Enhancing curiosity, connectedness and value in an Engineering Economic Analysis Course

The goal of KEEN’s Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) is to incorporate learning that enhances students’ curiosity, connectedness of material, and creates value.  This presentation provides a case study example for an engineering economic analysis course with the goal of creating the EM thinking and skills. The case study assignment and quantitative survey data will be presented to illustrate the value of the assignment.  The students rated the ability to enhance curiosity as an average of 4.01 out of 5, creating connectedness across the course material as 4.18 out of 5, and creating value as 4.16 out of 5.  The case study was highly effective in allowing the students to enhance and practice these skills and mindset.

Dr. Sandy Furterer is a Professor of Practice at The Ohio State University, in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering.  She has applied Lean Six Sigma, Systems Engineering, and Engineering Management tools in healthcare and other service industries.  She previously managed the Enterprise Performance Excellence center in a healthcare system. Dr. Furterer received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in Quality Engineering from the University of Central Florida in 2004.  She received an MBA from Xavier University, and a Bachelor and Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University.   She is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Manager of Quality/ Organizational Excellence, Certified Quality Engineer, an ASQ fellow, and a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, a Senior Member in IISE, and recent past president in IISE’s Society of Engineering and Management Systems.  

Dr. Furterer is an author or co-author of several academic journal articles, conference proceedings and

8 reference textbooks on Lean Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma, Lean Systems, and Systems Engineering, including being the co-editor for the ASQ CQIA Handbook and the ASQ CMQ/OE Handbook, and the editor of the ASQ CQPA Handbook. Her latest book is Systems Engineering: Holistic Life Cycle Architecture, Modeling and Design with Real-World Application, CRC Press, 2022.  She also wrote the Lean Systems chapter in Maynard's Industrial and Systems Engineering Handbook, Sixth Edition, 2022.  Her latest textbook publication is due in 2025, Engineering Economy Excelerated, Cognella Publishing, 2025.