Planning: IUSE/PFE:RED Planning: Creating Innovative SPACE in Mechanical Engineering Education Powered by Industry Engagement and AI Integration

This project (named "SPACE" for "Strategic Partnerships for Advancing Creativity and Engineering,") will help the team develop a competitive RED Track 4 proposal to prepare the next generation of engineers for a workforce increasingly shaped by rapid technological change, artificial intelligence (AI), and evolving societal needs. In addition to having strong technical skills, engineering employers seek graduates who have the ability to collaborate across disciplines, adapt to emerging technologies, communicate effectively, and apply engineering knowledge in real-world contexts. At the same time, many engineering programs face challenges in maintaining meaningful industry engagement, integrating AI responsibly into curricula, and continuously adapting educational experiences to changing workforce demands. To address these challenges, the project explores approaches to integrate industry engagement, responsible AI use, creativity, innovation, and professional skills throughout the undergraduate program. This project will serve the national interest by supporting the development of an engineering workforce both regionally and nationally that is well prepared to address complex technological, economic, and societal challenges while contributing to the nation’s prosperity, innovation capacity, and global competitiveness. This two-year RED Track 1 (Planning) project will engage faculty, students, alumni, industry partners, community college representatives, and other stakeholders in the development of a transformational roadmap for Boise State University’s Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. The project is organized around three transformational pillars: (1) establishing an Industry Engagement Spine that embeds sustained industry partnerships, authentic projects, and workforce connections throughout the undergraduate curriculum; (2) integrating AI responsibly to prepare students to use emerging technologies ethically and effectively in engineering practice; and (3) aligning the curriculum with ASME Vision 2030 principles to strengthen creativity, innovation, and professional readiness. The project will seek to answer four guiding questions: 1) how do stakeholders perceive the strengths, challenges, and opportunities within the current educational experience? 2) what workforce skills, professional competencies, and AI-related capabilities are most important for future mechanical engineering graduates? 3) what opportunities and barriers exist for implementing an Industry Engagement Spine, responsible AI integration, and ASME Vision 2030 principles within the curriculum? and 4) what partnerships, resources, and organizational structures are needed to support sustainable departmental transformation? Using individual and group interviews, surveys, advisory board engagement, and collaborative planning activities, the project team will collect and analyze stakeholder perspectives to identify priorities and opportunities for change. The project will leverage existing partnerships developed through the Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, community college collaborations, and Boise State’s innovation ecosystem. The team will synthesize findings into a data-informed roadmap grounded in the CACAO (Change, Adopters, Change Agents, Organization) change model. Expected outcomes will include a deeper understanding of stakeholder priorities, strengthened partnerships among education and workforce stakeholders, and a sustainable strategy for advancing the three transformational pillars of Industry Engagement Spine, responsible AI integration, and ASME Vision 2030 alignment throughout the undergraduate mechanical engineering experience. The project will position the department for a future RED Track 4 proposal and generate insights that may be useful to other engineering programs pursuing long-term departmental transformation; this project then will contribute to addressing technical workforce needs across Idaho (and the subsequent Track 4 across the nation). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.