PCEC News
GVSU Showcases Tech-innovative Futureedlab, Designed to Prepare Future Leaders, Redefine Education
November 30, 2023
Grand Valley unveiled a lab that invites students, faculty, staff and community partners to engage with innovative technologies that will redefine education and prepare students to lead Michigan's future economy.
The celebration of the GVSU futureEDlab on Nov. 8 at the Consumers Energy John G. Russell Leadership Center included a ribbon cutting and an open house where university and community representatives could see some of the projects that have allowed students to incorporate their creativity with emerging technologies.
The futureEDlab is a key component of the Blue Dot ecosystem, a network that builds meaningful interaction between GVSU, businesses and researchers in a variety of fields, from engineering to new media to sustainability. Blue Dot is part of Grand Valley’s vision to create a talent pipeline to help Grand Rapids and the region evolve into a tech hub.
President Philomena V. Mantella said the futureEDlab will help address the economic and labor force challenges Michigan faces by inspiring students to learn for a lifetime.
"We know to meet these challenges we need forward-looking thinkers and problem solvers and not simply graduates and employees with content mastery and good test-taking skills," Mantella said. "We need individuals to fall in love with learning, to understand that can't stop when they get a degree. The world is changing too quickly."
Dr. Paul Leidig and Dr. Jared Moore (pictured above) attended to talk about the increased demand for tech skills in computing and interdisciplinary collaborations.
Read the full article by Peg West on GVNext.
Photo by Amanda Pitts