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Story
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Engineering has always evolved alongside technology.
Today, artificial intelligence represents one of the most significant technological shifts in modern engineering. Across every discipline—from civil infrastructure and manufacturing to biomedical systems, computing, agriculture, and transportation—AI is changing how engineers design, analyze, predict, and innovate.
The College of Engineering recognized that AI should not exist as isolated research projects or individual classroom experiments. Instead, it should become a coordinated ecosystem that empowers every student, faculty member, researcher, and industry partner.
PRAIRIE was created to build that ecosystem.
Rather than simply promoting AI adoption, PRAIRIE focuses on responsible integration—ensuring that artificial intelligence enhances human creativity, strengthens engineering practice, accelerates discovery, and creates meaningful impact for Nebraska and beyond.
Mission
To pioneer the responsible integration of artificial intelligence across engineering education, research, innovation, and industry collaboration while preparing AI-ready leaders who create lasting impact for Nebraska and the world.
Vision
PRAIRIE will establish the UNL College of Engineering as a national model for responsible AI integration in engineering education and research.
We envision a future where:
Every engineering graduate leaves UNL with demonstrated AI competency in their discipline, the judgment to apply it responsibly, and the skills to adapt as the technology evolves.
Faculty across all departments collaborate through Communities of Practice that break down traditional silos, accelerating discovery and building the critical mass needed for major research initiatives.
Nebraska communities from agricultural operations to urban infrastructure benefit from AI solutions designed with heartland priorities in mind.
Our approach becomes a reference point for other institutions seeking to integrate AI thoughtfully, demonstrating that ethics and innovation reinforce rather than constrain each other.
What Makes PRAIRIE Different?
Responsible AI
We prioritize transparency, ethics, accountability, and human-centered AI that serves society.
Engineering First
Our focus is applying AI to solve engineering challenges across every discipline.
Community
Students, faculty, staff, industry, and government collaborate as one ecosystem.
Impact
Every initiative is designed to improve education, research, innovation, and economic development.
The PRAIRIE Framework
PRAIRIE operates through four interconnected pillars. Together they form a self-sustaining ecosystem where infrastructure enables partnerships, partnerships fuel discovery, and discovery informs how we prepare learners.
Construct
Build Sustainable Systems
Sustainable AI integration requires more than enthusiasm. It requires systems. Construct addresses the infrastructure and governance that allow innovation to flourish: clear policies on responsible use, equitable access to AI tools, reliable computing resources, and centralized support that reduces the time faculty spend on logistics.
Operational Evidence
The AI Maker Space in partnership with Scott Data Center, partnerships with the Holland Computing Center, and enterprise licenses for Microsoft Copilot and Gemini.
Connect
Strengthen Partnerships
Connect builds the relationships essential to PRAIRIE's relevance and sustainability: industry partners who provide real-world problems and career pathways for students, peer institutions pursuing complementary work, funding agencies aligned with our research directions, and collaborations across the university that maximize institutional impact.
Operational Evidence
The seven-member Industry Advisory Board, four named industry days at Husker AI Days (Google, MathWorks, OpenAI, Microsoft), and academic partnerships across the state, region, and at the national scale.
Cultivate
Prepare AI-Ready Learners
Cultivate focuses on building human capacity across our community: curriculum that develops AI competency throughout the engineering program, training pathways that meet faculty and staff at their current skill level, student organizations that foster peer learning, and professional education that extends our impact beyond traditional degree programs.
Operational Evidence
AI for All (ENGR 191) and the Applied AI (ENGR 491) both launched in Fall 2025, Husker AI student organization, the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice.
Create
Drive Discovery
The Create pillar channels our collective creativity through seminars, working groups, coordination on federal grants, and the upcoming Communities of Practice, which form around shared interests, cross departmental boundaries, and build the critical mass needed for ambitious research agendas.
Operational Evidence
Participation in the Department of Energy Genesis Mission, DARPA AI Forge Program, and NSF AI-Ready America programs. Upcoming Communities of Practice seed grant program, and the PRAIRIE Seminar Series with six talks delivered in Spring 2026.
Responsible AI: The PRAIRIE Approach
In the College of Engineering, responsible AI means developing and deploying artificial intelligence in ways that amplify human capability, ensure equitable access, and create lasting value for all stakeholders.
Our commitment is anchored in five principles:
Transparency – We are open about how we develop and use AI systems, acknowledging both capabilities and limitations.
Accountability – We take responsibility for the impacts of our AI applications, designing for outcomes we can stand behind.
Inclusivity – We ensure AI tools and education are accessible to all members of our community, not just those with technical backgrounds.
Intentionality – We preserve human agency and judgment, treating AI as a tool that augments rather than replaces human expertise.
Ethics – We embed ethical consideration into every stage of AI development and deployment, from research design to classroom use.
The PRAIRIE Framework for AI Integration
In June 2026 the PRAIRIE Student Advisory Board, the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice, and the Industry Advisory Board published the Shared Language for Responsible AI Integration. The framework aligns six levels of AI use (Human Only through AI as Agent) with Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to cultivate five human capacities: Informed Judgment, Leadership & Collaboration, Communication, Systems Thinking, and Adaptive Capacity.
The framework is the operational expression of our shift from reactive gatekeeping to proactive stewardship.
Guiding Principles
Meet people where they are
AI enthusiasts and skeptics. Technical experts and newcomers. Multiple pathways for engagement, not one-size-fits-all.
Learn by doing
Pilot before scaling. Test assumptions with evidence. Adjust based on what we learn.
Remove barriers before adding programs.
Logistical obstacles get fixed first. Energy is often constrained by friction, not lack of interest.
Student success is the ultimate measure
When we evaluate tradeoffs, we ask what serves students best.
Integrate rather than isolate
AI competency belongs throughout the engineering curriculum. Research collaboration belongs across departments.
Collaboration over competition
Across departments, with partners, alongside peer institutions. We share what we learn.
Leadership
The Visioning and Inaugural Faculty Advisory Board includes faculty leaders from every department in the college and from across the NU System.
Governance
PRAIRIE operates through five standing advisory bodies that represent our core constituencies:
Industry Advisory Board (IAB)
Seven inaugural members from agriculture, defense, manufacturing, infrastructure, and financial services. Meets every other month.
PRAIRIE Visioning Committee (PVC)
Thirteen faculty members who shaped PRAIRIE's founding vision. Cross-departmental.
Student Advisory Board (SAB)
Fourteen students forming through Husker AI.
Curricular Advisory Team (CAT)
Eight faculty working on AI curriculum integration across the college.
Staff Advisory Committee (StAC)
Five staff members representing operational perspectives on AI adoption.
This governance structure is co-creative by design: students, faculty, staff, and partners shape PRAIRIE's direction together.