2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Faculty Development for Faculty Development – Taking Entrepreneurially Minded Learning Faculty Development to Your Campus

Presented at Faculty Development: Centers

This evidence-based practice paper presents a comprehensive faculty development program designed to equip teams of faculty with the necessary tools to create and implement entrepreneurial mindset (EM) initiatives at their home institutions. Integrating EM into courses and curricula has been shown to enhance student experience. Faculty from institutions within the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) have been actively sharing successful examples, practices, and research relevant to these efforts, contributing to a growing body of knowledge in this area.

To meet the increasing demand for scalable faculty training, we launched a new train-the-trainer workshop in January 2022. This innovative workshop emphasizes the importance of institutional change to effectively integrate entrepreneurially minded learning (EML) across entire engineering and computer science programs. The workshop, Integrating Curriculum with Entrepreneurial-mindset II (aka ICE2), has been offered three times, with each iteration incorporating valuable feedback and adjustments to improve the overall experience and effectiveness.

The workshop consists of a three-day intensive in-person meetup that covers critical topics, including theories of university change, motivations for faculty, a comprehensive overview of existing training programs, opportunity mapping, program assessment techniques, and the creation of actionable work plans. Participants engage in four coaching sessions during the workshop, providing dedicated development time and culminating in action-plan presentations for each institution.

In the year following the workshop, participating faculty teams receive ongoing coaching, with the coaching model evolving based on insights gained from each offering. To date, thirty-seven institutions have participated in this initiative, resulting in the creation of workshops, learning communities, faculty retreats, and various other initiatives aimed at embedding EML practices into their educational frameworks.

This paper details the tools and techniques used to develop the faculty training program and highlights exemplary initiatives from participating institutions across the three workshop offerings. We discuss the challenges encountered by various teams and conclude with recommendations from the facilitation and coaching team that may be valuable to those interested in implementing similar initiatives.

Authors

Dr. Maria-Isabel Carnasciali http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-5887-0744 Merrimack College [biography]

Maria-Isabel Carnasciali is the Senior Associate Dean for Engineering & Computational Sciences and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Merrimack College (MA). With a background in thermal-fluid systems and engineering education research, her work bridges technical innovation and pedagogy to equip engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset. Previously, she spent 13 years at the University of New Haven (CT), where her last role included serving as Assistant Provost for Academic Assessment and Faculty Development. Since 2014, Dr. Carnasciali has facilitated and coached workshops for faculty focused on integrating curiosity, connections, and value creation into the curriculum, helping students develop skills for solving complex, real-world challenges. Her research explores the role of informal learning environments, decision-making frameworks, and mindset development in fostering innovative problem-solving. As an advocate for experiential and entrepreneurial education, she brings deep expertise in integrating these principles into engineering programs and broader faculty development efforts.
Dr. Andrew L Gerhart Lawrence Technological University [biography]

Andrew Gerhart, Ph.D. is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lawrence Technological University. He is a Fellow of the Engineering Society of Detroit and is actively involved in ASEE and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He serves as Faculty Advisor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Student Chapter at LTU, director of IDEAS (Interdisciplinary Design and Entrepreneurial Applications Sequence), chair of the First Year Engineering Experience committee, supervisor of the LTU Thermo-Fluids Laboratory, coordinator of the Certificate/Minor in Aeronautical Engineering, and faculty advisor of the LTU SAE Aero Design Team. Dr. Gerhart conducts workshops on active, collaborative, and problem-based learning, entrepreneurial mindset education, creative problem solving, and innovation. He is an author of a fluid mechanics textbook.
Dr. Heather Dillon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4467-2306 University of Washington [biography]

Dr. Heather Dillon is Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her research team is working on energy efficiency, renewable energy, fundamental heat transfer, and engineering education.
Dr. Joe Tranquillo Bucknell University [biography]

Joe Tranquillo is a professor at Bucknell University where he currently serves as the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center. He was the second hire in a new biomedical engineering program, which has since grown to 7 faculty, 70 students, gained acc
Prof. Glenn R Gaudette Boston College [biography]

Glenn Gaudette, PhD, is the inaugural John W. Kozarich '71 Chair of the Department of Engineering at Boston College (BC) and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Working together with his colleagues, they developed the first Engineering program in the history of BC. His research has pioneered the use of spinach and other plants as scaffolds for heart regeneration and more recently, for lab-grown meat. His work has featured throughout the world including on Bill Nye Saves the World (on Netflix), live interview on the BBC, Popular Science and at the Centre Pompidou (Paris). Dr. Gaudette also enjoys teaching engineering mechanics, design and innovation, biomechanics and physiology.
Dr. Douglas E. Melton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4203-4415 The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation [biography]

Dr. Douglas Melton serves as a Program Director at the Kern Family Foundation, working with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), a collaborative network of universities focused on fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students. KEEN emphasizes curiosity, making connections, and value creation as essential habits for engineers.

In this role, Dr. Melton helps support initiatives like the Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development program, which equips faculty with resources and strategies to incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into their teaching and research. The goal is to prepare students to approach real-world challenges with innovative and value-driven solutions.

Before joining the foundation, Dr. Melton spent 17 years as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Kettering University. He also worked as Director of Research & Development for Digisonix Incorporated, where he contributed to the development of active sound and vibration control technologies used in various industries.

Through this work, Dr. Melton continues to support efforts to integrate entrepreneurial thinking into engineering education, helping students develop the skills and mindset needed to create meaningful impact in their careers.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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