Poster Q16 - From Labs to Launchpads: Integrating Design, Entrepreneurship and Science Communication in Undergraduate Instructional Laboratories

Introduction: Experimental laboratory courses are foundational to undergraduate instruction in bioengineering. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) standards for engineering education list student outcomes (Criterion 3) that include the ability to identify complex problems, apply engineering design to formulate solutions, communicate successfully with a range of audiences, function within a team framework, conduct experimentation appropriately, and apply new knowledge. Traditionally, students demonstrate competence in laboratory curricula through technical writing assignments including lab reports, but generally do not gain experience in non-technical communication, open-ended design, or entrepreneurial innovation – skills which may be highly valued by future employers or graduate schools, and even in upper-level project-based courses such as capstone design. Here, we discuss the implementation and assessment of a new, repeatable module that incorporates design, science communication, the entrepreneurial mindset, and technology commercialization into two distinct undergraduate bioengineering laboratory experiences at a large university.

Materials and

Methods: Biofabrication Lab is an upper-level elective laboratory course offering students hands-on experience in advanced cell culture, computer aided design, additive manufacturing, and prototyping related to translational bioengineering. Quantitative Physiology Lab is a required laboratory course in which third-year bioengineering students conduct experiments to measure and model human physiological systems, while gaining experience in data analysis and presentation.

To expand the breadth of knowledge and experience gained by students, and to encourage students to gain practical entrepreneurial skills outside of a traditional technical lab-based assignment, a multifaceted design project was incorporated. Students selected a project from a provided list of eligible topics and determined a relevant problem in their selected topic for which they could develop a feasible solution. They built on prior class experience to devise an experimental component of their project to test a potential solution. In Biofabrication Lab, teams produced neural organoids and then fabricated a 3D printed device as a “solution” to an issue facing translational neural engineering research. In Quantitative Physiology Lab, groups performed a physiological experiment and used their results as inspiration to design a hypothetical bioengineering device that addressed a need.

Through expert lectures, students were introduced to technology commercialization and the entrepreneurial mindset. Students then applied these concepts through their laboratory-based design project by participating in a product pitch competition to justify the value of their design to a panel of experts. We assessed students’ self-reported expertise in various topics through surveys administered throughout the modules and gathered anonymous feedback through course evaluations.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Here, we detail the design projects of two bioengineering lab courses, demonstrate a new resource to introduce the basics of the entrepreneurial mindset and technology commercialization in technical settings, and highlight the observed outcomes. These are critical skills that aid in the development of career-ready and innovative engineers. By providing evidence of this module’s implementation in two distinct laboratory courses that vary in class size, topic, scope, and organization, we aim to provide suggestions and encouragement for translation of this module to laboratory and design courses in a variety of STEM disciplines. Moreover, the neural organoid project represents an important example of a laboratory module accessible to undergraduates in neural engineering, an important (and growing) sub-specialty within biomedical engineering.

Acknowledgements (Optional): The authors would like to thank the students for their participation and feedback.