AI Across Careers
Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator:
EDC Staff:
Funded by:
National Science Foundation
Partners:
Bridgerland Technical College (UT), Green River College (WA), Bunker Hill Community College (MA), Nashville State Community College (TN), Harford Community College (MD), National Applied Artificial Intelligence Consortium, National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, National Information Technology Innovation Center, New Mexico AI Consortium
Region:
United States
Duration:
2026-Present
Challenge
AI is changing how U.S. workers perform routine tasks, solve workplace problems, and innovate. Technical education programs need practical ways to keep up with rapidly emerging careers that use AI, especially in advanced manufacturing and energy, sectors central to U.S. economic competitiveness and technological leadership.
EDC and AI Across Careers resources will prepare community and technical college students for AI-enabled technician jobs in these high-priority sectors. AI Across Careers will work alongside industry experts and college faculty to co-develop skills frameworks, examples of AI skills in action, and supportive educational resources that integrate AI skills into existing technician education courses and help students prepare for evolving technical careers. Materials developed will be compiled into a resource guide and shared with community colleges, career and technical education programs, and technology leaders nationwide.
Key Activities
Working closely with community college and industry partners, our project team is:
- Identifying and defining the types of AI applications used across industry sectors
- Describing what AI applications look like in practice as workers perform routine tasks and solve problems they encounter in daily practice
- Developing instructional resources that support the teaching and assessment of AI applications in advanced manufacturing and energy technician education programs
- Preparing faculty to integrate AI into existing courses
- Widely disseminating products and lessons learned to the community colleges, industry, and the general public
Impact
The project will:
- Create a replicable model for translating how workers use AI into classroom resources, assessments, and workplace scenarios
- Support community and technical colleges in preparing students for AI-enabled technician careers in advanced manufacturing and energy
- Build faculty capacity to integrate AI skills into existing technician education courses through a summer institute, community of practice, clinics, and micro-credential
- Expand access to openly licensed AI instructional resources for community colleges, career and technical education programs, and technology leaders nationwide
