University of Miami Peter Tarjan Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Biomedical Engineering Education

Technical Entrepreneurship The year-long course is in its 4 th year Juniors through first year grad. students 1 st term: topics proposed, rated and selected; teams formed; business, marketing and technical plans (schedule & budget) developed; proposals to NCIIA for Advanced E-Team grants 2 nd term: completion of functional prototype, final reports and mock presentations to venture capitalists Grades are based on quality of teamwork and assessment of member by teammates Guest speakers University of Miami

Year long; students work alone or in pairs Project lists are generated by faculty, students, outsiders Budgets are often serious problems Working prototypes are mandatory for graduation Standards have been elusive Senior Design Project University of Miami

One-year freshman course During second term, 3 to 8 students work as teams with individual faculty members Projects must have hands-on aspects Examples: Leonardo’s Dilemma - how far does a stream land as a function of height and hole diameter? Fluid mapping K-permanganate Does an “energy collector” make you stronger? Buckyball and C-nanotube model construction Introduction to Biomedical Engineering University of Miami

Describe particularly novel and/or effective methods you use to teach innovation & entrepreneurship Send the students out to find real problems – they have found several by talking to physicians, dentists & nurses Examples: Knee simulator for surgeons; cool bone drill, umbrella for wheelchair users, EMG controlled wheelchair, LF B-field plotter, instrument for breast implant, portable cooler for biological substances, controlled eye- dropper, vein finder, etc. Assessment of each member by team-mates Guest speakers have been extremely popular for information, consultation and networking Filing institutional invention disclosures University of Miami

How do you measure outcomes? We tried funny money given to guests posing as venture capitalists Assessment of performance by team- mates Instructors’ assessment Enrollment University of Miami

Describe a course project or exercise that exemplifies “best practices” Breast Implant Tool Students found a plastic surgeon with a problem Watched procedures, performed market research, built crude models, outsourced the clinical prototypes, several iterations, invention disclosure accepted, university will try to license the product with prototype and I.P. protection University of Miami