In today's changing world, it is going to take more than an economics major to succeed in business and get ahead.
More students across the nation are using engineering skills in entrepreneurship and combining majors such as biomedical engineering and economics, beginning to engage in entrepreneurial opportunities at Duke and around the world, several Duke officials said.
"I think that the current economic changes are encouraging students to explore other alternatives than the usual Wall Street, investment banking, consulting firms, which aren't going to be heavy employers in the future. Students are looking broadly at new opportunities and trying to understand different career paths," said Larry Boyd, associate director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization.
Boyd teaches BME 120: "Introduction to Business and Technology-Based Companies." The class is an amalgamation of elements of biomedical engineering and business management. He added that there is a high level of interest in his class: 50 people vied for just 20 spaces in the course this year.
"We take designs or a prototype that has been made, mostly for hospital patients, and look at the market potential [of it] and write a full business plan over the course of the semester," Boyd said.
One event that has gained momentum at Duke is the Start-Up Challenge, a student-run business competition in which teams of three to five students design a product they believe businesses will want to invest in.
There are 70 teams participating in the competition this year-17 of which are led by undergraduate students-as opposed to just 25 last year, said senior Anand Sundaram, co-chair of the Start-Up Challenge and the undergraduate in charge of the initiative.
"It seems that engineering students are much more aware of start-ups and the opportunities in entrepreneurship now than they were several years ago, especially at Duke," said Jeff Glass, director for the Master of Engineering Management Program.
Both Boyd and Sundaram, who is majoring in both biomedical engineering and economics, agree that combining engineering and entrepreneurial skills will be beneficial in the future and will see greater popularity at Duke.
"A ton of my friends are pursuing both engineering and econ as well, and it's great because it gives you rounded-out skills that are good to have from an industry standpoint," Sundaram said.
Engineering overall is developing into a much more multidisciplinary and global field, Glass noted.
Students have also expressed interest in Engineers without Borders, an organization that performs sustainable development in communities around the world. Duke's chapter of EWB has improved the quality of life in developing countries through civic engagement, such as fixing water piping in Peru.
"To be a good engineer you must have an understanding of business and organizational issues in addition to your engineering field of interest," Glass said. "In today's very competitive global environment, engineers are expected to work on multidisciplinary teams, many times from different countries, and thus interacting with different functions-marketing, accounting, research-is critical.... Entrepreneurship activities at the University can give engineers this multidisciplinary perspective and thus make them more valuable for any employer, not just a start-up venture."
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