Lehigh ALUMNI BULLETIN FALL/WINTER 2025 With its new readiness initiative, Lehigh embraces an AI future. Page 10 BECOMING Health Care Disruptors page 22 page 16 Immersive Learning with Impact page 4 Making the Future of Campus ‘AI READY’
Campus has been alive with energy and purpose this fall. Founder’s Weekend was an inspiring celebration of our community and its spirit. Together, we marked several exciting milestones, including the rededication of the newly renovated Clayton University Center at Packer Hall and the placement of a time capsule to be opened by the Lehigh community in 2075. The weekend also marked the launch of Lehigh’s bold new brand expression, one that captures what generations of alumni already know: the character and impact of our community are real and enduring. Our community is already connecting with this fresh reflection of who we are. It was an exciting semester for Lehigh Athletics, too. The football team capped off the regular season undefeated, finishing 12–0, including a victory over Lafayette, and clinching the Patriot League title. While it’s been a season of celebration, this is also a moment of reflection. I’ve spoken many times with the campus community about the tremendous positive momentum across Lehigh, even as we navigate the complex challenges facing higher education today. Our focus on academic excellence and research innovation remains steadfast. Among the most dynamic areas of exploration is artificial intelligence (AI). We are deeply engaged in understanding how AI is reshaping education, the workforce and society at large, and we are preparing our students accordingly. Lehigh is committed to ensuring that every graduate is AI-ready, equipped with the skills and mindset to lead in a rapidly evolving world. As we look ahead, I’m energized by the passion and purpose that define the Lehigh community. Together, we are honoring our proud history while embracing a bold future. Thank you for your support and for all you do to keep Lehigh moving forward. Joseph J. Helble ’82 President of Lehigh University SCAN TO WATCH PRESIDENT HELBLE’S VIDEO MESSAGE PRESIDENT’S LETTER Moment of Reflection FREE EXPRESSION AT LEHIGH After several years of thoughtful discussion and input from students, faculty and staff, Lehigh University has formally adopted the Chicago Principles, accompanied by a Lehigh-specific preamble that reflects the university’s distinctive culture and values. The preamble affirms two equally vital commitments: supporting free expression and open inquiry, and fostering a community of belonging guided by our Principles of Our Equitable Community. Both are essential to who we are as an institution. Free expression ensures that every voice can be heard; our equitable community principles ensure that those voices are respected and that all members feel a genuine sense of belonging. By adopting this statement, Lehigh affirms its dedication to empowering faculty, students and staff to engage in open, responsible debate and deliberation in ways that uphold our core values and advance our educational mission.
Lehigh Alumni Bulletin Vol. 110, No. 3, Fall/Winter 2025 EXECUTIVE EDITOR Kristen DiPrinzio EDITOR Lauren Thein DEPUTY EDITOR Stephen Gross ART DIRECTOR Beth Murphy CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michael Blanding, Lisa Doyle, Katie Jones, Hillary Kwiatek, Katelyn Silva, Carina Sitkus, Stephen Wilson CLASS NOTES EDITOR Jessi McMullan ’05 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kurt Hansen SENIOR DESIGNERS Kate Cassidy, Neha Kavan PHOTOGRAPHER Christa Neu VIDEOGRAPHER Dan Collins BUSINESS SUPPORT Traci Mindler Send class notes and remembrances to alumni@lehigh.edu or call (866) 758-2586 Email address changes to askrecords@lehigh.edu or send the mailing label, along with your new address, to Alumni Records/Lehigh University 306 S. New St., Suite 500, Bethlehem, PA 18015, (866) 517-1552 Lehigh University Communications and Public Affairs 516 Brodhead Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015, (610) 758-4487 Email: communications@lehigh.edu Published three times a year by the Lehigh University Communications and Public Affairs Office, in cooperation with the Lehigh University Alumni Association Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS ON THE COVER: In October, Lehigh announced a new “AI Readiness” initiative to prepare students for an AI-driven future. Illustration by Eva Vázquez 3 Innovation Thrives on South Mountain From unbreakable alloys to spaceflight and assistive technologies, people at Lehigh turn curiosity into progress that reshapes industries and improves lives. 4 Making the Future of Campus A new campus plan fosters greater collaboration, innovation and connectivity. 6 Four Questions with Shalinee Kishore Kishore, director of the Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES), discusses her team’s work and its impact. 8 New Partnership to Advance Assistive Technologies The bold university-wide partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation will drive innovation. 10 Becoming ‘AI Ready’ With its new “AI Readiness” initiative, Lehigh embraces an AI future—where students will both learn about and with AI, and do it ethically. 16 Where Immersive Learning Creates Lasting Impact Centennial School continues its forward- thinking approach as it celebrates 60 years. 18 Remembering Alice P. Gast Lehigh’s 13th president led the university through a period of growth, global engagement and community partnership. 22 Health Care Disruptors Lehigh alumni-founded companies WiseCare AI and Vytalize Health aim to improve the patient experience through innovative platforms. 27 Sharing Lehigh’s ‘Real’ Story The new brand expression campaign, Real, emphasizes Lehigh’s distinct strengths and stellar outcomes of its 88,000+ alumni worldwide. 28 Determination Led Athiel Mading ’25 from Nairobi to Lehigh The materials science and engineering major refused to take no for an answer and forged her own path toward a degree. 30 Lehigh Joins NGOs Granted Special Consultative Status New accreditation expands on a remarkable 20-year partnership with the U.N. 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 36 CLASS NOTES 59 IN REMEMBRANCE 64 ENDNOTE IN EVERY ISSUE HANNAH ALLY 31 “What do I want our students to be? Among the best in the country when it comes to using AI in the context of their discipline, and in solving the problems of the greatest interest.” —Nathan Urban, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, page 10 Facebook.com/lehighu Facebook.com/lehighalumni Instagram.com/lehighu Instagram.com/lehighalumni youtube.com/lehighu linkedin.com Head Coach Addie Micir is elevating the Lehigh women’s basketball program.
2 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN The fall semester at Lehigh brought picture-perfect autumn days, spirited celebrations, new initiatives and advancements that served as a source of inspiration for storytelling in this issue of the Alumni Bulletin. This fall, Lehigh announced a new “AI Readiness” initiative (page 10) to prepare students for an AI-driven future. Throughout these pages, you’ll discover how Lehigh is at the forefront of embracing AI as a force reshaping how we teach and learn. You’ll meet the alumni behind WiseCare AI and Vytalize Health (page 22), companies that aim to improve the patient experience through platforms simplifying health care plan selection and activating value-based care. Lehigh’s community of future makers continues to create real, lasting impact on campus and across the world. You’ll read about some of the fascinating innovations made by Lehigh people that are reshaping industries and improving lives (page 3). You’ll also meet Manpreet Patel MBA’25, who opened the innovative Hologram Zoo Lehigh Valley—the second of its kind in the nation—which offers immersive 3D holographic experiences (page 20). Collaboration-based innovations and partnerships continued to take shape, such as the establishment of Lehigh’s formal partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, advancing the university’s commitment to health-focused collaboration, research and education (page 8). You’ll also learn about Lehigh and Rice University’s bold new initiative— the Consortium for Enhancing Resilience and Catastrophe Modeling (CERCat)—bringing together researchers, industry leaders and public sector innovators to advance the science of catastrophe modeling and transform how communities prepare for and respond to disasters (page 19). As the leaves on South Mountain turned, the university experienced some exciting changes. Among the stories, you’ll read about Lehigh Athletics adopting a number of new traditions and policies, including pop-up pep rallies that were held on Thursdays before home football games at the Bethlehem Farmers’ Market or the flagpole at the Clayton University Center at Packer Hall (page 33). The events featured music, giveaways and interactive activities for fans to showcase their Mountain Hawk pride. On behalf of the editorial staff, we hope you enjoy these stories that encompass Lehigh’s past, present and exciting future, and we thank you, as always, for reading. Lauren Thein Editor MISCELLANY DEGREES AND DESIGNATIONS In October 2025, Lehigh updated the way it represents class years and designations for graduate degrees and relationships with the university. The formula allows us to better recognize specific degrees and aligns with common practices at peer schools and institutions. If you wish to update your Lehigh information, please email askrecords@lehigh.edu. Abbreviations: • Parent: P • Grandparent: GP • Widow: W • Honorary Degree: H • Master’s Degree (unspecified): M • Doctorate (unspecified): D • Educational Specialist: Ed.S. • Master of Arts: MA • Master of Business Administration: MBA • Master of Education: M.Ed. • Master of Science: MS • Doctor of Education: Ed.D. • Doctor of Philosophy: Ph.D. INTRODUCING REAL Did you notice our fresh look? The Lehigh Alumni Bulletin’s updated design elements are part of the university’s new brand expression campaign, Real, which emphasizes Lehigh’s distinct strengths and stellar outcomes of its 88,000+ alumni worldwide. Learn more about Real on page 27. WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU! Share your thoughts on this issue with the editor at lat624@lehigh.edu, or send a handwritten note to Lehigh Alumni Bulletin, 516 Brodhead Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015. EDITOR’S LETTER Inspiration in Action Manpreet Patel MBA’25
FROM THE NEST | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 3 1. Stable, Copper-Based Superalloys Martin Harmer, Alcoa Foundation Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering and senior research scientist at Lehigh, discovered these enduring materials that remain stable under extreme, high temperature conditions. The Falling Walls Foundation, one of the world’s most respected platforms for scientific innovations, recognized this superalloy among the Top 10 Global Science Breakthroughs of 2025 in physical sciences. Harmer’s work focuses on an alloy at the nanoscale, where finely-tuned atomic layers preserve its structure, even near copper’s melting point. Superalloys open new possibilities for advanced electronics, power systems and more. 2. The Future of Spaceflight A $2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Natasha Vermaak, associate professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, unites multiple institutions to advance materials that will power future spacecraft propulsion systems. The research focuses on designing structural alloys that can withstand intense, high heat inside advanced engines. The U.S. space economy depends on propulsion technologies that can operate under such extreme conditions. To address this, Vermaak’s team is using simulations, AI and machine learning. 3. Advancing Assistive Technologies Lehigh’s University Research Centers (URCs) drive interdisciplinary innovation. The Center for Community- Driven Assistive Technologies (CDAT) received the 2025 Healthcare Innovator Award from the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce for its impact on people with disabilities through new and emerging assistive technologies and inclusive design. CDAT and Lehigh’s College of Health were awarded for the recent partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, which will foster collaborative interdisciplinary research and joint faculty appointments bridging academic research and clinical practice. Across campus, discovery fuels progress. Breakthroughs to solve the challenges of tomorrow begin at Lehigh today.—Kristen DiPrinzio INNOVATION Innovation Thrives on South Mountain From unbreakable alloys to spaceflight and assistive technologies, people at Lehigh turn curiosity into progress that reshapes industries and improves lives. 1 3 2
4 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST Making the Future of Campus A new campus plan fosters greater collaboration, innovation and connectivity. By Hillary Kwiatek Lehigh University has unveiled a bold new vision for the future of its iconic campus. Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus outlines a comprehensive 30-year framework to transform the university’s physical spaces in ways that will amplify student success, fuel groundbreaking research and strengthen Lehigh’s ties to the broader Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley community. Making the Future envisions Lehigh as a “campus of opportunity”—a unified yet richly diverse 1,600-acre contiguous environment that encourages discovery and experimentation. It focuses on
FROM THE NEST | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 5 six distinct districts within the campus: Southside Gateway, the Historic Core, Sayre Park, Mountaintop, Goodman and the new Forest Park, which will transform the woodlands of South Mountain into a welcoming place that connects Asa Packer, Mountaintop and Goodman campuses. “Few, if any, universities of our size offer the wide diversity of experiences and resources available at Lehigh in one campus,” said President Joseph J. Helble ’82. “This plan makes the most of these extraordinary resources by reinforcing our strengths while imaginatively envisioning a future in which our Forest Park is a natural resource for the entire community, Mountaintop is a thriving hub of innovation and we develop a fully connected and integrated campus.” The executive summary of Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus is available on the Campus Plan website. SCAN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MAKING THE FUTURE
6 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST Can you explain the work the ACES team is doing? Our center is focused on enabling energy independence through electrification. We’re doing research on cutting-edge technology, working on practical workforce solutions and common-sense policy approaches that are going to help American communities take charge of their energy future and achieve energy independence through electrification. Electrification is to essentially promote a higher use for electricity in our energy consumption. ... Electrification also describes new use cases for electricity, things like AI data centers or controlled environment agriculture or smart manufacturing facilities. All of this collectively is driving up electricity demand in the near future. How will the community see an impact from the work you’re doing? We want to be able to deliver local solutions to electrification as much as possible and ensure that electrification gives the use case and the users, or the community members, more affordable power, more resilient power and more reliable power as well. ACES held the “Innovating Energy and Water Solutions for Tomorrow’s AI Data Centers” symposium in October. Why was it important for Lehigh to host that event? This is—regionally, at the state level and also at the national level—one of the most pressing energy discussions going on right now. As a center that’s talking about these topics, we feel we’re the right entity to convene a discussion around this. … It’s relevant, because Pennsylvania is putting its stake in the ground where data centers are concerned. … We want to be sure that as it happens here in Pennsylvania, it does so in a sustainable way. The dialogue needs to start now, and then the activities and the solutions need to follow. Does being an R1 research university help ACES? The folks who are involved in ACES have been very active for decades here at Lehigh. To be R1, that level of engagement does bring opportunities for us. In the case of data centers, for example, the recent $20 billion Amazon investment announcement includes engagement of R1 universities. It’s an exciting time for Lehigh. Shalinee Kishore: ‘Deliver Local Solutions to Electrification’ Director of the new Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES), the Iacocca Chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering discusses her team’s work and its impact. Four Questions DOUGLAS BENEDICT / ACADEMIC IMAGE
FROM THE NEST | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 7 “Brand licensing is really unlocking the power of those brands throughout some of the clients we’re working with today— a client like Dove soap or Good Humor ice cream—and taking those brands and matching them with another product to really help spike sales.” Stu Seltzer ’87 Seltzer, president of Seltzer Licensing Group, reflects on his Lehigh experience and shares his expertise in brand licensing and working with iconic brands and nonprofits. PODCAST SCAN TO HEAR THE LEHIGH BUSINESS ILLUMINATE PODCAST EPISODE With their recent gift to the College of Health (COH) and University Counseling and Psychological Services (UCPS), Joshua B. Weintraub ’91 and Sharon R. Weintraub and their family have brought a new joint faculty member to campus to advance the Student Mental Health Resilience Initiative. Qingyun Zhang, teaching assistant professor of education and outreach for student mental health and well-being, holds a teaching appointment in the COH and will also serve as a health educator with UCPS to improve mental health outcomes at Lehigh. Through the courses and programs Zhang launches, Lehigh aims to normalize and de-stigmatize mental health challenges, broadening the campus conversation and student attitudes to include emotional well-being as an essential component of health. The goal is to help students understand the mental health challenges facing college-aged students, recognize signs of distress in themselves and others and offer “mental health first aid.” Zhang will design and pilot curricula, support faculty in incorporating well-being in their courses and collaborate with UCPS clinicians to ensure students receive exceptional mental-health support. “Through these programs, students learn to recognize patterns in themselves and others, enabling them to proactively seek help, assist one another and utilize newly acquired tools to enhance their well-being,” said Joshua Weintraub. “By combining classroom education with field experience, students gain firsthand knowledge of self-understanding and self-empowerment, ultimately gaining control over their own health.” Through their innovative gift, the Weintraubs hope Lehigh’s pioneering program will inspire other universities to take similar action and promote the well-being of young adults nationwide. —Lisa Doyle New LUAA Board Members Named Four alumni were recently named Lehigh University Alumni Association (LUAA) board members. Adam Goldstein ’16 M’17, Ralph Jean-Noel ’15, Kate (Schartel) Novak ’04 M.Ed.’05 and Jonathan Stiegler ’98 joined at the start of fiscal year 2025 and will serve a three-year term with the possibility of renewal. The LUAA exists to harness the collective strength of 88,000+ alumni, fostering meaningful connections both among alumni and with Lehigh itself. LUAA board members work with the alumni relations staff as ambassadors to our alumni, parents and friends. Candidates are either self-nominated or recommended by fellow members of the Lehigh community. Board members are selected for their demonstrated commitment to Lehigh through past volunteer service, their enthusiasm for serving as ambassadors for the university and the strength of their connections within the alumni network. APPOINTED SCAN TO NOMINATE A BOARD MEMBER GIFT | ALUMNI ’91 ’25 Bringing Mental Health into Focus Weintraub family’s innovative gift supports Lehigh’s pioneering program promoting the well-being of students. Qingyun Zhang
8 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST Above, College of Health Dean Beth Dolan at a news conference announcing the partnership between Lehigh and Good Shepherd Rehabilitation. Lehigh University has established a formal partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, advancing the university’s commitment to health-focused collaboration, research and education. The partnership is grounded in a shared vision to improve the lives of people living with disability and represents Lehigh’s first formal partnership with a leading rehabilitation network. Good Shepherd Rehabilitation specializes in the treatment of spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, major multi-trauma, pulmonary disease, respiratory failure, musculoskeletal/ orthopedics and complex pediatric conditions. Led by Lehigh’s Center for Community-Driven Assistive Technologies (CDAT), one of three new University Research Centers (URCs), the partnership is a bold collaboration that is redefining how academic and clinical institutions work together to improve the lived experience of people with disabilities. The partnership creates new opportunities for meaningful engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration from all five colleges across the university. The partnership also advances CDAT, which aims to transform the lives of people with disabilities through interdisciplinary research and cutting-edge emerging and existing assistive technologies. Researchers will develop new and innovative approaches to empowering people with disabilities and expand opportunities in education, employment and health. Even before the partnership was formalized, CDAT’s core faculty team has been engaged in ongoing discussion around shared space and models of partnership with Good Shepherd. Faculty members from Lehigh’s College of Health (COH) and P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science have already partnered with Good Shepherd on multiple research projects. “Growth of research and enhancing partnerships with regional and national organizations are important priorities within Lehigh’s Inspiring the Future Makers strategy,” said Nathan Urban, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “With an aging American population and increasing rates of disability, we see new technologies for assessing and assisting individuals with disability as critical for ensuring the health and economic vitality of our region and country. Partnerships like this one with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation will be critical as Lehigh seeks to play a larger role in health data, technology and policy.” Good Shepherd Rehabilitation President and CEO Michael Spigel says that the partnership is an opportunity to turn research into practical solutions through new discoveries, techniques and tools that make a difference in the lives of patients. “This partnership is so exciting because it helps deeply integrate engineering, neuroscience and data science expertise—all things Lehigh University excels at—directly into Good Shepherd’s programs and services for people with disabilities,” said Spigel. “By joining forces with Lehigh’s nationally recognized researchers, we now have greater ability to tackle real-world challenges with innovation grounded in collaboration.” New Partnership to Advance Assistive Technologies The bold university-wide partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation will drive innovation. By Katie Jones CHRISTA NEU
FROM THE NEST | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 9 Elizabeth (Beth) A. Dolan, dean of the COH, said that the partnership is a milestone for the COH and the university in expanding research impact in health and health care. “By joining forces with Good Shepherd, we’re able to recruit outstanding faculty whose work relies on clinical environments and will, in turn, offer innovative solutions applicable to clinical practice,” said Dolan. “This collaboration provides a unique opportunity for our faculty and students to address real-world health challenges and make a tangible impact on the lives of people with disabilities in the Lehigh Valley and beyond.” Formalizing the Partnership In August 2024, Lehigh University and Good Shepherd Rehabilitation formalized the partnership through a signed Memorandum of Understanding, laying out a 10-year vision to include interdisciplinary research collaborations, joint faculty appointments to bridge academic research and clinical practice and a jointly funded seed program to support new research. A milestone is the appointment of two joint faculty members, the firstof-its-kind hire for both institutions. The first is Shirin Madarshahian, a motor control researcher and a data scientist in the COH, who studies how the brain and body control movement and uses data to improve clinical treatments for individuals with disability; the second is Juan Aceros with the university’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, whose research focuses on engineering and medical device solutions that enhance accessibility and independence for this population. These appointments reflect a shared commitment to integrated academic research, clinical insight and technological innovation to improve the lives of people with disabilities. Stephen P. DeWeerth, dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, noted the impact the partnership may have on the Lehigh Valley community and beyond. “The synergy between Lehigh’s engineering and health colleges, combined with Good Shepherd’s clinical expertise, creates a powerful engine for innovation,” DeWeerth said. “It’s truly inspiring to witness the collaborative energy of our faculty, particularly the CDAT team. This partnership is a testament to the team’s commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities through innovation in technology.” Collaborating on Key Projects The partnership will allow Lehigh students to gain real-world training in rehabilitation and health care through internships and other applied learning opportunities at Good Shepherd. Early examples of key projects of the partnership include collaborating on a wayfinding app that uses robotic mapping technologies to develop digital indoor maps that improve accessibility for people with disabilities; studying wearable technology that helps people with dysphagia, a swallowing disorder affecting more than 9 million adults annually; conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment to understand the needs of children and adults with autism and other neurodivergent conditions in the greater Lehigh Valley; and re-engineering a recreational therapy table gaming system that offers a source of joy and connection for residents of Good Shepherd Home-Bethlehem, a long-term care home for people with severe disabilities, to play and interact from their wheelchairs. “THE SYNERGY BETWEEN LEHIGH’S ENGINEERING AND HEALTH COLLEGES, COMBINED WITH GOOD SHEPHERD’S CLINICAL EXPERTISE, CREATES A POWERFUL ENGINE FOR INNOVATION.” —Stephen P. DeWeerth, dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Lehigh was recognized as one of the nation’s top institutions in LinkedIn’s inaugural rankings, The 50 Best Colleges for Long-Term Career Success in the U.S., and The Wall Street Journal’s Best Colleges in the U.S. Lehigh earned the 17th spot on LinkedIn’s list, which assesses the universities that best deliver on student outcomes. The rankings were culled from outcomes and career trajectory data from LinkedIn’s vast professional network and were designed to measure the real-world impact of a college education over time. This recognition adds a compelling layer of validation to Lehigh’s reputation for producing leaders across sectors. Lehigh continues to stand out in WSJ’s rankings, which focus on career and financial success. Landing at #29 on the list of 584 schools, Lehigh is one of only 13 institutions ranked in the top 30 for three consecutive years, reaffirming its long-standing commitment to student success and value. Further underscoring the value of a Lehigh degree, the university ranked 13th on WSJ’s Best Salaries list, which measures how much colleges impact graduates’ earnings relative to the cost of attendance. Lehigh’s value-added salary increased nearly $8,000 from the previous year’s ranking.—Kristen DiPrinzio RANKINGS Lehigh Earns Top Spots in LinkedIn and Wall Street Journal Rankings Michael Spigel
10 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN STORY BY MICHAEL BLANDING ILLUSTRATIONS BY EVA VÁZQUEZ PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTA NEU
FALL/WINTER 2025 | 11 BECOMING ‘AI READY’ With its new “AI Readiness” initiative, Lehigh embraces an AI future—where students will both learn about and with AI, and do it ethically. No recent issue has roiled education more than artificial intelligence (AI). Especially since the rise of generative AI three years ago, educators have struggled to determine how and whether to allow AI into the classroom, and how it might be taught and used for learning. Even as academics have wrung their hands, however, the business world has had no such compunctions. Across the world, companies have embraced AI with both hands, integrating new tools into their workflows to improve innovation and efficiency. Higher education has come to an inflection point. If universities continue to vacillate on allowing AI into the curriculum, they risk leaving students behind in preparing for the world they’ll soon enter. Recognizing that fact, Lehigh has been on the forefront of embracing AI as a force reshaping not only what students learn, but also how the university teaches. Starting in early 2023, the university announced resources and tools to help faculty members integrate AI into their classrooms. In October, the university announced a new “AI Readiness” initiative to prepare students for an AI-driven future. The new initiative takes a campus-wide, multidisciplinary approach to AI to prepare every student, regardless of major, to use its tools. From faculty experimenting with AI tutors and other classroom supports to AI trainings that provide students with the knowledge and skills needed for the working world, Lehigh is embedding AI into every facet of academic life, positioning Lehigh as a leader in AI education and research. According to Nathan Urban, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, the goal is threefold: to teach about AI, to teach with AI and to teach ethical use of AI. “If we care deeply about the education of our students, and there is a tool that can help facilitate that, we need to figure out how best to use it,” he says. While today’s specific tools may be obsolete soon, he notes, the key is to teach students to be curious about how such technologies work and how they might shape the future of industries students will enter after Lehigh. “They’ll be expected to use it and will be competing against people who know how to use it—and so we want to teach them how to use AI tools effectively, while also teaching them to use them ethically.” That means knowing when and how to use AI the right way so that it supports learning rather than replacing it, he says. He borrows an analogy from journalist Kevin Roose between “weightlifting,” in which AI can be used as a tool to strengthen students’ minds, and “forklifting,” in which it can be used to replace some tasks to provide greater capabilities. “If you are trying to accomplish a job of moving heavy things in a warehouse, a forklift is a very useful tool,” Urban says. “But if you take that forklift to the gym to lift weights, you’ve defeated the purpose of working out. So the question of whether it should be used or not depends on the purpose of the activity.” Nathan Urban
12 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN In that regard, Lehigh has followed a decentralized approach, providing tools to faculty and students to integrate AI into the curriculum, but ultimately leaving it up to the individual how to adopt them. The end result is neither to ban nor to celebrate AI, but to experiment with it to assess its effects on learning, understanding where it benefits and where it harms student learning. “We’re not assuming that any particular use case is a good one,” Urban says. “We want to assess whether it is aiding learning or impairing learning, and be able to adapt our usage moving forward.” From Classrooms to Careers Along with the administration’s push to seed AI around campus, Lehigh’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) has performed a survey of dozens of employers—many of them Fortune 100 or 500 companies—to best determine the skills they are looking for in graduates. “AI has transformed how work gets done in almost every industry, and what we’re hearing from our employer partners is that AI isn’t necessarily replacing jobs, but it’s reshaping positions,” says Lori Kennedy, senior director of CCPD, who led the survey. Among the many examples they found, engineers are using AI to prototype ideas; legal and compliance teams are using it to review documents; and scientific writers are using it to generate literature reviews and first drafts. “That means AI has become a baseline expectation, not a bonus or ‘nice to have’ skill,” Kennedy says. One employer said they “expect new hires to be using AI tools by their third day on the job.” For graduates, that means at a minimum arriving with fluency in using large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Claude, engineering effective prompts and critically evaluating AI output. Depending on the industry, however, certain employers might look for proficiency in specialized AI tools as well, such as TensorFlow or PyTorch for developing deep learning models, or Jasper or Parse.ly for creating communications and marketing content. That doesn’t necessarily mean knowing how to code or understanding the back-end of AI software, so much as being able to effectively use AI interfaces. “It was refreshing to hear that AI is for everyone,” Kennedy says. “You don’t have to be a computer scientist—they are just looking for people who want to use AI tools with curiosity.” Just as importantly, Kennedy says, employers stressed the importance of ethical awareness. “They want graduates who understand bias, privacy concerns and data sensitivities, and who can articulate when to use AI and when not to,” she says. “They are still emphasizing critical thinking and human judgment.” For Lehigh students hitting the job market, that means being able to explain in interviews how they’ve used AI tools in coursework, projects and internships in ways that demonstrate that fluency and ethical judgment. Kennedy recommends students start experimenting with AI early in their college careers, and stay updated as tools evolve; at the same time, she adds, students must always engage in AI with an attitude of developing their expertise in their field, not substituting it or taking shortcuts. “As multiple employers emphasized, you must understand your field deeply before AI can add value,” she says. In order to aid in that development, CCPD has unveiled a new suite of LinkedIn Learning pathways, curating thousands of videos and online classes on LinkedIn’s platform and packaging them into courses for beginners through advanced learners to develop their AI proficiency. Upon completion, she says, LinkedIn will develop a certification it will post right on a student’s profile that can serve as an independent verification of their knowledge and skills. Those aren’t the only tools provided to students. Lehigh also provides a central hub called Data Camp where students can take trainings in specific AI tools and receive certifications as well. In addition, Lehigh has recently partnered with the Google AI for Education Accelerator, which offers access to Google’s suite of AI tools beyond Gemini, and free access to Coursera courses about use of generative AI tools, prompt engineering and data science that also provide certificates students can include on their resume. Faculty at the Front Lines It’s not only students that Lehigh is preparing for an AI future, however, but also faculty. According to Dominic Packer, vice provost for educational innovation and assessment, more faculty members than ever are experimenting with AI in their classes. That includes a group of 35 faculty who are currently developing AI tutors—chatbots specially trained on course material including syllabus, slides and readings—to provide students with extra help outside of class. “They’re essentially available for the first line of questions for students, if they want to work through a problem set not in the textbook or help them study for tests or exams,” Packer says. “Students are reportedly finding them quite helpful in specific instances, though they are not without their glitches.” Other faculty are using AI to create simulations—for example, in a medical context presenting as a patient with a set of symptoms to help students learn to diagnose ailments. Some are encouraging students to Dominic Packer Lori Kennedy
FALL/WINTER 2025 | 13 “I’ve been saying this is semester zero. We’re trying to provide insight to faculty, and then feed that insight back into the university so we get a bigger picture view of how it’s being used and where it’s effective.” —DOMINIC PACKER, VICE PROVOST FOR EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION AND ASSESSMENT use AI in homework assignments to help them digest higher-level readings. “You could assign a complex paper to a sophomore you’d usually assign to a senior,” Packer says. “It’s not that we want it to replace students being able to read these papers eventually, but maybe it gives people earlier access to things.” Lehigh is providing faculty with technical support through Library and Technology Services, as well as a broader framework of pedagogical principles to help them think through when and how to best use AI. “These are not rules, saying ‘you must do this’; it’s more of high-level guideposts, such as ‘We will use AI when it increases the effectiveness of student learning, which means we’ll rigorously assess how effective these tools are,’” Packer says. In the spirit of experimentation, Packer plans to ramp up assessment next semester in a more formal way, surveying faculty and students to find out where they find AI useful and in what areas it misses the mark. “I’ve been saying this is semester zero,” Packer says. “We’re trying to provide insight to faculty, and then feed that insight back into the university so we get a bigger picture view of how it’s being used and where it’s effective.” As part of that experimentation, some faculty are taking it upon themselves to create course offerings that focus even more deeply on AI-based learning. Bilal Khan, professor of biostatistics and health data science, uses machine learning and other AI tools in his own research on “just in time” interventions that use continuous data collection and forecasting models to give behavioral nudges to patients. Intrigued by the growing prevalence of generative AI, he spent the summer writing a book and developing a new course called “The Art of AI Conversation” to help students learn how to engineer prompts to more effectively interact with LLMs. “It’s very clear we have to take generative AI head-on,” he says. “There’s no pretending this is going to go away.” Yet, too many students enter classes from high school under the assumption that use of AI in class is prohibited. Or if they are using it, they are approaching it in a haphazard way without any real training. “Most people I come across are essentially using LLMs in a ‘seat of the pants’ kind of way without a lot of method to it,” Khan says. “So I decided to systematize it and give students a toolbox.” One of the first exercises in class is using an LLM to develop hooks for TikTok videos to appeal to a Gen Z audience. By using AI Bilal Khan
14 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN for a task in which most young people can easily judge success or failure, they are able to quickly see the strengths and limitations of the tool. “I’m then able to say, ‘If I gave you a prompt that had to do with biochemistry and you got an answer for an assignment, would you feel as confident sending it to your biochemistry professor?’” Khan says. From there, Khan teaches students various ways to help improve the accuracy and outputs of LLMs, for example, by breaking a complex problem down into a chain of logic, assigning a role to an LLM to draw from a particular field of expertise or even feeding answers back into AI to check work. The course will end with students using AI tools to complete research on a complex topic. By learning how to better use AI, Khan hopes that he is able to help students see it as less of a mysterious “oracle” spitting out answers from beyond, and more of a mechanism they can manipulate to generate trustworthy answers to help them solve problems. Paola Cereghetti, teaching associate professor of physics, is similarly taking an experimental, inquiry-based approach with a “Big Questions” course on using AI for medical imaging. By analyzing various approaches, she and students were able to examine together areas in which AI might improve diagnoses of medical conditions, as well as where it falls short. The problem with AI, she’s able to point out to students, is that it struggles in areas where it confronts something it’s never seen before, making identification of novel patterns difficult, which makes it no substitute in the end for human judgment. “It seems we may be far away from really having AI replace our radiologist,” she says. At the same time she and students are exploring the use of AI in medicine, Cereghetti has also experimented with using AI tools in class, giving students assignments to use generative AI to brainstorm presentation topics and analyze “They’ll be expected to use it and will be competing against people who know how to use it—and so we want to teach them how to use AI tools effectively, while also teaching them to use them ethically.” —NATHAN URBAN, PROVOST AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Bilal Khan Paola Cereghetti
FALL/WINTER 2025 | 15 scholarly articles. They also interact with an AI tutor she designed. In all of these practices, Cereghetti reviews transcripts of students’ interactions with AI and critiques the results, using it as a jumping-off point to explore places in which AI helped facilitate learning and where it fell short of the mark, so students can help develop better judgment and prompting strategies that might help them in other contexts. Like Khan, Cereghetti believes that rather than prohibiting AI, students will be better served by using it with the permission and guidance of faculty, who themselves are also perhaps experimenting with how best to use it. “I don’t believe in fighting against it,” she says. “If we want students to think critically, we have to show them how to use AI well— not just tell them not to use it.” Beyond the Walls of Campus Cereghetti’s experimental approach underscores a broader truth at Lehigh: AI isn’t being inserted into the curriculum in a way that replaces traditional teaching methods. Rather, it’s being integrated with inquiry that represents the best practices of academic learning. In addition to the specific areas in which students will be exposed to AI tools in class or within CCPD, Urban has also spurred a campus-wide conversation around the future of AI for learning. As part of Lehigh’s 2025-26 Compelling Perspectives series, Lehigh has invited media innovator and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and technology pioneer and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to lead conversations on the broader implications for AI and the future, as well as Senator Dave McCormick to discuss the government’s role in supporting AI and innovation. In addition, as part of the Donald M. Gruhn ’49 Distinguished Finance Speaker Series, the university invited Carter Lyons ’97, Co-CEO of Two Sigma Investments, to campus in October to discuss AI in the workforce. The events reinforce the idea that AI is not just confined in computer labs and classrooms, but is now part of Lehigh’s intellectual fiber. “Many of our larger public lectures this year will be at least in part about AI,” says Urban, “whether that’s from a technical perspective, or an ethical perspective or from an application perspective. That’s very intentional. We’re trying to create an environment in which students, faculty and staff have many opportunities to learn about and hear about different perspectives on these tools and their use.” In October, Lehigh’s Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES) hosted “Innovating Energy and Water Solutions for Tomorrow’s AI Data Centers,” a day-long symposium that brought together leaders from education, industry and government for discussions that centered on infrastructure, including water and electric use, in regard to data centers and the growing demand of AI. Urban is looking beyond campus itself to position Lehigh as a hub for AI education in the Lehigh Valley, which could support local companies, school districts and other organizations in their own use of AI. “I want us to be a resource to institutions and individuals who are right now wondering if they are even going to be able to keep up,” Urban says. “It’s our responsibility to share our expertise broadly, so others are also able to lead—or at least not fall behind.” Support from the H.S. Lee Family Foundation, Inc., will enable these goals to take root. Through this funding, all graduate students and faculty will gain access to advanced AI tools, allowing the integration of artificial intelligence into courses and research at an accelerated pace. With this approach, graduate students and faculty can remain on the forefront of AI innovations, making them valuable partners for competitive organizations and industry. This gift will also support an AI prize that incentivizes graduate students to design breakthrough AI applications and cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. For Lehigh students and graduates, Urban says, he wants to ensure that no one outcompetes them when it comes to learning and using AI tools. “What do I want our students to be?” he asks. “Among the best in the country when it comes to using AI in the context of their discipline, and in solving the problems of the greatest interest.” L Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global and founder of the Huffington Post, discussed the human side of AI during the first event in Lehigh’s 2025-26 Compelling Perspectives series in November.
16 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST For students who have never been scuba diving, reading a story about a deep sea diver that includes technical terms, such as a buoyancy control device or a regulator, could be difficult to comprehend. But imagine if students could immerse themselves in the environment they were learning about without ever leaving the classroom. Celebrating its 60th anniversary, Centennial School, an Approved Private School serving students with emotional disturbance and autism, is aiding student comprehension by allowing students to experience the topics they’re learning about through its Immersive Learning Center (ILC). Affiliated with Lehigh’s College of Education, it has often been ahead of the curve in its approach, research and structure, and its ILC is no different. Walking into Centennial’s ILC, students enter a room where three walls can display video, images, or both to fully immerse and better understand a topic. Whether investigating the center of an active volcano or exploring the depths of space, educators are able to bridge comprehension gaps for students. In its fourth year of operation, the ILC has supported many projects, including “Open Doors to the Arts,” in which undergraduate students captured 360-degree digital content from several art galleries, including Lehigh University Art Galleries, to teach students how to interact with art. The school strives to be innovative in numerous areas, including behaviorally, in academic progress for students with disabilities and, as the ILC is evidence of, in technology, according to Julie Fogt, who has been director of Centennial School for the past eight years. Fogt said the school has even utilized the ILC during Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, projecting data and student work. Research at Centennial When Lia Sandilos, associate professor of school psychology in Lehigh’s College of Education, started at the university in 2022, new faculty were invited to tour Centennial School. Centennial is a perfect partner for Sandilos, as her research focuses mainly on two areas: creating a more welcoming and supportive classroom environment, specifically through the interactions and relationships between teachers and students, and the social and emotional well-being of students and teachers. But what really fascinated Sandilos was the ILC. She said she had never seen anything like it. That’s likely because, according to Fogt, Centennial is the first school on the East Coast to use such technology. Where Immersive Learning Creates Lasting Impact Centennial School continues its forward-thinking approach as it celebrates 60 years. By Stephen Gross “OUR PARENTS WILL TELL US, ‘YOU’VE CHANGED OUR LIVES,’ BECAUSE WHEN THEIR CHILD STARTS TO DEMONSTRATE SUCCESS IN SCHOOL, EVERYTHING ELSE STARTS TO FALL IN PLACE.” —Julie Fogt, director of Centennial School SCAN TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS OF CENTENNIAL SCHOOL CHRISTA NEU
FROM THE NEST | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 17 Zilong Pan, assistant professor of teaching, learning and technology, was on the tour with Sandilos. The two decided to blend their areas of expertise—Pan’s is in educational technology and academics. Born was a research project, ImmersED, featuring Centennial’s ILC. Starting with a small team of undergraduate students through the Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellowship program, the team expanded, adding two doctoral students, and received a faculty innovation grant that helped move their work forward. The first developed module, focused on the water cycle, integrates mindfulness and yoga with science concepts, using videos captured around the Lehigh Valley with a GoPro camera. The team is collecting teacher feedback before expanding to subjects such as English Language Arts and social studies, and they’re considering other ideas such as astronomy. Expanding use into community schools like those in the Bethlehem Area School District is also possible. ImmersED, using the ILC, is just one example of ways Centennial School partners with and supports research, both at Lehigh and to the outside education community. A number of Centennial faculty members also present their own research at national and international conferences each year, according to Fogt. And currently, there are four staff members at the school who are affiliated faculty members in the College of Education and publish their own research papers. Fogt is currently on four dissertation committees, which is another way the school assists with research. “In the last two years, three doctoral-level students completed their dissertations through data collection here at the school,” Fogt said. “They conducted their studies at the school, so the school itself values research and helps support Lehigh students who are working to complete their degrees. And we work with professors.” Celebrating 60 Years Centennial School was founded during Lehigh’s 100th anniversary, which is how it acquired its name, and began with eight students in the basement of Drown Hall. In just over a year, attendance grew to 66 children. Centennial School was relocated to an industrial park near the Lehigh Valley International Airport more than 30 years ago after calling numerous places home. It began as a more typical K-12 school for children of faculty members but pivoted to work with students with learning challenges and eventually the population it currently serves, students with autism and emotional disturbance. The pivot predates federal legislation supporting students with disabilities, which displayed Lehigh’s forward thinking, something that amazed Fogt. “It’s a pretty dynamic partnership,” said Fogt, who is in her 30th year at Centennial, beginning as a school psychologist and serving as associate director prior to her current position. “It requires a lot of trust on both parts, but it’s worked well for six decades, and it allows us to train exceptionally qualified individuals to work with the students with challenging needs. And it benefits the state in that there are many more well-qualified teachers to enter the profession of special education.” The ILC is another example of that forward thinking that has helped Centennial School meet the needs of its students while also preparing educators. But it’s also the day-to-day impact the school and its educators have on Centennial students that has led to the school’s success and longevity. “Our parents will tell us, ‘You’ve changed our lives,’ because when their child starts to demonstrate success in school, everything else starts to fall in place for a lot of these families,” Fogt said. “They don’t have the conflict at home around the problems that they’re having in school. Students come home from school and they are positive about what has transpired, and they’re not plagued with discussing school discipline issues. … And for many families we start to raise the possibility of different opportunities for their kids.” A Tight-Knit Community The way Centennial School was founded and began to grow helped establish a tight-knit community by nature. But still having that approach and feel 60 years later is something Fogt believes is intentional because of the philosophy of the school itself, which is providing a caring, nurturing and positive learning environment for students who are often marginalized in society. She believes Centennial changes the teachers’ lives as well. The philosophy of the school, along with the training and support, carries over to the teachers, who learn to have productive and positive relationships with their colleagues. Sandilos has noticed the tight-knit community through online courses she teaches for Lehigh’s social, emotional and behavioral wellness certificate. Centennial teachers are often students in her class. Sandilos said she can see how much the teachers learn from teaching at Centennial, and she can sense the positive support structures within the school. She also experienced the school’s tight-knit reputation through her ImmersED research project, and getting to know educators at Centennial. “We really see that, especially when we were getting feedback from teachers on our modules—how well they know their students and how much they care about the instructional content that they provide,” Sandilos said. Additionally, Sandilos said she has witnessed it in the students who do practicum—hands-on learning experiences at Lehigh— through Lehigh’s school psychology program. After her students spend a year at Centennial, she said she sees how committed they are to the school and the mission, and how much they’ve grown as school psychologists. Centennial School’s Immersive Learning Center featuring 360-degree photos and videos allows students to experience the topics they learn. Centennial School’s philosophy is providing a caring, nurturing and positive learning environment for students who are often marginalized in society.
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