In May 2023, higher education faculty members from all disciplines at Southwestern Pennsylvania colleges and universities are invited to participate in the four-day Future Readiness Academy to explore new and emerging technologies, while also discussing how they augment and change pedagogy and student preparation.
Since the Future Readiness Academy is an initiative of Southwestern PA's Build Back Better federal grant project, there is not cost to attendees. Those who register should plan to be able to attend all four workshop dates due to limited space.
Future Readiness Academy Dates, Locations and Topics*:
8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (8:30 – 9 a.m.: coffee and registration)
Each day includes interactive experiences as well as focused discussions over a working lunch.
- Wednesday, May 10, 2023
- Location - Penn State New Kensington
- Topic: Artificial Intelligence
- Led by Stephanie Rosenthal, Carnegie Mellon University
- Thursday, May 11, 2023
- Location - Digital Foundry at New Kensington
- Topic: Future of Industry and Beyond
- Power of Data
- IoT
- AR/VR
- Machine Vision and Collaborative Robots
- Digital Twinning
- End of day: One-hour introduction to the Rube Goldberg activity on May 17 afternoon by John Balash of the Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University
- Wednesday, May 17, 2023
- Morning
- Location – Newell Simon Hall, Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
- Topic: Introduction to the Robotics Institute
- Topic: Data Visualization
- Afternoon
- Location: Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design
- Topic: Culmination of a Remake Learning K12 Rube Goldberg machine project across multiple districts in the greater Pittsburgh region, working with the Rube Goldberg machine at the Design School, Carnegie Mellon University.
- Tour of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon
- Morning
- Thursday, May 18, 2023
- Morning
- Location - Penn State New Kensington
- Topic: VR/AR/360 Experience and explore aspects of all three, and learn about ways they are currently impacting multiple disciplines. Led by Chris Shelton, VAR Lab at Penn State Behrend and Patrick Dudas, Center for Immersive Experiences, Penn State University Park
- Afternoon
- Location - Penn State New Kensington
- Topic: Focused discussion on the interaction between the technologies and Human Conscious Citizenship, and impact of these on the Future of Work
- Led by Jordan Mroziak, Center for Shared Prosperity, Carnegie Mellon University
- Morning
Meetings will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day and include a working lunch.
*Topics and locations are subject to change.