The University of Michigan announced Tuesday a new Center for Entrepreneurial Programs at the UM College of Engineering. Thomas Zurbuchen, professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and Aerospace Engineering, will direct the new center.

The center will focus on:

• Advising the new entrepreneurship-focused College of Engineering student group MPowered. The group has hundreds of members already.
• Connecting College of Engineering alumni who work in the start-up community with current students.
• Providing grants for students to pursue their own ideas for companies and products.
• Simplifying and clarifying student intellectual property transfer processes.
• Developing an entrepreneurship certificate program so engineering students can take courses in innovation and business from UM professors or members of the broader entrepreneurial community.

The center, which is supported by an anonymous gift of nearly $1 million, grew out of the college’s Committee on Entrepreneurial Environment and Programs, a group of faculty that was formed in January and released recommendations in May in the report “Empowering Entrepreneurial Students.”

The “Empowering Entrepreneurial Students” full report is available at http://www.umich.edu/~ashwinl/CEEPS-FinalReport.pdf

For more on Zurbuchen, visit: http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/people/thomasz

For more on the student organization, MPowered Entrepreneurship:
http://www.engin.umich.edu/mpowered

MPowered is looking for people to get involved. Please contact them via MPowered website.