The Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education has announced its funded projects for the 2026-27 academic year. The projects, submitted by College of Engineering faculty, are intended to promote enhancements to undergraduate and graduate education in the College of Engineering.
"The Leonhard Center focuses on what is next for engineering education, and what our graduates need to know beyond technical skills," said Stephanie Cutler, director of assessment and instructional support and associate research professor in the Leonhard Center. "We want our engineers to have professional skills, writing skills, team skills, ethics training - all the aspects that make a difference in the workplace. It is in the spirit of WilliamLeonhard's motivation for endowing the center for every Penn State engineer to have those skills."
The center often identifies funding priorities based on the changing landscape of engineering, as well as strategic plans for the University and College of Engineering. This year, artificial intelligence (AI) was a popular theme among proposals and was a focus for the center.
"We are interested in supporting projects that pilot different modes of thinking about AI in the classroom," said Sarah Zappe, director of the Leonhard Center and assistant dean for teaching and learning in the College of Engineering. "We are not looking for projects that offload thinking onto AI, but support redesigns of courses that integrate new technologies like AI or understand how students use AI and create resources to support them."
However, Zappe emphasized that the Leonhard Center will also support unique projects that are in line with the center's mission and serve the College of Engineering.
"Our team has a broad range of interests, and we are always interested in supporting projects that support faculty development, promote interdisciplinary research and collaboration and build connections across the college," she said.
The Leonhard Center and the Eberly College of Science's Grover Center for Excellence in Science Education will host a showcase including Leonhard Center-funded projects through their biennial Teaching Innovation Showcase. Details for that event are forthcoming, and those interested in attending or receiving details about future funding periods are encouraged to contact the Leonhard Center to join the mailing list.
Read below to see the full list of this year's funded projects.
ARTEMIS: Art and Engineering Mechanics through Instrumented Sculptures
- Principal investigator: Christopher Greer
The ARTEMIS project develops a fully instrumented kinetic sculpture that enables students to physically explore vibration, resonance and dynamic systems through hands-on experimentation in mechanical engineering courses. By integrating art, embedded sensing and analytical modeling, the project deepens conceptual understanding while fostering curiosity, interdisciplinary thinking and connections between engineering and creative expression.
AI-Enabled Undergraduate Engineering Learning: Teamwork, Collaboration and Personalized Learning to Support Curiosity, Connection and Value Creation
- Principal Investigator: Andrea Gregg
This project develops research-informed AI Usage Guidelines for collaborative, project-based engineering courses by studying how AI influences curiosity, connections and value creation in a capstone context. Through pilot implementation and multi-course evaluation, the team will produce faculty-tested guidance to support responsible, effective AI integration across the College of Engineering.
AI Leadership Co-Pilots: Preparing Engineering Leaders for an AI-Enabled Workforce through Scalable, Human-Centered Design Education
- Principal Investigator: Meg Handley
This project embeds AI Leadership Agents into a large engineering leadership course to provide structured, phase-specific feedback to strengthen students' leadership, decision-making and ethical AI use in team-based design projects to foster reflection. Through applied AI modules and a workforce-aligned digital credential, students will develop practical AI fluency and leadership skills for an AI-enabled engineering workplace.
AI as a Tool for Engineering Judgment: Enhancing Technical Writing, Critical Thinking and Learning in the Chemical Engineering Laboratory
- Principal Investigator: Mechteld Hillsley
This project integrates structured AI activities into the senior chemical engineering laboratory course to strengthen students' engineering judgment, technical writing and conceptual understanding. By requiring students to critically evaluate and refine AI-generated content against experimental data and first-principles reasoning, the course positions AI as a tool for deeper learning rather than a shortcut.
Parallax: Establishing a Penn State Arts and Engineering Collaborative to Support Transformative Student Learning
- Principal Investigator: Nicholas Meisel
The Parallax initiative establishes a formal Arts and Engineering collaborative to embed interdisciplinary, art-integrated design experiences into cornerstone and capstone engineering courses. Through sponsored projects, faculty cohorts and workshops, the program fosters curiosity, cross-disciplinary connections and innovative value creation among engineering students.
Integration of AI and Robotics-Enabled Experiential Learning Tools into the Product Design and Manufacturing Processes Course for Enhancing Entrepreneurial Mindset and Student Learning
- Principal Investigator: Mizanoor Rahman
This project will design and develop different teaching and learning modules in the product design and manufacturing processes course, leveraging AI and robotics that can illustrate different product design and manufacturing process concepts to students and help them learn the concepts experientially and develop professional and entrepreneurial skills.
Expansion of Options for the Final Two-Week Personal Project in EDSGN 100 with Improved Alignment to Engineering Disciplines
- Principal Investigator: Sarah Ritter
This project expands the final two-week personal project in Cornerstone Engineering Design (EDSGN 100) by developing discipline-aligned project options that allow first-year students to explore engineering majors while engaging in hands-on design. By embedding entrepreneurial mindset assessment and cross-department collaboration, the initiative strengthens alignment across the College and enhances student curiosity, connection to majors and value-driven design thinking at scale.
Creation of a Learning Assistant (LA) Training Course to Support High-Quality EDSGN 100 Instruction
- Principal Investigator: Nicolas Soria Zurita
This project creates a one-credit course to prepare Undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) to effectively support EDSGN 100 design course through near-peer facilitation aligned with the 3C's. By strengthening LA preparation in facilitation, makerspace practices and feedback, the initiative aims to improve instructional consistency and impact approximately 1,800 students annually.
Reimagining STS 233: Integrating Entrepreneurial Mindset and Hands-On Team-Based Learning
- Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Starkey
This project redesigns the Ethics and Design of Technology course (STS 233) to integrate hands-on, team-based design projects with embed ethical reasoning directly into the engineering design process at the sophomore level. By aligning project deliverables with entrepreneurial mindset outcomes, the course will emphasize how design decisions shape social, political and environmental systems to allow students to apply ethical reasoning directly to the design process.
Design your first workers: Developing agents to assist with the process of engineering business creation
- Principal Investigator: Alan Wagner
This project redesigns Advanced Computer Programming (AERSP 424) to teach aerospace students how to develop and evaluate AI agents within the context of launching a startup, integrating automation, probabilistic assessment and ethical analysis into the curriculum. By building and deploying agents to perform business workflows, students gain practical AI skills while developing an entrepreneurial mindset focused on value creation, workforce impact and responsible automation.
Integrating Entrepreneurial Mindset into Circuits and Devices through AI-Enhanced Learning
- Principal Investigator: Nasibeh Zohrabi
This project integrates the entrepreneurial mindset - Curiosity, Making Connections and Creating Value - into the foundational Circuits and Devices (EE210) course through AI-enhanced lectures and laboratories that combine technical analysis with real-world, application-based design. Students will use AI as a reflective design tool, critically evaluating its outputs against theory and experimental results while developing stronger conceptual understanding, user-centered thinking and responsible engineering judgment.
