School of Computing Assistant Professor Shuai Nie and Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor Massimiliano Pierobon have been selected for College of Engineering's inaugural cohort of fellows in the Scholarship of Engagement Fellows Program.
The College Outreach and Engagement Committee (COEC), led by Kim Wilson, special assistant to the dean and professor of landscape architecture, awarded the two-year fellowships, which run through January 2027, to assist faculty in developing projects that connect with communities and individuals across Nebraska.
Over the next two years, the fellows will receive $4,000 in stipends to assist their projects.
A rural tour of northeast Nebraska is scheduled for May 28–30 for the fellows, including engagement opportunities with leaders in Norfolk, South Sioux City, Niobrara, Ord and North Platte.
They will also work with a faculty mentor, complete a scholarly paper on the project, attend workshops, be involved in the 2025 Fall COE Engagement Forum and assist in mentoring future fellow cohorts.
Nie will partner with NUtech Ventures and Nebraska 4-H to organize workshops on technology transfer and commercialization of research ideas with engineering students and will join with Nebraska 4-H and Girls Code Lincoln to develop an extension program with in-semester coding camps for middle-school students in rural communities across the state.
“The goal I hope to achieve through this program is to foster stronger connections between academia and the broader community in rural Nebraska, and making sure that engineering knowledge is accessible, relevant and beneficial to our stakeholders,” Nie said. “I want to encourage more students, especially female students, to explore careers in STEM and see themselves as future leaders who will shape a better world.”
Pierobon plans to continue developing a National Science Foundation Center proposal to design and implement computational frameworks that can produce accessible mental health tools across the state, especially in rural communities. He will partner with Nebraska Extension and Rural Prosperity Nebraska, Southeast Community College, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture and UNL’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
“Engagement with Nebraska communities is essential to my work, particularly in ensuring that our bio-inspired and human-centered technologies are grounded in real-world needs and designed for real-world applications,” Pierobon said. “Engaging with local stakeholders—such as farmers, educators, mental health professionals, and policymakers—allows us to co-create technologies that are not only innovative but also culturally and practically relevant.”
Wilson said the college’s program is a commitment to making engagement a priority, as the University of Nebraska has in its most recent strategic plan, and to be a “game-changer” across the state.
“The idea of engagement is not new, it’s been around for years,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to integrate it into the fabric of this college in a very convincing way.
“We’re the only College of Engineering in the state and, economically, we need to have impact across the state,” Wilson said. “We can do that by reaching out and involving high schools, industry, communities and individuals. That then translates into teaching and learning and research and, just as importantly, service."
Read more about the program and other inaugural fellows here.
More details at: https://engineering.unl.edu/news/250515/engagement_fellows/