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EntrepreneurshipCompanies and students collaborate on“live case studies”SEDTAPP faculty member, student createiPhone applicationsMMost companies have real problems—and theyneed real solutions. In a unique attempt to solvethese problems, central Pennsylvania companieshave been partnering with the Engineering Entrepreneurship(E-SHIP) Minor to present “live case studies” to the studentsin ENGR 310 Entrepreneurial Leadership providing awin–win scenario for both the company and the students.Instead of students discussing conventional case studies,in which a problem is presented and a solution has alreadybeen determined, E-SHIP students are challenged with a livecase study, whereby they must devise the solution to a realcompany problem. The company benefits by tapping into afresh, new resource for innovative ideas and solutions.The live case study takes place over approximately ten days.The entrepreneur or business leader comes to class to introducethemselves and their business and to describe a current, veryreal problem that’s keeping them awake at night. The presenterprovides enough information to approximately six teams perclass to have the students understand the challenge, but not layout the path to a solution.The teams work on the live case study, gathering information,asking questions, forming possible solutions, and developinga ten-minute slide presentation outlining their suggestedsolution, including assumptions, justifications, and data. Thefaculty member serves as a mentor and presentation coach andsets the expectations high for quality of the students’ solutionsand presentations.After ten days, the entrepreneur or business leader returns tohear each team’s ten-minute presentation and conduct a threeminutequestion-and-answer session, with the expectation thatthey will ask probing questions about the team’s presentation,assumptions, and recommendations. The entrepreneur orbusiness leader ranks each team’s performance, which directlyaffects their grades.myAntro-Basic ApplicationAssistant Professor of Engineering Design and Mechanical EngineeringMatthew Parkinson created a free iPhone application to help users understandanthropometry, the measurement of the size and proportions of the humanbody, as it relates to ergonomics and human factor assessment in engineeringdesign.myAnthro-Basic estimates body segment lengths using a simple techniquecalled "proportionality constants." These are the average ratio of a given bodysegment length to stature. Users can enter a stature (height) in millimeters orselect from some predefined percentile values taken from two populations.Since two people of the same height are not required to have exactly thesame arm, leg, and other segment lengths, this is a helpful tool for exploringrelationships.For more information about myAnthro, visit www.myanthro.org or contact MatthewParkinson at parkinson@psu.edu.Live Case Study: Rockland Manufacturing CompanyIn fall 2009, the E-SHIP Minor partnered with RocklandManufacturing Company, based in Bedford, PA. RocklandManufacturing produces attachments for various constructionmachines, including dozers, excavators, loaders, graders, skidsteers, beach cleaners, and forklifts.The problem keeping company president Dan Schaffer up atnight—and the problem the E-SHIP students attempted to solve:How can Rockland Manufacturing leverage all of its internalengineering and manufacturing capabilities and capital equipmentto expand business and establish new customers?After hearing the team presentations from one section of ENGR 310in early October 2009, Schaffer was so impressed that he returnedin late October to have the second section of ENGR 310 implementthe top four “live case” recommendations from the first section.As the E-SHIP Minor received positive feedback from all thestakeholders in the live case study project, including students,faculty, and company participants, ENGR 310 will continue tochallenge students with more live case studies in the year ahead.For more information about the live case study projects, or if yourcompany would like to bring a live case challenge to the ENGR 310classes, please contact Philip Boyer at pgb10@psu.edu .CATA Bus ApplicationRoman Sandoval, a computer engineering major and engineeringentrepreneurship minor, created a clever and technologically progressivesolution to navigate the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) Bussystem in State College, Pennsylvania.Sandoval created the CATA Bus iPhone application, available for purchase atthe iTunes App Store, as an easy alternative to CATA’s Ride Guide. Users canaccess bus schedules and detailed maps and obtain information about the busroutes, loops, and links. The application provides real-time bus information.For more information about the CATA Bus application, visitromansandoval.com/cata-bus.html or www.catabus.com.40 | SEDTAPP NEwS | SPriNg 2010 SPriNg 2010 | SEDTAPP NEwS | 41