At Rochester Institute of Technology, we shape the future and improve the world through creativity and innovation. As an engaged, intellectually curious, and socially conscious community, we leverage the power of technology, the arts, and design for the greater good.
Founded in 1829, Rochester Institute of Technology is a diverse and collaborative community of engaged, socially conscious, and intellectually curious minds. Through creativity and innovation, and an intentional blending of technology, the arts and design, we provide exceptional individuals with a wide range of academic opportunities, including a leading research program and an internationally recognized education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Beyond our main campus in Rochester, New York, RIT has international campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai, and Kosovo. And with over 20,000 students and more than 145,000 graduates from 50 states and over 100 nations, RIT is driving progress in industries and communities around the world. At RIT, we are always on to something amazing.
Why We're In KEEN
RIT’s partnership with KEEN is unique in that two of the colleges, the Kate Gleason College of Engineering (KGCOE) and the College of Engineering Technology (CET) have joined forces to enhance student learning through Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML).
KGCOE has an outstanding reputation for producing graduates well-versed in current engineering practice, educated to lead technical innovation and develop next-generation products and processes, and dedicated to continual improvement in their professional work.
CET emphasizes unlocking the unlimited potential of dedicated learners to lead, create, innovate, and apply technology for the betterment of a global society and is committed to a student-centered educational environment and making technological careers accessible to a diverse body of learners.
RIT embodies a unique and diverse culture built on successful collaborations among the wide spectrum of programs that comprise the eleven colleges at RIT. Another distinctive feature of RIT is its cooperative education program (co-op), which is a requirement of all students in the thirteen programs in engineering and engineering technology. RIT’s co-op program is the fourth oldest and one of the largest in the world, and it is a cornerstone of our approach to undergraduate STEM education.
We are excited to collaborate with the KEEN partner institutions to learn how others have used EML to better prepare students for the engineering profession. We strive to integrate EML into all of our engineering and engineering technology programs. Though some RIT faculty already utilize EML in their courses, the KEEN partnership has provided the opportunity to promote this approach with other faculty to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
RIT’s strategic plan also calls for a broad spectrum of experiential learning opportunities for its students, and incorporating EML into our programs is well-aligned with this goal. The KEEN network provides faculty training, pedagogical examples, and a robust infrastructure that will foster cross-university collaborations and make programs stronger. The culture, enthusiasm, and support surrounding EML creates an environment that enables teaching-focused faculty to flourish. These attributes of the KEEN network help all of us engage and educate a highly diverse and highly capable engineering workforce.
Showcase Work
RIT has created a faculty development model that has allowed us to effectively grow faculty support of EML and to incorporate it into their teaching practices. The faculty development model at RIT is featured in the KEEN'zine story, A Systems Approach to KEEN.
A key component of the RIT faculty development model involves a teaching circle that all new faculty in the colleges of engineering and engineering technology are required to participate in during their first year at RIT. Details on this teaching circle are available on this card.
Current Work
One way in which RIT has utilized support from the Kern Family Foundation is through a program called KEEN EML Teaching & Learning (KETL), which awards mini-grants to support faculty development of EML course content. The program typically awards approximately five grants each year.
An example of an ongoing KETL project involves a team of chemical engineering faculty, consisting of Nicole Hill, Karuna Koppula, and Alex Roth, collaborating to vertically integrate an open-ended design experience within the curriculum. The approach of launching a unifying, industrial-motivated project within core courses throughout the program can help the students understand and make connections between their course work and overall chemical process design.
Throughout each of the impacted courses, this project provides students with the opportunity and confidence to exercise their curiosity in examining alternative design approaches and create new designs based on their accumulated and advanced technical knowledge. This experience will better prepare chemical engineering students for their final, open-ended capstone project.
Recent Work
Here are some examples of stories that have highlighted EM-related activities on the RIT campus in the past year:
Founded in 1829, Rochester Institute of Technology is a diverse and collaborative community of engaged, socially conscious, and intellectually curious minds. Through creativity and innovation, and an intentional blending of technology, the arts and design, we provide exceptional individuals with a wide range of academic opportunities, including a leading research program and an internationally recognized education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Beyond our main campus in Rochester, New York, RIT has international campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai, and Kosovo. And with over 20,000 students and more than 145,000 graduates from 50 states and over 100 nations, RIT is driving progress in industries and communities around the world. At RIT, we are always on to something amazing.
Why We're In KEEN
RIT’s partnership with KEEN is unique in that two of the colleges, the Kate Gleason College of Engineering (KGCOE) and the College of Engineering Technology (CET) have joined forces to enhance student learning through Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML).
KGCOE has an outstanding reputation for producing graduates well-versed in current engineering practice, educated to lead technical innovation and develop next-generation products and processes, and dedicated to continual improvement in their professional work.
CET emphasizes unlocking the unlimited potential of dedicated learners to lead, create, innovate, and apply technology for the betterment of a global society and is committed to a student-centered educational environment and making technological careers accessible to a diverse body of learners.
RIT embodies a unique and diverse culture built on successful collaborations among the wide spectrum of programs that comprise the eleven colleges at RIT. Another distinctive feature of RIT is its cooperative education program (co-op), which is a requirement of all students in the thirteen programs in engineering and engineering technology. RIT’s co-op program is the fourth oldest and one of the largest in the world, and it is a cornerstone of our approach to undergraduate STEM education.
We are excited to collaborate with the KEEN partner institutions to learn how others have used EML to better prepare students for the engineering profession. We strive to integrate EML into all of our engineering and engineering technology programs. Though some RIT faculty already utilize EML in their courses, the KEEN partnership has provided the opportunity to promote this approach with other faculty to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
RIT’s strategic plan also calls for a broad spectrum of experiential learning opportunities for its students, and incorporating EML into our programs is well-aligned with this goal. The KEEN network provides faculty training, pedagogical examples, and a robust infrastructure that will foster cross-university collaborations and make programs stronger. The culture, enthusiasm, and support surrounding EML creates an environment that enables teaching-focused faculty to flourish. These attributes of the KEEN network help all of us engage and educate a highly diverse and highly capable engineering workforce.
Showcase Work
RIT has created a faculty development model that has allowed us to effectively grow faculty support of EML and to incorporate it into their teaching practices. The faculty development model at RIT is featured in the KEEN'zine story, A Systems Approach to KEEN.
A key component of the RIT faculty development model involves a teaching circle that all new faculty in the colleges of engineering and engineering technology are required to participate in during their first year at RIT. Details on this teaching circle are available on this card.
Current Work
One way in which RIT has utilized support from the Kern Family Foundation is through a program called KEEN EML Teaching & Learning (KETL), which awards mini-grants to support faculty development of EML course content. The program typically awards approximately five grants each year.
An example of an ongoing KETL project involves a team of chemical engineering faculty, consisting of Nicole Hill, Karuna Koppula, and Alex Roth, collaborating to vertically integrate an open-ended design experience within the curriculum. The approach of launching a unifying, industrial-motivated project within core courses throughout the program can help the students understand and make connections between their course work and overall chemical process design.
Throughout each of the impacted courses, this project provides students with the opportunity and confidence to exercise their curiosity in examining alternative design approaches and create new designs based on their accumulated and advanced technical knowledge. This experience will better prepare chemical engineering students for their final, open-ended capstone project.
Recent Work
Here are some examples of stories that have highlighted EM-related activities on the RIT campus in the past year:
- Two faculty members honored as 2022 KEEN Engineering Unleashed Fellows
- Engineering technology assistant professor honored as a 2022 KEEN Rising Star
- O’Neil honored with Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
- SHED and Wallace Library classrooms offer new teaching and learning experience
RIT is proud to be a partner in the KEEN network of institutions. With strength in numbers, we will be able to serve as an excellent test bed for new pedagogical approaches and can generate meaningful data to support the efficacy of these approaches. Our faculty are looking forward to integrating EML across multiple years of the curriculum. This partnership has enabled us to provide unique, state-of-the-art curricular experiences, to recruit, engage, retain and graduate students. The enhanced reputation because of this partnership will be invaluable to RIT.
