Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Researchers in this area investigate how creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship spur the generation of ideas, product and processes, while also determining how to apply findings related to that understanding. Because businesses create value through new products, services and organizational forms, research in this area is applicable to a range of industries.

Process innovation 

Professor Michael zur Muehlen, developer and director of the Center for Business Process Innovation, is a well-recognized expert in this area. He has earned grants from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in New York, and was principal investigator on a grant from the National Security Agency studying the integration of architecture, modeling and simulation in software design.

Product innovation

Professor Yan Chen researches how product innovation stretches an organization's technological capabilities, as well as the role of organizational boundaries in stretching those capabilities. Professor Gary Lynn's work in this area has been published in top journals, and examines how individuals and firms develop and commercialize technical products and services.

Innovation adoption

Professor Patricia Holahan has been a dedicated researcher in this area, particularly in as it relates to diffusion of innovation in healthcare. Her work on physician acceptance and effective use of new healthcare IT has been published in numerous journals and textbooks.

Front-end innovation

This is the specialty of the Consortium for Corporate Entrepreneurship and its director, Professor Peter Koen. His research examines idea generation, the innovation process and business model innovations outside the core of the enterprise.

Innovation and project management

This is a specialty of many faculty researchers at Stevens, including professors Thomas Lechler, Tal Ben-Zvi and Edward Stohr. Some focus areas include the creation of economic value through innovation and value-creation learning in technology management.

Impact analysis

Researchers in this area examine benchmarking strategies to assess and increase the impact of innovation, and evaluate the impact of publicly funded research projects on innovation. Professors Gregory Prastacos and Vartuhi Tonoyan are both leaders in this area.

Entrepreneurship

A significant research area at the School of Business, which runs an entrepreneurial thinking course for all freshmen in the engineering program. Among the topics investigated here: corruption in transition and mature market economies, family structure and policy effects on women's entrepreneurship, behavioral theory of new ventures, and labor and industrial economics and entrepreneurship. Professors Vartuhi Tonoyan, C. Timothy Koeller, Yan Chen, Peter Koen, Stefano Bonini and Thomas Lechler are all highly active in this area.