$2.2M NSF Grant Received to Facilitate the Future of Design at Human-Technology Frontier

In this project, the University of Arkansas, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Oregon State University, and the Concord Consortium will collaborate to define, implement, and disseminate generative design tools and projects for use in undergraduate courses. Research questions from three perspectives will drive the project: 1) Theoretical perspective: What are the essential elements of generative design thinking that students must acquire so they can work effectively at the human-technology frontier in engineering? 2) Practical perspective: To what extent and in what ways can the curriculum and materials support the learning of generative design as indicated by students’ gains in generative design thinking? and 3) Affective perspective: To what extent and in what ways can artificial intelligence affect the professional formation of engineers as indicated by the changes of students’ interest and self-efficacy in engineering? This project represents a novel application of artificial intelligence to engineering that could augment the creativity and productivity of the engineering workforce of the future. See the NSF website for more details about this project.