Stevens plans Green Engineering, Entrepreneurship minors
From The Record:
Green engineering
New Jersey's technical universities are developing degree programs designed around computer and environmental themes. At Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, undergraduates are now being schooled in how to be green.
"We are looking at a more holistic approach in the context of engineering to how man interacts with the environment," said Dr. Keith Sheppard, associate dean of engineering. "We are in the process of putting together a green engineering minor that we hope to offer in spring for undergraduates. This would supplement any student's engineering degree."
The minor would be used to relate how electrical, chemical or mechanical engineers do their work to improve the environment as they develop or manufacture products or build electrical systems.
"There seems to be more interest in this type of thing in England, where, for instance, a potato chip company just started putting the carbon footprint of its potato chips on the bag," said Sheppard, who is a native of England. "But the interest here is growing and more emphasis is being given to determining the carbon footprint of any process."
Stevens Institute's location near New York City and its emphasis on technology also has prompted the creation of a cyber-security specialty within the computer science department. The studies have applications for homeland security issues as well as such things as identity theft. Because of the research nature of Stevens, the school also has developed an entrepreneurship minor that encourages both faculty and students to turn their projects into businesses.
"Students graduating now know they are not going to work for one company for their entire career and they need to be prepared to do a number of things," Sheppard said. "In keeping with that, we want to encourage a greater sense of entrepreneurship, which means they will take a technology and transition it to a commercial product. They end the course, if they have a viable product, by making a pitch to venture capitalists for funding."
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