Outlook Magazine - Fall 2025

Elevating Industry Through AI Grant supports small- and mid-sized businesses

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$647,000 grant from the Wisconsin Eco nomic Development Corporation (WEDC) announced in May will allow UW-Stout’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Arti ficial Intelligence — CAM-AI — to provide advanced manufacturing and AI support to

Predictions for the future of AI By Emily Laird (’22)

Wisconsin manufacturers. “The WEDC financial commitment will allow UW-Stout to fully build out the Center for Advanced Manufacturing & AI,” UW-Stout Chancellor Katherine Frank said. “This investment will enable UW-Stout to expand its delivery of cutting-edge, industry-focused support and services to small- and medium-sized busi nesses throughout the state.” Seth Hudson, UW-Stout’s executive director for Cor porate Relations & Economic Engagement, said the funding will allow the university to invest in state-of the-art equipment to expand and enhance CAM-AI’s services to industry partners through advanced man ufacturing techniques and AI-driven solutions. The grant will allow UW-Stout to build out an Auto mated Demonstration line, enabling the university to showcase to its industry partners the applications of automation, robotics, vision inspection and AI-aided manufacturing. Once fully operational, the WEDC investment will allow CAM-AI to serve approximately 20 companies and 100-plus students each year. Quantum LEAPPs on Campus LEAPP — Leading Educational Advancement Through Polytechnic Pathways — was launched in 2024 (a leap year, naturally) to accelerate innovative ideas on campus. What kind of innovative ideas? “It could be something that changes the boundaries, or it could be something that changes the whole game. There are different levels of innovation,” explained Brenda Krueger ('16) , associ ated director of Strategic Planning, Innovation & Qual ity, a member of the university’s LEAPP team. In January 2025, five ideas were pitched to the campus and approved for implementation by Chancellor Kath

1. Domestic Production Will Surge: AI will erase offshoring advantages by automating precision manufacturing and logistics across U.S. industrial sectors. 2. Analysts Become Obsolete: Generative AI will absorb mid-level analysis, rendering human pattern recognition redundant in data-heavy industries. 3. AI Becomes an Energy Priority: States will integrate AI compute loads into grid planning, treating it as a primary energy demand. 4. AI Fluency Becomes Workforce Currency: Regions will subsidize AI training like skilled trades to close workforce gaps. 5. AI or Academic Extinction: Majors ignoring AI will be phased out in favor of AI-integrated programs. Laird is UW-Stout's AI Integration Technologist, respon siblefor driving campuswide integration, innovation and literacy around artificial intelligence.

erine Frank and her cabinet. One pitch proposed com munity courses and ongoing lab memberships for the public, while another focused on creating a mobile learning lab to spread UW-Stout’s polytechnic ideals. As those projects move toward implementation during the 2025-2026 academic year, LEAPP will con centrate on soliciting new department-specific ideas. “One of the things we really focus on is accessible innovation,” Krueger said. “We want anybody at any level in any department to feel like they can provide input on an idea or provide an idea.”

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University of Wisconsin-Stout