E140A - Session 18

Summary

As Steve Blank said in his "Secret History of Silicon Valley" session, crisis is often a catalyst for innovation. This is particularly relevant to entrepreneurs in today's world, where crises range from preventing nuclear terror to providing access to clean water. As current and aspiring entrepreneurs, we have an obligation to learn about and address these issues with our creativity and drive.

During this session, we will be presenting the research that we have done on the Grand Challenges put forth by the National Academy of Engineering. Each team will have 15 minutes to present. Your presentation can be in any format you would like: PowerPoint, website, show and tell, etc.

(Please note that two teams will be presenting in Session 19: Kate/Tracy and Andi/Ashwin.)

Required Readings (Policy on Required Readings.)

Please review the Grand Challenges that we will be presenting on.

Challenge	Members
Reverse-engineer the brain	Kate and Tracy
Provide access to clean water	Anuraag, Loren, and Rohan
Enhance virtual reality	Andrew and Chris
Make solar energy economical	Aaron, Elizabeth, and Gabe
Engineer better medicines	Andi and Ashwin

Study Questions (Policy on Study Questions.)

1. Pick a Grand Challenge that is other than your own. In your mind, what is the biggest barrier to overcoming this particular challenge?

Email Assignment (Policy on Email Assignments.)

Please submit a one page information sheet on your Grand Challenge. This should be an executive summary of the research that you have done over the past quarter. Along with posting directly in the MFP forum, please attach your executive summary to your post in PDF format.