Coordinating AI Across Missouri S&T
Launched in January 2025, MinerAI brings together 30+ faculty across three colleges to connect students, faculty, staff, and alumni with AI courses, research, and resources campus-wide.
Through MinerAI, we are bringing together all of Missouri S&T’s AI activities so we can have more university-wide synergy and broaden our teaching and research in the area.
Dr. Jonathan Kimball
Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor & ECE Chair
What We’ve Done So Far
- Department AI Statements — All 9 CEC department webpages updated to position each program’s approach to AI integration.
- AI Implementation Inventory — Structured baseline of current and planned AI activity across all CEC departments.
- CS Emphasis Areas — Computer Science degree expanded with new emphasis areas in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity.
- FE 1100: AI Embedded — First-year engineering course redesigned with AI content starting Fall 2025 — 3 lectures plus a KEEN mini-project.
New AI Degree Programs
Master of Science in Applied AI
A graduate program for practicing engineers and recent graduates — launching on campus Fall 2026, with an asynchronous option added Spring 2027. Learn more about applied AI
Bachelor of Science in AI
An undergraduate pathway to deep AI competency — approved at the UM System pre-proposal stage in May 2026, with full implementation planned for Fall 2027.
Industry-Informed Approach
Three stakeholder groups shaped this work — employers, faculty, and students.
CEC AI Advisory Board
Industry members from Boeing, Dow Chemical, SSAB Americas, Freeport, Cornerstone Controls, Kiewit Engineering, Switch Energy Alliance, and USGS meet regularly to validate that our approach reflects real workforce needs. Key themes from the board:
- Domain knowledge and verification are central concerns
- Competency framework aligns with what employers expect from new graduates
- Hackathon-style training recommended for both students and faculty
Faculty and Student Input
Faculty surveys and student feedback identified shared priorities around ethics, critical thinking, and career preparedness — and confirmed strong support for this effort.
Eight Core AI Competencies
Employer, faculty, and student input produced an evidence-based competency framework guiding AI integration across every CEC program.
- Foundational Understanding of AI
- Critical Evaluation & Verification
- Effective Human–AI Collaboration
- Primacy of Domain Knowledge
- Ethical Use & Academic Integrity
- Bias, Fairness & Societal Impact
- Privacy, Security & Data Stewardship
- Professional & Discipline-Specific Application
AI in Curriculum
First-Year Touchpoints
AI is being embedded early and across disciplines through three first-year courses:
- FE 1100 — Intro to Engineering with AI lectures and a KEEN mini-project
- ME 1720 — First-year design course with AI integration from the start
- CS 1973 — Python for non-CS majors, launching Fall 2026, building computational fluency with AI awareness
Our Curriculum Philosophy
We sequence AI integration intentionally. Early courses build the domain knowledge that makes AI judgment possible. Mid-program courses teach students to evaluate AI outputs. By senior design, students use AI the way industry does.
Some courses are AI-integrated — where students learn to use AI with engineering judgment, verify outputs, and connect to specific competencies. Others are AI-protected — where foundational skills like math, writing, and first-principles reasoning are the learning objective, and bypassing them would undermine the goal.
Faculty Development
CEC AI Faculty Workshop — Summer 2026
Twenty-seven faculty across all nine CEC departments will complete 15 hours of hands-on AI training over two weeks. The workshop combines industry speakers, applied pedagogy, and expert facilitation. Each participant leaves with one AI-integrated assignment ready to deploy in Fall 2026.
What's Next
Additional Faculty Workshops
- Teaching-Based — Designing AI-integrated assignments, building rubrics, and framing AI use intentionally with students
- Research-Based — AI tools for research productivity — literature synthesis, data analysis, writing support, and agentic workflows
Curriculum Integration — 2027 Focus
- All 8 AI competencies integrated across CEC with a visible coverage map by course and department
- Competencies sequenced by student level — foundational, applied, and professional
- All 9 CEC departments with intentional AI integration and clear rationale for AI-integrated and AI-protected courses