1/27/2025 Taylor Parks
Written by Taylor Parks
MechSE Teaching Associate Professor Blake Johnson recently finished his three-year term as an Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) fellow for the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN).
As an EM fellow, Johnson’s primary role was to advise research teams participating in the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3)’s Strategic Instructional Innovations Program (SIIP).
“It’s a wonderful internal grant system that is dedicated to funding engineering education development projects,” Johnson said of SIIP. “The goal within the program is that the projects will have a lasting impact on teaching on our campus.”
Indeed, the Illinois campus culture of continually improving engineering education was a draw for Johnson as a new faculty member. “The SIIP program was new when I started [on campus],” he recalled. “I accepted the position on faith that Illinois would be investing in innovative educational methods and practices and doing iterative education research. That’s what the whole SIIP program is all about now.”
AE3 provides SIIP grants through its partnership with the Kern Family Foundation, which was established in 1998 by MechSE alum Robert Kern (BSME 1947) and his wife, Patricia. The late Kern, who also founded Generac Power Systems, is said to have developed an anecdotal taxonomy of the qualities of good engineers from his decades-long career. Kern sold Generac in 2006 to focus on philanthropic efforts, which led to KEEN’s development. KEEN’s EM framework is inspired by Kern’s taxonomy.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset is characterized by three overarching qualities, referred to as the three Cs: Curiosity, making Connections, and Creating value. “The idea for curiosity is that engineers should always keep their eye out for little things that interest them and resources that they have access to,” Johnson explained. “Then for making connections, they can identify innovative opportunities to do with those resources. And in doing so, they can consider how those opportunities might create greater value for their organization.”
In working to bring the Entrepreneurial Mindset to as many engineering schools as possible, KEEN funds relevant engineering education projects nationwide. “The University of Illinois is one of the largest schools in the network,” Johnson said. “I was one of the first people from our university to attend some of KEEN’s early conferences, and that led to my becoming an inaugural entrepreneurial mindset fellow [alongside Bioengineering Clinical Assistant Professor Joe Bradley].”
Johnson advised SIIP teams whose projects were committed to using the Entrepreneurial Mindset in their curriculum development efforts, such as collaborative efforts in MatSE to redesign the department’s capstone design curriculum.
KEEN’s symbiotic partnership with the U of I is demonstrated through ongoing positive impact on both sides.
“KEEN has added to the rich teaching culture we already had at Illinois,” Johnson said. “It has funded projects that demonstrate that good pedagogical developments can pay off. And I think that one of the strengths we bring to the network is the ability to help them develop pedagogical content that works at scale.”
As the network continues to grow, so does Illinois’ reach in the engineering education community.
“What KEEN is really doing is providing a venue beyond the existing professional organizations for people from different universities to get together, share their ideas, and help one another thrive,” Johnson said. “I think it’s been a great venue for that, and very effective at it.”