Jack Bringardner, teaching professor and director of education innovation in engineering, design and society, has been honored with the KEEN Rising Star Award from the Kern Family Foundation.
This award is giving to “a junior faculty member who has gone above and beyond to equip undergraduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset.” Bringardner was recognized as the 2025 Rising Star Top Awardee.
Bringardner said he incorporates an entrepreneurial mindset across the classes he teaches and by fostering that thinking in students, it prepares them to build meaningful and fulfilling careers.
“My teaching approach is to create a learning environment that reflects real-world engineering practice while centering the student experience on developing transferable skills and mindsets,” Bringardner said. “In my courses, entrepreneurial mindset integration emphasizes how students approach problems and cultivate the behaviors needed for success.”
With the funding Bringardner will receive from KEEN with the award, he plans to continue working on integrating entrepreneurial mindset across the Mines curriculum, supporting faculty and programs that expand opportunities for as many students as possible.
Bringardner is a member of the Entrepreneurial Mindset in the First Year (EMIFY) leadership team, and at Mines, he teaches the first-year engineering Cornerstone Design course and Innov8x. Prior to joining the faculty at Mines, he was assistant dean for academics and directed the introduction to engineering and design and vertically integrated projects at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
An initiative of the Kern Family Foundation, the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) is a network of universities across the United States committed to instilling the entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineering students. The Kern Family Foundation’s mission is to empower the rising generation of Americans to build flourishing lives anchored in strong character, inspired by quality education, driven by an entrepreneurial mindset, and guided by the desire to create value for others.
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.
