NEWPATH:Nurturing IT Entrepreneurs

Neelam Soundarajan, Rajiv Ramnath, Bruce Weide

Computer Sc. and Engineering DepartmentOhio State University

Work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0722287.

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• Fact: Entrepreneurship drives economic growth

• Fact: Especially true in IT (& related sectors)

• Fact: Students are interested in IT entrepreneurship

• Challenge: How do we nurture students interested in IT entrepreneurship to become

successful?

Motivation

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• Answers adopted by other programs:– Require suitable business courses– Numerous design projects to help develop spirit of

innovation– Require students to complete e-minor – Internships in high-tech industry– Etc.

Related Work

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• Builds on the other approaches, but:

• Key Observation:

Students must actively and regularly engage in discussions with each other to learn from each others’ experiences and understanding of key ideas

• So: Main component of NEWPATH:Weekly meeting where NEWPATH’s most active and successful students challenge each other & help each other grow as entrepreneurs

Our Approach

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• Admission to program: ...

• Program Curriculum: Major + e-minor + e-practicum

• Internships in IT startups: with help of TechColumbus

Program Details

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• Weekly “seminars”:– Research presentations– Ideas for startups– Presentations by startups– Reports from technical conferences– Reports on experiences at Startup Weekend etc.

• Remarkably effective! Students participate enthusiastically and, over time, become more and more confident and mature!

Program Details:Community of Inquiry

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• We have detailed formal assessments that show the success of the program ... details in paper

• A number of successful enterprises launched by NEWPATH students ... details in paper

Assessment

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... being involved with NEWPATH was one of the best choices I made.  It opened the doors to so many opportunities and changed how I looked at Computer Science as a whole. Make sure to keep involved with the program and take every opportunity you can to keep up with other NEWPATH members.  These connections will be very beneficial to you later on! ...  I would certainly not be in the position I am if NEWPATH did not exist ...

Message posted to the NEWPATH mailing list by a recent graduating student:

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• Our web site:

http://www.cse.ohiostate.edu/ugrad/newpathhome.shtml

• Thanks!

Questions? Comments?

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