Addressing Business Research Needs in the Engineering Curriculum

Teaching business competencies in the engineering curriculum frequently happens in support of entrepreneurship and/or management and leadership programs. However, in the College of Engineering at Cornell University, business and engineering intersect in a more ubiquitous manner, including traditional coursework and co-curricular initiatives. Examples of this include projects where there are corporate partners, business and leadership skill development in student project teams, market and consumer aspects of design courses, and training focused on organizational communication. To address these real-world applications of engineering and the external factors impacting theoretical approaches, students need to research companies, industries, business environments, organizational behavior, and sources of financing. This has prompted the Engineering Library, part of the Cornell University Library system, to think about approaches for supporting business research, in addition to the all-important design, build, and modeling work of engineering and science. Increasing collaboration between business and engineering librarians to provide research assistance and instruction has been one approach; providing cross-training on databases and subject expertise is another. Finally, adopting different pedagogical styles and considering disciplinary contexts and language has been essential. This paper will describe the use cases where business and engineering intersect in the College of Engineering at Cornell University while also detailing our approaches. In addition, it will discuss the outcomes of our efforts and the successes and challenges encountered as we work to address business research needs in the engineering curriculum