Peer-Reviewed Papers Page 223 Page 223 Interdisciplinary Design, Entrepreneurship and Service (IDEAS) Course Nassif E. Rayess, Jonathan Weaver, and Leo Hanifin The University of Detroit Mercy Abstract The Interdisciplinary Design, Entrepreneurship and Service (IDEAS) course brings together students and faculty from the colleges of Architecture, Business, Engineering, and Liberal Arts to work on socially beneficial projects. The structure of the course, the successes and difficulties, the types of projects, and the feedback from the students and faculty involved and external reviewers will be discussed. The development of this course is sponsored by the NCIIA. Introduction Just as living elements in nature are shaped and defined by their surroundings, so are elements of society. Recent generations have seen their lives defined by a confluence of geo-economic, geopolitical and technological factors. The space/arms race shaped the 1950’s and 1960’s and the country felt the urgent need to reinforce the technological and industrial base to match up to the Soviet Union. That generation responded with educational changes that manifested in a renewed emphasis on science and engineering fundamentals. The last decade has brought us the “flat world” 1 and the ready outsourcing of many of the basic skills that were considered vital to the survival of the country just four decades back. Now the threat is not political, military, or technological but economic. It is not that having a firm command of the fundamentals is no longer important; it is that it, by itself, no longer commands the same range of salary and compensation. As a matter of fact, the trend is such that many jobs of the recent past and their associated standards of living might be bifurcating forever. Conventional pay premiums, the extra pay garnered for work location and other trade considerations, are quickly disappearing in today’s global and open economy. The challenge of this generation is to reconfigure the education system so that other forms of pay premiums may emerge, ones that are based on added value. These can take the form of knowledge, hard skills or soft skills. Given the ease with which knowledge is shared and disseminated, a knowledge premium is very hard to maintain and even harder to translate into economic value. Hard skills, such as computer expertise, are knowledge-based and thus follow in that same vein. Soft skills, on the other hand, are entirely different and may be the key to maintaining this country’s leadership position. There is strong consensus about the kind of soft skills that will be needed to see the college-educated workforce through potentially tumultuous times. These are primarily associated with entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and the ability to work in multidisciplinary groups. Such “situational” skills are quite difficult to instill and are not suited for most of the prevalent higher education models. Yet there have been significant changes in higher education to reflect this newfound need. Some of these changes have been mandated, as is the case with the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) 2 outcome d requiring that students have an ability to function effectively on multidisciplinary teams. Other changes were encouraged by generous and well-timed funding from agencies and foundations. This course, titled Interdisciplinary Design, Entrepreneurship and Service and referred to by the acronym IDEAS, owes its existence to funding from the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) 3 and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) 4 . Depending on the scale of implementation, interdisciplinary education that emphasizes entrepreneurship traits, creative designs, and innovative solutions could have a transformative effect on industry as well as society in general. There is little doubt about the value of entrepreneurs in creating small businesses, the most reliable economic engine ever conceived. Marry this entrepreneurship drive to science and technology, and high-tech start-ups are created. Engage various disciplines, such as architecture and psychology, into this mix and the stage is set for these small businesses to create world-class products and services. Furthermore, this story is not limited