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What Is KEEN, And What Are Its Goals?

What is KEEN?

KEEN presenter plugging in a billboardKEEN (The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) is an educational tool that empowers educators of the New Generation in the Engineering fields by providing a safe space to learn and share ideas with others. The platform primarily focuses on disseminating techniques, projects, and activities that help students learn and develop critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving skills.

Why Use KEEN?

Traditionally, the learning process is collaborative and open to ensure students are well-rounded and driven individuals who excel in any environment. However, the limitations of technology and academic sharing platforms have caused the learning process at universities and educational institutions across the globe to depend on individuals' creativity and teaching ability rather than the academic community. KEEN aims to get rid of those barriers. Its simple and intuitive interface makes it easy to create and share ideas or search through the 1,800+ (and growing) topics and ideas others share. Topics include academic subject matter, professional development for educators, industry information, and interpersonal education material provided by over 3,000 faculty members from over 50 schools.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset at Florida Institute of Technology

An entrepreneurial mindset helps you identify opportunities, solve for problems, and create long-lasting value—in your classes, campus, community, and the world. When combined with the skills and work engineers already do, entrepreneurially minded engineers become powerful agents of societal good.

Florida Tech engages and nurtures the engineers of tomorrow using the three C’s of KEEN:

 

Curiosity

Students debating the details of a project.

Question with boldness. Explore contrarian perspectives.

In a world of accelerating change, today's solutions are often obsolete tomorrow. Since discoveries are made by the curious, students must be empowered to investigate a rapidly changing world with an insatiable curiosity.

Connections

Engineer

Think outside the box. Place old ideas into new contexts.

Discoveries, however, are not enough. Information yields insight only when connected with other information. Students must be taught to habitually pursue knowledge and integrated it with their own discoveries to reveal innovative solutions.

Creating Value

Convincing shareholders of the value of the project.

Think opportunity. Stakeholders. Impact.

Students are required to identify both expected and unexpected opportunities to create extraordinary values in their product designs to meet the needs of the changing world. 

Contact Us

James Brenner
Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Engineering; KEEN Community Catalyst
John G. Harris
Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Dean of the College of Engineering
Kastro Hamed
Professor, Aerospace, Physics & Space Sciences
Chiradeep Sen
Associate Professor, Mechanical & Civil Engineering; KEEN Core Team Leader
Khaled Slhoub
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Robert Weaver
Associate Professor, Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences; KEEN EngineeringUnleashed Fellow
Mary Ann Gaal
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Civil Engineering