{"id":1043,"date":"2017-07-07T14:55:38","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T14:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2018-02-07T21:57:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T21:57:13","slug":"a-future-of-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/a-future-of-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"A future of innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tech student starts culture of innovation with help of faculty team<\/h3>\n
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Enis Cirak \u201916 was Tech\u2019s first University Innovation Fellow. With the help of Tech faculty members and staff, students following in Cirak\u2019s footsteps are establishing a culture of innovation.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By Kory Riemensperger<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

Three years ago, chemical engineering professor Holly Stretz asked her freshman class for volunteers to promote innovation and entrepreneurship on-campus.<\/p>\n

For Enis Cirak, \u201816 chemical engineering, the call to action would be the beginning of an entrepreneurial lifestyle. As the first University Innovation Fellow, he traveled to California to study with with representatives from Google, Stanford University and Citrix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment in Silicon Valley was incredible,\u201d said Cirak. \u201cThe average student I met was full of passion and ambition, they were managing a nonprofit or starting a company, doing something to chase their dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n

After six weeks of training, all fellows are assigned a project. On paper, Cirak\u2019s was simple: create positive change by bringing that spirit back to campus and spreading it.<\/p>\n

To start his project, Cirak and some friends started the Social Entrepreneurship Society, a student group that tried to mimic the adventurous culture he experienced in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be tough to get students to understand what an entrepreneurial lifestyle is like,\u201d said Cirak. \u201cThe traditional path of earning a degree is the first thing students think of. I wanted to show students another side of education.\u201d<\/p>\n

To promote creative thinking and an entrepreneurial lifestyle on campus, the society hosted a number of events, including TechX, an event modeled after the popular TED talks. Though it took place during a finals week, over 200 people showed up to hear from a diverse crowd of scientists and thinkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about how these highly motivated kids work,\u201d said Stretz. \u201cAn event like that would have taken faculty and administrators six months to a year to set up. The SES kids did it in a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chemical engineering professor\u2019s interest in entrepreneurship stems from her involvement in the TTU Pathways to Innovation Program team. This group of faculty and administrators was started by Stretz; Vahid Motevalli, associate dean for Research & Innovation; Steve Canfield, mechanical engineering professor; and Mohan Rao, mechanical engineering professor.<\/p>\n

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Enis Cirak and Holly Stretz, professor of chemical engineering.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe were never charged with forming the team,\u201d said Stretz. \u201cNo administrator came to us and asked us to start this. It\u2019s been grassroots from the beginning, and I think that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been able to make such a large impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Stretz, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship on campus, the team focuses on five pillars: the University Innovation Fellows program, the Eagle Works competition, the iMakerSpace, the creation of an I&E certificate and new Tech course offerings.<\/p>\n

iMakerSpace<\/strong>
\nThe iMakerSpace is located in Tech\u2019s iCube. The iCube is a shared venture, located in the Volpe Library, between the College of Business, College of Engineering and the Office of Research and Economic Development. It was created as an opportunity for students to work on interdisciplinary projects with faculty and regional businesses.<\/p>\n

When the space was first proposed, the SES team was invited to provide input about the layout of the space and what equipment would be necessary. Now, students rely on the space to use 3-D printers, meet with their teams and receive advice from staff with real-world experience.<\/p>\n

I&E certificate + course offerings<\/strong>
\nAt the academic level, the university has created an I&E certificate and expanding current course offerings. College certificates are a good way to obtain some expertise in a field without investing several years for a diploma.<\/p>\n

The team is also pushing for additional classes. For example, Melissa Geist, nursing professor, and Robby Sanders, chemical engineering professor, have developed a course where nurses and engineers form teams, do rounds at Cookeville Regional Medical Center and develop a pitch for a new healthcare innovation or product.<\/p>\n

Eagle Works<\/strong>
\nCirak\u2019s latest venture as an entrepreneur was born out of a Tech competition called Eagle Works. This annual event encourages engineering and business student teams to design, develop and pitch original inventions.<\/p>\n

After falling short of first place his junior year, Cirak resolved to gather a team of innovators he knew since his freshman year and win the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned a lot of lessons from our first time in the competition,\u201d said Cirak. \u201cThe second time, we were able to focus on designing something that would truly succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their idea was a mobile app named Gigamunch. Cirak compares the barebones of the app to Esty, a popular e-commerce website. Users who download the app can browse local cooks and order food, then either pick-up the food or use a delivery service. An approval process vets all cooks who want to list their culinary creations on the app.<\/p>\n

The team started work on the app in December 2015 and released a version for Nashville users in June. At the time of publication, they have 30 or so cooks and anywhere from 100-500 users online at any given time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing those first few sales alongside the diverse varieties of food our cooks offered was huge,\u201d said Cirak. \u201cIt got the whole team motivated to keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back at the journey he\u2019s taken since freshman year, Cirak recognizes the steps he\u2019s taken have set him up to chase his calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes entrepreneurship has a bad connotation,\u201d said Cirak. \u201cSome people look at it and see a snake oil salesman in the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real picture is that it\u2019s a life of your own design \u2013 it\u2019s a lifestyle where you rely on your creativity to get you through the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the professor who got him started?<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Enis, it was rare to find students interested in creating their own app or starting a company while they studied here,\u201d said Stretz. \u201cNow, it feels like there\u2019s a growing entrepreneurial community here at Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Story: <\/strong>Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Tech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tech student starts culture of innovation with help of faculty team By Kory Riemensperger Three years ago, chemical engineering professor Holly Stretz asked her freshman class for volunteers to promote innovation and entrepreneurship on-campus. For Enis Cirak, \u201816 chemical engineering, the call to action would be the beginning of an entrepreneurial lifestyle. As the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}