Curriculum
Launch your career as an entrepreneur or investor. Explore the world of entrepreneurship. Practice building something new.
Certificate in Entrepreneurship
Sharpen your innovation and entrepreneurship skills with a unique bundle of interdisciplinary courses.
Overview
The Certificate in Entrepreneurship will launch your career as an entrepreneur. Whether you ultimately decide to pursue your venture or apply your entrepreneurial skills and mindset as an employee, the practices and experiences of the entrepreneur will prepare you for success.
The purpose of the Certificate in Entrepreneurship is to support students seeking the training, education, and practical experience necessary to succeed as business founders, with particular (but not exclusive) focus given to connecting undergraduate students with campus technological expertise.
The Certificate in Entrepreneurship is explicitly targeted at undergraduate students interested in learning how to start a company immediately. Most importantly, this Certificate will focus on the hands-on application of lessons learned. Undergraduate students will be required to focus on building products and companies. Courses have been deliberately designed and selected to move undergraduate students beyond theoretical reasoning and into the practical experience of building, tinkering, experimenting, and rebuilding.
Courses
Core Courses
The Certificate in Entrepreneurship’s core courses will ground you in the foundations of entrepreneurship theory and practice. By the time you have completed the core course sequence, you will have launched a startup of your own.
ENG 008 – Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Students explore the critical topics entrepreneurs need to know to start a successful business. Frameworks and strategies for getting started, including the Business Model Canvas, Design Thinking and the Lean Startup method, will be examined. Students work in teams of students from across the university.
ENG 108 – Launching a Company
This course provides a hands-on overview of technological innovation and product development. Your team will work through the Lean Startup Method, iterating your solution as more information about your customer is identified. The early part of the course focuses on identifying untapped customer needs in order to generate new product ideas. Students get their hands dirty talking to customers, partners, and competitors. A significant amount of class time is dedicated to project work for teams to complete a minimally viable product prototype and complete customer discovery.
Practicum Experience
Entrepreneurship is experiential. Gain practical experience with startups. Work for a startup. Further develop your startup.
In line with the goal of “building, tinkering, experimenting, and rebuilding”, students are also expected to complete a practical experience focused on building their own venture. Students may complete this requirement by doing any of the following:
- Completing the UC Davis SSC PLASMA cohort experience
- Competing in the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition finals
- Completing the Eng 98 Startup Speaker Series Course AND one of the following:
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- Competing in the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition early rounds
- Competing in the UC Davis Little Bang! Poster Competition
- Completing a pre-approved internship at an early-stage startup
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Elective Courses
The Certificate in Entrepreneurship acknowledges that founders’ paths are varied. You will supplement the core curriculum by developing additional relevant skills and knowledge.
In addition to the core courses, students must choose six (6) additional elective credits focused on the topics of Technology, Ethics, Design, Communication, Intellectual Property, and/or Leadership. Three (3) of these credits MUST come from upper-division coursework.
The below list of pre-approved electives is recommended, but not all-inclusive. Students may petition for inclusion of other relevant courses.
Design:
Engineering Senior Design
- BIM 110A/B/L — Biomedical Engineering Senior Design Experience
- EAE 130A/B — Aircraft Performance & Design
- EBS 170A/B/BL/C/CL — Biological and Agricultural Project
- ECH 158A/B/C — Process Economics & Green Design; Separations & Unit Operations; Plant Design Project
- ECH 161A/B/C — Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals; Bioseparations; Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory
- ECI 193A/B — Civil & Environmental Engineering Senior Design
- ECS 193A/B — Computer Science Engineering Senior Design
- EEC 119A/B — Integrated Circuit Design Project
- EEC 134A/B — RF/Microwave Systems Design
- EEC 136A/B — Electronic Design Project
- EEC 181A/B — Digital Systems Design Project
- EEC 193A/B — Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Design
- EEC 195A/B — Autonomous Vehicle Design Project
- EME 185A/B — Mechanical Engineering Systems Design Project
- EMS 188A/B — Materials Design Project
Other Design Courses:
- DES 040B — Ideologies of Design
- DES 127 — Sustainable Design
- DES 165 — Industrial Design
- DES 166 — Human-Centered Design
- ECI 145 — Hydraulic Structure Design: Senior Design Experience
- ECI 143 — Green Engineering Design and Sustainability
- ECI 173 — Foundation Design
- ENG 003 — Engineering Design
Technology:
- ABT 289A — Selected Topic in Applied Biological Systems Technology: Agricultural and Natural Resources
- ANS 128 — Agricultural Applications of Linear Programming
- BIM 170 — Aspects of Medical Device Design and Manufacturing
- BIT 091 — Exploring Biotechnology
- BIT 160 — Plant Biotechnology
- CMN 170 — Digital Technology & Social Change
- CMN 174 — Social Media
- ECS 162 — Web programming
- ENG 188 — Science and Technology of Sustainable Power Generation
- FSM 122 — Food Service Systems Management
- FST 127 — Sensory Evaluation of Foods
- FST 160 — Food Product Development
- STS 108 — Intellectual Property in Science
- SAS 91B — Explorations in Science and Society: Leadership and Collaboration
Leadership and Management:
- ARE 112 — Fundamentals of Organization Management
- ARE 113 — Fundamentals of Marketing Management
- ARE 140 — Farm Management
- ARE 155 — Operations Research and Management Science
- ARE 172 — Financial Management of the Firm
- CRD 152 — Community Development
- CRD 154 — Social Theory and Community Change
- CRD 158 — Small Community Governance
- CRD 164 — Organizations & their Role in Community Change
- CRD 172 — Social Inequality: Issues and Innovations
- ENG 106 — Engineering Economics
- ESP 191 — Workshop on Food System Sustainability
- FST 160 — Food Product Development
- MGT 120 — Managing and Using Information Technology
- MGT 150 — Technology Management
- MGT 160 — Financing New Ventures
- MSC 22 — Innovative Team Leadership
- MSC 131 — Military Leadership and Management
- PHE 143 — Coaching Effectiveness
- PSC 175 —Genius, Creativity, and Leadership
- SAS 130 — Contemporary Leadership
Ethics and Communication:
- ANS 170 — Ethics of Animal Use
- BIT 171 — Professionalism & Ethics in Genomics & Biotechnology
- CMN 003 — Interpersonal Communication Competence
- CMN 130 — Group Communication
- CMN 170/251 —Digital Technology & Social Change
- CMN 174 — Social Media
- ECS 188 — Ethics in an Age of Technology
Startup Speaker Series
This 1-credit class provides the opportunity to hear from and network with highly successful entrepreneurs.