NLI: Design and Development: Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: Forming EOP-Minded Leaders through Transformative AI-Enhanced Learning

Preparing effective engineering leaders requires more than technical content and book- based problem solving. Feedback from industry professionals affirms that, in addition to developing analytical expertise in a technical domain, early-career engineers need to think critically about problems in context, to communicate clearly with a wide range of people and to work collaboratively with others. They also must be able to work successfully with AI, using it ethically and wisely to complement their thinking rather than to replace their judgment. The Engineering for One Planet (EOP) framework provides a guide for developing these skills. The proposed educational program will integrate transformative learning experiences (TLEs) into a multi-term program that emphasizes EOP leadership outcomes. TLEs will focus on real-world engineering leadership examples that challenge participant perspectives and thereby lead to reflection and growth. They will incorporate AI-based tools that give students opportunities to interact with simulated project stakeholders representing a wide range of perspectives. Grant funds will be used to support faculty skill and expertise development, the creation of TLEs and the associated AI mentorship tools, and the evaluation of their effectiveness in the context of a pilot seminar-based curricular program. The work will produce teaching materials and methods that can be used by high schools and colleges nationwide to help students build EOP leadership skills and AI expertise, creating EOP-minded engineers empowered to lead effectively, thus advancing the NSF Lemelson Initiative aim of transforming engineering education in the context of increasingly complex engineering systems. This project, which is centered on Transformative Learning Theory, will provide a process for developing TLEs that help engineers from multiple disciplines build the leadership skills described by the EOP framework. TLEs will emphasize critical thinking and provide practice in gathering perspectives and communicating appropriately with various stakeholders. Furthermore, TLEs will help students identify and resolve conflicting ideas by incorporating structured interactions with human mentors and AI-based personas. The project will consider how TLEs affect students’ conception of themselves as EOP-minded engineers and how to broaden engineering faculty’s conception of themselves as teachers capable of utilizing AI and developing leaders. TLE development will be supported through co- design faculty workshops and office hours provided by the co-PIs and senior personnel experts in AI and technical communication. Faculty participants will collaborate with community engagement centers and industry partners to refine the TLE modules and integrate them with real-world mentoring opportunities. Research questions will focus on investigating the factors that guide faculty in creating successful TLEs, whether AI- facilitated mentorship effectively reinforces student/mentor interactions, and whether the particular persona-based AI mentoring tools created for this project support leadership development. Research will also explore how faculty attitudes and confidence change through the project and whether persona-based AI tools will engage students, support communication and perspective-taking, and work effectively alongside faculty and external mentors. The approach (e.g., TLE) and tools (e.g., persona-based AI Mentor) will be shared with high-schools and engineering programs nationwide. Together, the results of the project will provide a better understanding of how to create effective engineering leaders needed to address the problems of tomorrow. This project is funded through a joint partnership between the National Science Foundation and the Lemelson Foundation. 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.