Entrepreneurship in Water Resources Sustainability Keywords: Water Resources, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability Entrepreneurship in Water Resources Sustainability Amanda Cox, PhD, PE

Why? The mission of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) is to graduate entrepreneurial minded engineers so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work KEEN has identified three common characteristics of successful entrepreneurship endeavors: 1) curiosity, 2) making connections, and 3) creating value The objective of this educational module is to foster the student entrepreneurial mindset through exploring the application of these three concepts to sustainable water resources engineering

When? The educational module was developed in the spring of 2015 and the first two submodules were implemented in the Hydraulic Engineering undergraduate course Four lab periods were used for the students to work in groups and provide presentations The first submodule was also implemented in the spring of 2016 in the same course, but the second was not covered due to time limitations Example student slides:

Where? This educational module has been implemented only at Saint Louis University It was developed to cover about four class periods for a single course Example student slides:

What? Group Project Exploring Making Connections and Creating Value: Student groups give presentations highlighting successful examples of water resources entrepreneurship. Students identify what connections were made to develop the technology and describe the value created from the technology. Students assess the societal need, technical feasibility, environmental impact, societal trends and perceptions, and market availability of the technology. Curiosity Exercise: Student groups give presentations on the topics presented in the paper “Some Curious Things about Water Management“ by Lund (2013). Example: studies forever, are sometimes cheaper and more politically convenient than action or technically serious work What has worked really well? Students enjoyed working in groups to explore these topics The presentations initiated valuable discussion and curiosity regarding water resources sustainability

Prognosis? Impact was documented through evaluations at the end of the semester The innovative module consumed a lot of class time and reduced time for focusing on more traditional topics I plan to move the module to an elective course to help preserve time in the core-curriculum course The curiosity submodule was converted to a presentation from its original form of multiple in-class discussions I would like advice on how to efficiently integrate special educational modules into courses that have rigid fundamental content