The TechEd Podcast

When the founder of the world’s largest furniture manufacturer partners with one of the nation’s most innovative technical colleges, you get one of the most unique learning centers in the world. This week, host Matt Kirchner is joined by the visionaries behind the landmark Wanek Center of Innovation at Western Technical College: Ron Wanek, Founder of Ashley Furniture Industries, Dr. Josh Gamer, Associate Vice President of Workforce...

When we think of STEM, we often picture engineers, chemists, or programmers. But what about someone who patents a piece of clothing, challenges the textile industry, and builds a company around purpose-driven innovation?

In a very unique episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner sits down with Michael Drescher, Founder of Vibrant Body Company. Drescher’s career has spanned cable TV, logistics, and media before leading him to...

You asked...we answered!

In this first-ever “Ask Us Anything” episode, producer Melissa Martin flips the script and poses your biggest questions to host Matt Kirchner. The result is a candid, wide-ranging conversation that covers career decisions, workforce challenges, and the future of artificial intelligence.

From elementary classrooms to C-suite hiring struggles to the role of AI in disrupting education, this episode explores the ...

Haven’t been to a technical college in the last 3 years? The transformation is striking, and it’s only a glimpse of the reinvention higher education faces in the next decade.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner talks with Layla Merrifield, President of the Wisconsin Technical College System, about why the future of higher education depends on bold innovation. Merrifield doesn’t mince words: credit loss should b...

What happens when K-12, higher education, manufacturing, and a startup tech company sit around the same table to talk about AI? This episode brings that rare collaboration to life.

Recorded live at TitletownTech—the venture studio founded by Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers—this panel features four leaders from distinctly different sectors, all navigating how AI is changing their world. From fault anomaly detection in industrial ...

Building tomorrow’s workforce starts with more than just technical skills—it requires access, mentorship, and leaders willing to invest in students long before they enter the job market.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Mary Ellen Stanek, Co-Founder and CIO Emeritus of Baird Asset Management, shares how one of the nation’s most respected investment firms thinks about talent, education, and inclusion. She reflects on being the ...

Distributed manufacturing allows goods to be produced closer to where they’re needed — but enabling that future requires a complete rethink of infrastructure, systems, and workforce development.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Dr. Charles Johnson-Bey joins host Matt Kirchner for a deep dive into Engineering the Future of Distributed Manufacturing — the new national report from the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA...

Workforce systems are often fragmented—built around short-term funding, disconnected programs, and a lack of coordination between industry, education, and community.

But a different model is taking shape - one that’s not only working in practice, but has the potential to scale across states and regions. In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner sits down with Lindsay Blumer, President & CEO of WRTP | BIG STEP, to...

What happens when a world-class mathematician meets ’80s college radio, Bill Gates’ top-10 favorite books, and a host with an algebra redemption arc? A surprisingly funny, fast-moving conversation. Dr. Jordan Ellenberg—John D. MacArthur Professor of Mathematics at UW–Madison and author of How Not to Be Wrong—swaps stories about The Housemartins, consulting on NUMB3RS (yes, one of his lines aired), and competing at the International...

If you still picture farming as dusty tractors and endless manual labor, think again. Today’s agriculture runs on GPS-guided equipment, drones, real-time soil sensors, and data systems that look more like Wall Street trading floors than old barns. In this episode, lifelong farmer and innovator Dick Pavelski and Andy Diercks of the Food + Farm Exploration Center pull back the curtain on precision agriculture—the technology, data, an...

In schools with limited resources, large class sizes, and wide differences in student ability, individualized learning has become a necessity. Artificial intelligence offers powerful tools to help meet those needs, especially in underserved communities. But the way we introduce those tools matters.

This week, Matt Kirchner talks with Sam Whitaker, Director of Social Impact at StudyFetch, about how AI can support literacy, comprehens...

With technical education under pressure to deliver skilled talent faster, Lakeshore College is flipping the model—measuring learning by competency, meeting students where they are (even in high school), and using grants + national advocacy to scale the impact.

This week, Matt Kirchner talks with Dr. Paul Carlsen, President of Lakeshore College, about the different methods to rapidly upskill a technical workforce. Like Lakeshore&apos...

What if audit wasn’t just a watchdog—but a catalyst for innovation, trust, and long-term growth? And what can education learn from it?

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Matt Kirchner sits down with Abim Kolawole, Chief Audit Executive at Northwestern Mutual, to explore how risk management, when done right, becomes a strategic advantage. Abim shares his remarkable journey—from growing up in Nigeria and watching Wall Street as a ...

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Duncan Kane, Senior Vice President at Toshiba America, shares insights from nearly two decades of working at the intersection of industry and education. Drawing from his leadership in STEM outreach, Duncan explains why Toshiba sees early STEM engagement not just as a good cause—but as a strategic investment in the future of innovation and the workforce.

One way Toshiba brings this vision to lif...

In a world of digital overload, short-form media, and AI-powered personalization, staying focused has never been harder. Today, the average attention span on any screen is just 47 seconds. What's causing this decline in focus, and what should educators do about it?

Those are some of the questions we discuss with Dr. Gloria Mark, UC Irvine informatics professor and author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balanc...

What does the Tour de France have to do with STEM education? More than you might think.

This week, host Matt Kirchner is joined by Wall Street Journal columnist and cycling expert Jason Gay to unpack the world’s most demanding sporting event: the Tour de France. They break down everything from team tactics to jersey competitions to the breathtaking drama expected in this year’s race—highlighting the fierce rivalry between defending ...

Submit your question for Ask Us Anything!

Networking can be the best way to land your first (or next) big job, but are you going about it the wrong way?

Too often, networking conversations end the same way: the other person says, “I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if I hear of anything that fits.”

You nod, thank them… and never hear from them again.

So what went wrong—and more importantly, what can you do better?

In this episode of ...

A new era is emerging where engineering drives AI—and AI transforms engineering

This week Matt Kirchner is joined by Dr. Pramod Khargonekar—Vice Chancellor for Research at UC Irvine and lead author of the ERVA report AI Engineering: A Strategic Research Framework to Benefit Society. Dr. Khargonekar unpacks the emerging discipline of AI Engineering, where engineering principles make AI better, and AI makes engineered systems better.

F...

What do all high-impact, disruptive—and sustainable—K-12 programs have in common?

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner sits down with Dr. Annalies Corbin, founder and CEO of the PAST Foundation and author of Hacking School: Five Strategies to Link Learning to Life. With more than 25 years of experience transforming how students learn, Dr. Corbin offers a bold, research-backed framework for schools to break away ...