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The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) named Pelin Kurtay, professor and senior associate chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a 2025 Engineering Unleashed Fellow. She is one of only 29 engineering faculty nationwide to receive this distinction. The fellowship is recognition of a commitment to developing engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset (EM).
“The KEEN framework definitely aligns with what I feel students need, in terms of developing the entrepreneurial mindset,” said Kurtay. “It’s something that can be implemented in any class, not just project-based classes. I’m deeply passionate about the value it brings to students’ learning, growth, and career development.”
The fellowship, which includes $10,000 to be used toward a project, is awarded as part of the Engineering Unleashed initiative, which is a community of engineering faculty and staff who are bringing EM to undergraduate engineering programs throughout the nation.
Kurtay became involved when she attended a workshop last summer; the Engineering Unleashed faculty development workshops are elements of the multi-institutional activities offered by KEEN faculty to help achieve this mission. In addition, she was assigned a coach who was already engaged with KEEN. “From there I adopted the concept of value creation into a class on embedded systems and hardware interfaces,” she said. “As an outcome of that I published a ‘KEEN card.’” A KEEN card is a practical, community-shared teaching module or idea for integrating EM into engineering education that is shared on the Engineering Unleashed community website.
Kurtay said, “I participated in the first cohort of our faculty learning community at George Mason University last year where we exchanged ideas and explored ways to develop habits of EM in each of our classes. As a result of my participation in that cohort and publication of my card I became more interested. I also participated in a summer workshop focused on enhancing EM with AI where I had the opportunity to collaborate with a group of faculty from universities across the U.S. and explore a variety of AI tools that can support this effort.” It was the culmination of these activities that led to her being nominated and named as a fellow.
George Mason joined KEEN in December of 2024 and Kurtay said there’s certainly a cultural fit. “In CEC and George Mason more broadly, we have a great mix of faculty who are deeply committed to student success, not just in terms of technical skills, but in preparing graduates who add extraordinary value wherever they go. Although the first cohort of the faculty learning community was small, I know of several others who are also interested in engaging, regardless of their appointment type."
About The Kern Family Foundation: The Kern Family Foundation invests in the rising generation of Americans, equipping them to become tomorrow's leaders and innovators. Established in 1999, the Foundation is based in Wisconsin and invests in fields that impact human flourishing, including medicine, educational leadership, and engineering education.
Engineering Unleashed consists of 5300 members from 385 institutions of higher education. This community is powered by KEEN, a partnership of 70 colleges and universities dedicated to graduating engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.