ANN ARBOR—Young inventors can help stoke the state’s economy and the new Center for Entrepreneurial Programs at the University of Michigan College of Engineering will help make that happen.

“When we have an economic crisis in the state like we do now, we also have opportunities,” said David Munson, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering. “Our new Center will promote an entrepreneurial economy and it will enrich our students.

“It’s not that we think every student needs a start-up, but there’s a creativity and innovative spirit that’s associated with the start-up mentality and we’d like to weave that thread through our curriculum,” Munson said.

Thomas Zurbuchen, professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and Aerospace Engineering, will direct the new center.

“We’ve never needed this more in the state of Michigan,” Zurbuchen said. “In the College of Engineering, we have some of the best faculty and students, many of whom are innovators. We will enable them to become entrepreneurs.”

The Center will focus on:

? Advising the new entrepreneurship-focused CoE student group MPowered. The group has hundreds of members already.

? Connecting College of Engineering alumni who work in the start-up community with current students.

? Providing grants for students to pursue their own ideas for companies and products.

? Simplifying and clarifying student intellectual property transfer processes.

? Developing an entrepreneurship certificate program so engineering students can take courses in innovation and business from U-M professors or members of the broader entrepreneurial community.

The center grew out of the college’s Committee on Entrepreneurial Environment and Programs, a group of faculty that was formed in January and released recommendations in May in the report “Empowering Entrepreneurial Students.”

The center is supported by an anonymous gift of nearly $1 million.

This is the newest effort to enable entrepreneurship at U-M, focused on the College of Engineering. The Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies is part of the Ross School of Business. Across the University, other programs are seeking to include business courses in their curricula, said Stephen R. Forrest, U-M vice president for research and the William Gould Dow Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering, professor of materials science and engineering and professor of physics.

“We have to bridge the gap between inventor and venture capitalist,” Forrest said. “This is an excellent topic for the College of Engineering to be taking a lead in.”

The Center is located in the Chrysler Center on North Campus. A map showing this location is at http://www.engin.umich.edu/facilities/maps/chrysler.html.

For more information, contact Thomas Zurbuchen at (734) 647-6835 or [email protected].

The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the top engineering schools in the country. Michigan Engineering boasts one of the largest engineering research budgets of any public university, at more than $130 million annually. Michigan Engineering is home to 11 academic departments and a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. The College plays a leading role in the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute. Within the College, there is a special emphasis on research in three emerging areas: nanotechnology and integrated microsystems; cellular and molecular biotechnology; and information technology. Michigan Engineering is raising $300 million for capital projects and program support in these and other areas to continue fostering breakthrough scholarly advances, an unparalleled scope of student opportunities and contributions that improve the quality of life on an international scale.

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