NSF-Retaining Engineers through Research Entrepreneurship and Advanced–Materials Training (RETREAT)The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering REU site was established with the goal of persuadingan increased number of engineering students to continue post baccalaureate into Engineeringcareers in industry or proceeding to postgraduate training in materials engineering research. Theuniqueness of this REU site lies in our program that combines training in multiscalemultifunctional advanced composites with entrepreneurship. It involves a successfulcollaboration between engineering and business (Jim Moran Institute of GlobalEntrepreneurship) colleges of FSU. The appeal and competitiveness of the program to STEMundergraduates is evident from the over 60 applicants annually from all branches of engineeringand the sciences. Each summer since 2011, ten successful candidates went through a structured,vigorous yet fun-filled sessions of class work, seminars, practical training, experimental workand presentations through the 10 weeks of the program. They also visited the Eglin AirforceBase to gain insights in to research opportunities in the military. Each summer, the REURETREAT program ended with an engipreneurship competition where the interns presentedtheir business plan to commercialize their research work to a seasoned set of panelists from theJMI and the Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization of FSU.At the end of the RETREAT, the students were motivated to pursue careers in the STEMdisciplines, and equipped with the capability to identify needs/problems, develop innovativesolutions/products at competitive prices, and develop a business plan to successfullycommercialize them.
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Scheiner et al. (2020) studied this question.