MSOE’s newest cohort of University Innovation Fellows (UIF) is on a mission to connect with the community and enhance campus through a variety of new initiatives.

The cohort is comprised of Savanna McClure, Adrian Manchado, Rouya Mirzaei and Adam Swedlund. Each UIF member is working on a different initiative with the shared goal of improving campus.

Manchado’s initiative was to create a new course, which he conceived and helped bring to approval alongside Dr. DeAnna Leitzke ’98, ’08, chair of the Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Department. The new course, IDS 3901: Interdisciplinary Design, will launch in the fall 2026 semester. The course will require cross-major teams of five students to work together to solve real problems for campus or local organizations by producing prototypes, designs or actual solutions, not just reports.

Mirzaei is launching a Job Shadowing Workshop at MSOE that will help students explore different majors and career paths through real experiences with employers. The goal is to connect students with upperclassmen, alumni or professionals so they can shadow someone in their field of interest. “I hope students can learn more about different paths early on and feel more confident when deciding which major they want to study and what their future may look like,” said Mirzaei.

Swedlund is working on launching AI Workshops, which is an initiative designed to provide practical AI skills across all majors at MSOE. “By teaching students how to navigate the emerging trends and apply AI tools to their specific field, I hope to help every graduate be equipped to lead in the rapidly evolving landscape of the engineering industry,” said Swedlund.

McClure’s project is implementing a 24-hour create space in MSOE’s new Robert D. Kern Engineering Innovation Center. “The space will give students and faculty the chance to step away from engineering stress and just get creative whenever they want!”

These ideas came to fruition after the fellows completed UIF training and surveyed the campus. The UIF training was a six-week program that ran from September through October. “It pushed us to get off the computer and actually talk to students, faculty, staff and administrators to find what was genuinely mission on campus, not just what we assumed was missing,” the fellows shared.

The fellows will be attending the University Innovation Fellows Global Summit at the DesignLab on the University of Twente’s campus in Enschede, Netherlands from April 22 to 25, 2026. The event will bring together fellows and faculty from around the world for a series of workshops, sessions and an opening and closing ceremony.

MSOE’s fellows are proud of the growth they’ve seen in themselves and the impact they’ve already created through UIF. “Being a fellow showed me that students can reshape their environment by taking ownership,” shared Manchado. “That’s my favorite part: the feeling that my university is something I’m actively shaping, not just passing through.”

“Regardless of a student’s background or major, our mission is to provide a better social, academic and overall experience here at MSOE,” said Swedlund. “The university provides us with incredible resources and direct lines to faculty who are just as eager as we are to support these initiatives.”

Manchado, speaking on behalf of all of the fellows, expressed the group’s gratitude to the university for this opportunity. “We want to give a huge thank you to Dr. Baumgartner and the entire MSOE administration for sponsoring and supporting this program. Because of that support, we have seen real initiatives come to life on this campus, and there is still so much more we want to do. Being a student who gets to lead change and actually make things better for the people around you is something really special, and we do not take that lightly.”