MechSE teaching assistant professor Kevin Wandke has been named an Engineering Unleashed Fellow for 2026. The designation recognizes leadership in undergraduate engineering education.
Engineering Unleashed is a community of over 7,000 members from 420 institutions of higher education, powered by KEEN, a 70-partner collaborative that shares a mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset who are equipped to create societal, personal and economic value for others.
This year, 30 individuals from 23 higher education institutions across the country were named Engineering Unleashed Fellows.
For years, Illinois and The Grainger College of Engineering has had a symbiotic partnership with KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network). The program is part of the Kern Family Foundation, which was established in 1998 by MechSE alum Robert Kern (BSME 1947) and his wife, Patricia. The late Kern, who also founded Generac Power Systems, is said to have developed an anecdotal taxonomy of the qualities of good engineers from his decades-long career. Kern sold Generac in 2006 to focus on philanthropic efforts, which led to KEEN’s development. MechSE teaching associate professor Blake Johnson has previously been the recipient of a KEEN fellowship.
The fellowship provides Wandke with a $10k grant to advance and promote his project. The 2026 cohort of fellows will also meet, share ideas, and learn about each other’s projects through a meeting planned for this October. Wandke is passionate about teaching and shaping the next generation of engineers.
“We have already started using AI chatbots to function as stakeholders within some of the design courses,” he said. “I plan to use this award to build on the work that we have already done and develop a framework so that other educators can create AI stakeholders in their own classrooms. The objective is to help students identify the needs of users who will be interacting with the things they design, and how their designs can meet those needs.”
He was nominated by peer coaches after his involvement in KEEN’s faculty workshops focused on the development and application of an entrepreneurial mindset whether in teaching and learning, research, industry, or leadership.