Entrepreneurship’s role in physics education

This is a guest post by Doug Arion, Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carthage College. 

As astronomers, there are many things we wish we had been taught besides just astronomy and physics. While we learn a lot from the ‘school of hard knocks’, there are ways to make sure that graduating students are better prepared. Core career and business skills are needed no matter what path a student takes and both undergraduate entrepreneurship and professional masters programs have been successful in doing so. Unfortunately, very few campuses offer these programs and it is time for more schools to pick up on that theme. My recent article in Physics Today tries to explain why and how this is critical to our discipline. Also note that the APS will be holding a conference June 12-14, 2014 on this topic!

How can we get more “traditional” physics and astronomy faculty to accept the idea that entrepreneurship and professional development ought to be part of the curriculum? Who are the folks in non-academic careers who could step up and help the academic community? Let’s hear it in the comments.
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