Douglas N. Arion PhD
Donald Hedberg Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies
Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Director, Carthage Institute of Astronomy
Carthage College

Title:  "What your Mother….er….Advisor Never Told You: The Other Stuff you Need to Know."

Abstract:  Studying physics (or any other subject…) because you love it is great. There are many career paths available to those who have studied physics, but there are skills, knowledge, and attitudes that physics education, by itself, doesn’t typically provide to prepare students for the real world that they will enter – no matter what that career path may be. Entrepreneurship education is the key to bringing this content to physics students, with important benefits for all: Better preparation of students, greater ability to recruit students to the discipline, new opportunities for research projects, and, yes, the potential for financial reward.

The ScienceWorks Entrepreneurial Studies Program was started at Carthage College in 1994 to address this important topic and fill an education void. Now one of the leading programs in technical entrepreneurship in the United States, ScienceWorks is one model through which entrepreneurship education can be implemented. This talk will discuss some of the history of technical entrepreneurship education, the key components that such education includes, resources available to create and implement entrepreneurship education, and describe a number of ways that it can be implemented on campus.

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Douglas Arion received his AB in physics from Dartmouth College in 1979, and received MS and PhD degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Maryland. He was employed by Science Applications International Corporation, in positions including Senior Scientist, Head of the Applied Physics and Engineering Division, and Assistant Vice President, and served as one of the chief scientists in the United States nuclear survivability testing program. He joined the faculty at Carthage College in 1994 to create the ScienceWorks entrepreneurial studies program, which he taught and directed for 16 years. He is involved in strategic planning and economic development, and continues to do research in instrumentation development, observational astronomy, and public science education and outreach.