At Olin we have an expansive view of entrepreneurship. Throughout the curriculum we connect the teaching of engineering to entrepreneurship by encouraging our students to put humans and their needs at the forefront of everything they do.

Olin's Robotics Lab was founded in 2006 by Professor David Barrett with the purpose of having undergraduate engineers work on developing useful mobile robots.  The lab has a long history of vehicles that were successfully converted into robots.  From working on vehicles such as the MIT Robocar to APHROS (aka. SnotBot), Olin students are helping robotics research in smarter ground vehicles, novel autonomous underwater vehicle propulsion systems, human-robot interaction/user interface development, smarter agricultural air and ground vehicles, and acquiring useful biological samples from marine animals.

One important facet of an Olin faculty member's role is to engage in meaningful externally-facing work through activities such as research, entrepreneurship, technical and educational consulting, creative work and more. Our externally-facing work is valued for the impact it has on outside stake-holders such as research communities, companies, other universities, the general public and others. The majority of our faculty engage in research as part of their “external impact” portfolios, and they typically involve groups of undergraduate students. For our students, conducting research with a dedicated faculty mentor can be a pivotal experience, and these experiences provide excellent preparation for graduate school and other career choices.  

At Olin, we believe the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHS) provide the core of students’ education, adding insight, purpose, and direction to the larger Olin experience. Our whole curriculum is based on the idea that engineering starts with people and ends with people. AHS provides students a vehicle for understanding people, both as users of and as practitioners of engineering. We offer both stand-alone AHS courses and courses that integrate AHS with science or engineering. These courses are meant to foster students’ development as critical and contextual thinkers, broad-thinking creators, persuasive communicators, ethical practitioners, and as self-reflective individuals. AHS courses introduce students to big ideas such as the evolution of technology over modern history, the impact of the global supply chain on the products we buy, and the nature of identity. 

The Shop’s mission is to empower all interested community members to use and master the tools of  fabrication and prototyping through training and guidance. The Olin Machine Shop is an active learning environment focused on student growth and development. Daniela Faas and the Shop course assistants describe how they have created an inclusive and collaborative environment in the shop, and share what they enjoy about teaching and fabricating.