The University of Texas at El Paso was selected by the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) to be among 25 U.S. universities to be part of the Pathways to Innovation program. The program is designed to help faculty transform the experience of undergraduate engineering students by fully incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship into a range of courses.
With a mission to help students tackle global challenges and gain comprehensive technical education, Pathways to Innovation encourages students to turn their ideas into practical solutions to real-world problems. Created and run by Epicenter, the program is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and VentureWell.
A team of faculty leaders at each school will assess their institution’s current offerings, design a unique strategy for change and lead a two-year transformation process.
“A key dimension of UTEP’s quest for excellence involves educating our students to be innovators and entrepreneurs, and a number of campus centers and institutes support this effort,” said UTEP President Diana Natalicio. “As we work to reach our ambitious national goals, I’m confident that UTEP will derive significant benefit from engagement in the Pathways to Innovation program.”
David Novick, Ph.D, Mike Loya Distinguished Chair in Engineering and co-director of the Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce at UTEP, said that through the Pathways program, UTEP’s College of Engineering will make its innovation initiatives smarter, more focused and more effective by leveraging the experience of peer schools.
“In the Pathways to Innovation program, UTEP joins a select group of universities committed to advancing education in innovation and entrepreneurship,” Novick said. “The college looks forward in five years to having innovation and entrepreneurship integrated across the curriculum in all of its undergraduate programs and to serving as a model for programs across the UTEP campus.”
Teams will receive access to models for integrating entrepreneurship into engineering curriculum, custom online resources, guidance from a community of engineering and entrepreneurship faculty, as well as obtaining membership in a national network of schools with similar goals.
For more information on the Pathways program: epicenter.stanford.edu/page/pathways-to-innovation