Industry Focus Group: Human-Centered Design + Artificial Intelligence (VIRTUAL)

Description

Purpose
To align curricular learning objectives, activities, and student outcomes with the exact skills, technologies, and methodologies required by regional employers – ensuring our graduates are fully equipped to design, deliver, and sustain human-centered, AI-enabled solutions.

Description
The convergence of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how technologies, systems, products, and services are conceived, built, evaluated, and sustained. In this evolving landscape, success depends on bridging the gap between technical capability and human-centric strategy. This requires a two-fold focus: the technical rigor to evaluate AI outputs for accuracy, reliability, and validity, and the design vision to create systems that amplify human potential. By prioritizing Human-Centered AI (HCAI), we can ensure that the tools we build are transparent, fair, and aligned with core human values.

To prepare graduates to lead in this complex environment, Penn State Harrisburg and the TCCP invite regional industry leaders, practitioners, and educators to a high-impact listening session. Using an accelerated DACUM (Developing A CurriculUM) framework, this two-hour focus group will identify the precise skills, tools, and competencies required of today’s human-centered, AI-enabled professionals. These insights will directly bridge the gap between academic preparation and real-world workforce needs.

Why Your Voice Matters
Modern enterprise needs have evolved far beyond traditional technical competencies. Today, HCD spans the entire project lifecycle, from initial architecture to the delivery of comprehensive, AI-enabled experiences. Professionals must now deliver on a dual mandate: architecting holistic, AI-driven ecosystems that are ethical, accessible, and aligned with human behavior, while rigorously verifying system robustness.

Your expertise during this condensed, two-hour session will directly inform a regional competency model built for these evolving demands. Through this collaboration, you help cultivate a local talent pipeline that is both technically proficient and precisely equipped to solve the complex, values-driven challenges facing your organization.

Who Should Attend
Your perspective is critical if your organization develops, deploys, or manages technology products, systems, or services. We encourage participation from leaders and practitioners in the following domains:

• User Research: Usability research, contextual inquiry, participatory design, and human factors.
• Product & Platform Development: Digital product management, platform ecosystems, and innovation strategy.
• Systems & Engineering: Enterprise systems, cloud architecture, system integration, and infrastructure.
• AI-Enabled Technologies: Machine learning systems, intelligent product design, and data-driven services.
• Software Development: Full-stack development, product engineering, and quality assurance.
• Service & Experience Design: Service systems, digital service delivery, and comprehensive experience design (spanning Customer [CX], Total Experience [TX], Learning [LXD], Product [PX], and Patient [PX] domains).
• Strategy & Transformation: Product strategy, digital transformation, and business innovation.
• Responsible Technology: AI ethics, governance, risk, compliance, and output validation. 

Regardless of whether your organization operates in technology, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, education, or consulting, your expertise is vital to this mission.