March 2009

Martin High of Oklahoma State University shares a presentation on Is It Obvious or Not? presented as part of the Intellectual Property paper track at The NCIIA's Annual Conference which was moderated by Doug Arion of Carthage College.

The abstract:

Recent changes in the law, from U.S. Supreme Court cases to changes in the administrative processes of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, have made it more difficult to obtain patent protection for new inventions and have likely invalidated hundreds of existing patents. Some, such as changes to the USPTO's Manual for Patent Examining Procedure ("MPEP") arguably do not follow precedential case law, so inventors should be mindful of how to overcome rejections from these questionable changes to the MPEP. Student and faculty inventors must be cognizant of these changes in the patent laws and how these changes affect their business decisions. In sum, "obviousness" has become a substantial obstacle in obtaining patent protection, and inventors must be fully conversant in this important patent doctrine.

Mariappan Jawaharlal of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona shares a presentation on Authentic Learning Experiences Through Entrepreneurial Education presented as part of the Curricular Models and Pedagogy paper track at The NCIIA's Annual Conference which was moderated by Nancy Clement of Purdue University.

The abstract:

Entrepreneurial education provides a meaningful context to address real problems in complex settings rather than simplified problems in isolation. It engages learners in developing new understanding and knowledge, promotes deeper insight, and provides an enhanced authentic learning experience. Constructivism is a theory with roots in psychology and sociology. A constructivist approach to learning and teaching is based on the notion that learners construct their own knowledge rather than knowledge being transferred into their brain. Learner's' construction of knowledge is based on their past knowledge, the timeliness of new knowledge, and the learner's' ability to understand the connections. This process forces learners to either modify existing knowledge or develop new knowledge. Such learning experiences are termed as Authentic Learning Experience. This paper discusses authentic learning as an instructional approach based on constructivism and elaborates on the effectiveness of engineering entrepreneurship pedagogy.

Robert Gustafson of Lehigh University shares a presentation on Academic and Entrepreneurial Leadership presented as part of the Curricular Models and Pedagogy paper track at The NCIIA's Annual Conference which was moderated by Nancy Clement of Purdue University.

The abstract:

Leadership Development is often an essential facet of a student's academic experience. Leadership qualities include initiative, courage, and in many cases, the ability to recognize and pursue opportunities. These are similar traits required of Entrepreneurs. Our plan for integrating leadership knowledge, skill, and experience sets the framework for a program that moves leadership theory to deeper understanding and habit. Our evolving Institute structure maintains a focus on the innovative development of entrepreneurial leaders and uses a team approach. This model merges academics, industry experience, mentoring (alumni & industry partners) and connectivity to a National Leadership Honor Society in specially designed facilities that incorporate, among other activities, an Entrepreneurial Leadership Residency (ELR) program.

The NCIIA is proud to offer a mobile-friendly website for our conference attendees. Check out the Washington, D.C. area metro map and dig into the conference schedule right on your iPhone or other mobile device.

Through a partnership with Forrest Glick at Stanford University, the NCIIA is able to offer a mobile-optimized conference schedule that allows conference attendees to provide immediate feedback on the sessions they attend.

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Don't miss the papers and session abstracts available for download at the NCIIA Annual Conference site.