneurship among students at the University has grown dramatically, and the Keller Center has responded to this by providing opportunities to explore these interests and pursue innovative ideas beyond traditional settings in the classroom and laboratory, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Vincent Poor GS ’77 said.
The Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education celebrated its tenth anniversary with a symposium on Tuesday featuring keynote speaker Tom Leighton ’78, who is an applied math professor at MIT turned CEO of Akamai, and an introduction by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.
Director of the Keller Center Mung Chiang said that innovating education has been a core mission of the Keller Center since its founding in 2005. Engineering, math and physics courses teach BSE students in an integrated curriculum, and the Engineering Projects in Community Service program provides students interested in community service through engineering projects with experiential learning opportunities. In addition, the Program in Technology and Society helps prepare leaders in a technology-driven society, he said.
Chiang noted that 238 students in the Class of 2014 have taken at least one of the 12 entrepreneurship and design courses at the Keller Center, and that 66 percent of them came from non-engineering majors.
Chiang said that the Keller Center has two missions: fostering entrepreneurship and innovating education. Within this program, he said, there are four buckets of activity: create, learn, explore and engage. These buckets expose students to entrepreneurship and support those who are interested in it. Continue reading.