Collaborative Proposal: Using Lean LaunchPad to Promote Transfer Students' Persistence in Engineering

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This engineering education research project focuses on improving the success of transfer students through an innovative transition program that utilizes a Lean LaunchPad model. The Lean LaunchPad presents a practice-oriented paradigm for teaching students about innovation and entrepreneurship. It focuses on the startup experience and the skills necessary to develop successful business ventures. By promoting the development of research, analytical thinking, and problem solving skills in engineering students, the Lean LaunchPad approach provides a relevant platform for academic support and experiential learning. Students learn that failure is a necessary part of learning that allows them to gain valuable research, innovation, and design experiences regardless of whether the business case for an idea is viable or not.The project focus on the transferability of knowledge into real-world application is expected to increase students' persistence in engineering majors. Howard University and New Mexico State University will each implement a one week immersive experience for 40 incoming transfer students using Lean LaunchPad as the format. The transfer students will work in teams to explore the business model canvas, immersing themselves in core portions of the scientific method in an experiential, inquiry based, learner centered environment. In addition, Howard University will adopt and adapt the proven successful NMSU transfer student recruitment methods. The broader significance and importance of this project is in the innovative use of Lean LaunchPad to ease the transition for incoming transfer students. Community colleges enroll over half of all Hispanic students and 41% of all African American students. This target population has enormous potential for broadening participation in the engineering workforce. Of equal importance is the fact that this research project will address the lack of evidenced based interventions that support the success of transfer students. The success of this project as evidenced by improved retention and graduation numbers can be replicated across varying institutional types.This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of broadening participation in the engineering workforce. The transfer student population is extremely diverse in multiple ways; gender, race, age being the most obvious. The population is growing and increasingly includes veterans returning from active duty. By targeting transfer students, introducing them to entrepreneurship from an engineering perspective and supporting their transition to a four year institution, this project will evaluate the impact of a Lean LaunchPad based immersive experience on their success in earning undergraduate engineering degrees.