Purdue alumna Stacey Burr speaks to students in ECE's Entrepreneurial Engineer seminar

On a recent Tuesday morning, Purdue electrical and computer engineering students in the new Entrepreneurial Engineer seminar settled into their seats, laptops open and conversation buzzing as they waited for class to begin.

Then Stacey Burr started speaking.

Burr, a Purdue alumna with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering and industrial administration, has built a career at the forefront of wearable sensing technology. She began her journey at DuPont, later founding Textronics, Inc., where she led development of the first wearable sensor garments for fitness and health. After selling the company to Adidas, she continued as vice president of Wearable Sports Electronics. A few years later, Google recruited her to lead Product & UX for Wear OS and Google Fit. Today, she runs her own consulting and advising firm in the health tech sector, Future Standard, Inc. Along the way, she has co-invented 76 patented innovations.

As she shared her story, the mood in the room shifted. Students who had been restless minutes before leaned forward, engaged as Burr described being on the ground floor of wearable technologies and offered candid advice on navigating risk, innovation and entrepreneurship.

That moment, said Babak Ziaie, Professor Emeritus in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is exactly what the course was designed to spark.

“Our goal is to convey the excitement that technology commercialization and entrepreneurship is offering right now for young, bright students,” Ziaie said. “It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.”

Entrepreneurial Engineer is a one-credit seminar for juniors and seniors interested in exploring the possibilities of technology-based startups. The class combines foundational lectures with visits from Purdue alumni who have launched companies, led innovation at global firms or invested in emerging technologies. Students are selected through a competitive application process and are asked to reflect on what they learn each week. By semester’s end, they propose a startup concept of their own.

Ziaie said the course is about more than exposure, it’s about connection. Alumni speakers, such as Burr, meet with students beyond the classroom, answering questions and offering career advice.

“Hearing directly from alumni who sat where they’re sitting now, and who went on to create and lead new technologies, that’s powerful,” Ziaie said.

For Burr, returning to West Lafayette to share her story felt like coming full circle. For students, it was a glimpse of how a Purdue engineer can turn ideas into innovations that change industries.