Lehigh University is leveraging its Future Makers Grants to seed innovative projects that may change the ways that we educate, collaborate and inspire creativity. One standout initiative will debut on March 20, 2025 at Mountaintop—AAD Open House and performance of "Harmonize" —a unique exhibition blending visual art and sound, where the act of drawing is translated into live music. This multidisciplinary collaboration unites Lehigh students, faculty and staff with renowned artists, demonstrating the power of cross-disciplinary partnerships.
This exciting fusion of art and sound is just one of many innovative projects made possible by the Future Makers Grants.
“These grants are empowering innovative initiatives across multiple fields, from the arts to journalism and community engagement,” said Mark Erickson, interim vice president for strategic planning and initiatives.
For instance, The Brown and White, Lehigh’s student newspaper, received a grant to enhance inclusive excellence within its editorial staff and coverage. Key outcomes from this project include a six-week training on inclusion and audience growth for 37 editors, reporters and specialists, led by Dr. Letrell Crittenden from the American Press Institute; students organizing listening sessions where community members shared their views on local media and trust-building; and the launch of a new "Campus Voices" section to provide a platform for diverse campus opinions, promoting inclusivity in university media.
The University Design Lab also received a strategy grant to build a second 3D Printing Hub at Mountaintop. Fully operational now, it provides students, faculty and staff cutting-edge resources to create 3D models. With 12 BambuLabs filament printers and a FormLabs SLA printer, the hub fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, helping students across product design, architecture and AIRLab integrate 3D printing into their coursework. Key usage highlights of the lab include its primary users, such as product design and architecture students, along with graduate and undergraduate students from the AIRLab. Faculty in the art, architecture and design department have integrated the lab into their curriculum, with Wes Heiss, assistant professor of product design, utilizing the space for projects. Additionally, two faculty members have used the lab to support their research initiatives, and a staff member from biological sciences has taken advantage of the facilities for lab-related projects, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
In addition to these creative endeavors, Lehigh's Future Makers Grants are enhancing educational offerings. A new undergraduate financial literacy course (ACCT 095), introduced in spring 2025, is teaching students crucial financial and accounting skills, such as budgeting, credit scores and investment strategies. Developed by Thomas Rees, professor of practice in accounting, the course supports Lehigh’s interdisciplinary approach and aims to improve student retention. Student feedback will be gathered at the end of the Spring semester.
Lehigh’s College of Business also received a grant to implement the Unibuddy platform for MBA recruitment. This initiative, connecting prospective students with current ambassadors, has already proven successful, becoming the second most used tool for lead acquisition within 90 days.
Other projects funded by Future Makers included data literacy training for Lehigh's administrative staff, designed to improve their understanding of data and promote best practices for its use. In line with the university’s strategy to enhance the skills of key staff members, the project introduced new methods for interpreting data and creating data-driven narratives, with the goal of improving workflows and supporting data-informed decision-making. The presentations helped boost data literacy by using real-world examples from Lehigh staff, integrating both qualitative and quantitative data, and building capacity for more effective data use. In total, over 100 administrative staff members attended the three presentations, and additional staff gained data literacy skills through conversations with colleagues who participated.
The launch of LEHIGH-AI, a digital hub promoting AI literacy for teaching, research and community engagement. The AI initiative funded 20 short projects across various disciplines, supporting ethical AI development and fostering collaboration in fields such as healthcare, education and the arts. Each accepted proposal received a $300 Lehigh AI award. Contributors developed their ideas into standardized, searchable project summaries. These summaries were added to a new Lehigh AI subcollection in The Preserve, a digital repository designed to enhance AI literacy and serve as a resource hub for AI applications in education, research and community engagement.
Lehigh’s Pipeline for Makers initiative has made significant progress in strengthening graduate-level pathways in technical entrepreneurship and mechanical engineering. This initiative promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, broadens outreach and creates new internship opportunities through Lehigh@Nasdaq. One example of funding at work is a partnership with Lehigh’s Design Labs, which led to the hosting of three new Maker Meetups as recruitment events in spring 2024. These events opened up the previously IP-protected technical entrepreneurship classroom to an external audience, including undergraduates, graduate and doctoral students from both Lehigh and regional universities. This effort is positively impacting the culture of recruiting future makers into Lehigh’s graduate programs.
“The Future Makers Grants at Lehigh University are more than just funding—they are a way to engage the campus community more broadly in furthering the Lehigh Strategy of Inspiring the Future Makers by supporting good ideas from across the campus,” said Nathan Urban, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.
