NASA Backs Embry-Riddle's Push to Build an AI-Ready Aerospace Workforce

The Funding and the Mission

NASA has selected an Arizona initiative to receive $300,000 in funding for AI-driven aerospace education, directing the money to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The university will use it to create AI-focused curricula and project-based learning experiences aimed at preparing students for aerospace careers in the era of artificial intelligence.

The Embry-Riddle award sits inside a larger $600,000 NASA grant to the Arizona Space Grant Consortium. That grant funds a three-year initiative called the Arizona Artificial Intelligence Workforce Development Cooperative, administered by the University of Arizona. The initiative was one of 13 proposals selected in the 2026 competition, and Embry-Riddle's work on the project is expected to begin in Fall 2026.

"Incorporating AI education into aerospace engineering is essential to preparing students for the changing workforce, and this collaboration between Embry-Riddle and the Arizona Space Grant Consortium shows that leaders in Arizona are responding to this need," said Dr. Jeffrey Miller, dean of Embry-Riddle's College of Engineering.

How the Program Will Run

Dr. Elliott Bryner, associate professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, will lead Embry-Riddle's involvement and serve as its liaison with other participating institutions. Three Embry-Riddle faculty members will collaborate with him on the project: Dr. Jon Haass of the College of Business, Security and Intelligence; Dr. Mehran Andalibi of the College of Engineering; and Dr. Rahman AlMomani of the College of Arts and Sciences.

"This project puts Embry-Riddle on the leading edge of AI curriculum and training development and allows us to shape the direction of the efforts in Arizona to have a modern, highly trained and prepared workforce in the age of AI," Bryner said.

A notable design choice: Embry-Riddle will pair paid undergraduate students with faculty mentors, and those students will give faculty direct feedback on the technology, clarity, and usefulness of instruction. Michelle Coe, program manager for the Arizona NASA Space Grant Consortium, sees that as a differentiator.

"Having the students who will take these courses and benefit from this information be a part of these efforts is unique," Coe said. "I hope it creates a clear pathway for students to understand how to use AI effectively and ethically."

Embry-Riddle will also help develop a laboratory for hands-on education in robotics, cybersecurity, data science, and other fields demanding AI knowledge.

"The environment that our students will find themselves in when they join the workforce will be more multidisciplinary than ever," Bryner said. "We need to make sure they are ready."

A Statewide Alignment Effort

The cooperative extends well beyond one campus. The project will bring together aerospace companies, universities, community colleges, and students, with recurring workforce-alignment workshops convening educators, students, project leaders, and industry to identify AI workforce gaps. Dr. Timothy Swindle, director of the Arizona Space Grant Consortium and the initiative's principal investigator, framed the stakes for the state.

"Arizona has a thriving aerospace ecosystem, and it's not just the big companies, and it's not just in the big cities," Swindle said. "AI is changing the landscape so fast that we have to make sure that we are providing Arizona students with the skills they need to work in Arizona aerospace."

The ultimate goal is transferability: the project aims to share its modules, credentials, faculty training resources, and project-based learning laboratory with other schools.

"The bottom line is that what we're really trying to do is make sure that as all the state's universities and community colleges institute the programs that we all know we need, there is enough communication between groups," Swindle said.

For manufacturing and engineering professionals watching workforce pipelines, the signal is clear — AI competency is becoming a baseline expectation for new aerospace hires, and the training infrastructure is being built now.

"Our efforts are to help students and graduates understand AI, its capabilities, and its role in their work and lives," Bryner said.