Insights About an Academic Elevator Pitch Competition in Undergraduate Engineering Curricula

Abstract

She coordinates the instructional delivery, student registration and scheduling logistics and collection of assessment data for all core courses in the undergraduate engineering and science programs. Sandra also teaches Senior Innovation and Introduction to Entrepreneurial Thinking. Sandra previously worked in the Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and managed programs encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship around Stevens Campus. Before coming to Stevens, Sandra worked as a consulting engineer with Stantec and T&M Associates specializing in Urban Land Redevelopment and Municipal Engineering. Sandra holds a B.S. Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering, an A. B. degree in Art History, and a Master of Engineering degree in Engineering Management from Stevens Institute of Technology. She also holds a Professional Engineering license in NJ.

Virtual Elevator Pitch: Disruption or Opportunity?

“…The authors have previously detailed our required elevator pitch competition at the ASEE conference in 2020 [12], but a short summary is provided here. At Stevens, senior engineering students take a companion course to senior design called Senior Innovation.…”

“…The students would present the 3-minute pitch, and then the judges have the option to ask questions or provide feedback for around 2 minutes. The judges would then immediately score the team using the judging rubric form, which scores teams in 5 categories [12]. The team can get a maximum score of 50.…”

“…Some universities have adopted the "delivering an elevator pitch module" module developed by the University of New Haven-based on the KEEN framework [9] [10] and have placed it in intro classes, technical classes, or in senior design like the University of Cincinnati [11]. Other universities integrate a pitch competition into a senior design course, like at Stevens and Calvin College ( [12] [1]) or with a business plan competition, like Grove City College [3].…”

Competitions in Courses: Adding Value to Both Under-achieving and High-achieving Engineering Students

“…This competition started over ten years ago and is a hallmark of the Innovation Expo Day on campus. A history of the development of the competition can be found in previous work [17]. A generous supporter has created an endowment to support annual prizes of $17,500 in perpetuity.…”