The TechEd Podcast

Smart manufacturing has moved past the pilot phase, and manufacturers that still treat AI and automation like side projects are running out of time.

Rockwell Automation Chairman and CEO Blake Moret joins us to talk about the next era of smart manufacturing: AI-enabled operations, digital twins, autonomous mobile robots, cybersecurity, factory modernization and the workforce needed to enable it.

Blake breaks down what Rockwell means b...

What jobs will AI replace, and which ones will become more valuable?

Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, recently wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about how he chose which employees to replace with AI. His argument: AI is not coming equally for every role. It's coming first for the people inside organizations who measure, report, analyze, audit, manage, and process information.

In this solo episode of The TechE...

Exponential technologies, humanity-centric innovation, ethics in AI, passion and purpose, and the intersection of business and technology all point to one urgent question: How do we prepare the next generation to build solutions that are both economically viable and good for humanity?

This is a question we explore with Pete Dulcamara - scientist, former VP of Research at Kimberly-Clark and author of High-Tech Heroes.

We may be enteri...

Work-based learning is only as strong as the ecosystem around it, and this panel shows what happens when educators, employers, and students each do their part.

Recorded at ACTE’s National Work-Based Learning Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, this keynote panel features the perspective of an educator, industrial employer, and a student and shares their best insights and practical advice for making WBL impactful.

From the e...

As AI and emerging technologies reshape work, HR is being pushed into a bigger role: making sure the company’s workforce strategy keeps pace with its business strategy.

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In this episode, Matt Kirchner sits down with Dr. Peter Fasolo, former CHRO of Johnson & Johnson and now Director of the Institute for Leadership & Work at Boston University, to talk about the future workforce from one o...

Physical AI is the next major step for artificial intelligence, and FANUC’s collaboration with NVIDIA shows how that will look on the factory floor.

Mike Cicco, President and CEO of FANUC America, highlights the partnership’s two major applications: digital and physical. On the digital side, FANUC robots can be brought into NVIDIA Omniverse and Isaac Sim, alongside FANUC’s ROBOGUIDE software, for simulation, virtua...

What if the future of technical talent is not Silicon Valley or public service, but a career path that moves fluidly between both?

Arun Gupta sees that possibility from several angles: as a longtime venture capitalist, CEO of NobleReach Foundation, Stanford lecturer, and author of The Mission Generation. The strongest ideas and technologies only scale when they are matched with people who have resilience, curiosity, humility, and th...

What can organizational leaders learn from military-tested leadership practices to realign teams, sharpen execution, and move forward with greater clarity?

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Matt Kirchner sits down with Jay Richards, retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief, former Naval Special Warfare operator, CIA contractor, and author of The Standdown Framework: Advance Over Retreat. Richards brings a rare perspective shaped by elite...

Nikki Gonzales has built a career at the intersection of industrial automation, software, and systems thinking, and in this episode, she makes the case that the next chapter of manufacturing won’t be defined by AI alone. It will be defined by how well people understand process, data, machines, and the interfaces that connect them. The future of automation is as much about human judgment and lifelong learning as it is about sm...

What skills actually matter in technical careers now that the work is more digital, more automated, and more interconnected?

Industrial employers are not asking schools to choose between hard skills and soft skills. They're asking for both, and they still need the hard skills to come first. At Bosch, Justin Allen sees that every day: teamwork, drive, and professionalism matter, but technical problems don't get solved unless people u...

Imagine being able to track your brain health before serious decline sets in, understand your personal risk factors, and intervene early enough to help prevent dementia rather than simply react to it.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Matt Kirchner talks with Christin Glorioso, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of NeuroAge Therapeutics, about one of the most intriguing frontiers in health and longevity right now: whether brain aging can...

Artificial intelligence is moving from novel feature to core infrastructure, and that shift is forcing companies, schools and regulators to confront a harder question than how to use the technology: how to govern it.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Matt Kirchner talks with Patrick Sullivan, Vice President of Strategy & Innovation at A-LIGN, about the emerging rules of the AI economy. From the EU AI Act and a patchwork of ...

Are employers hurting themselves by only asking for 'soft skills' and ignoring their real technical needs? How can homeschool students get the same access to STEM labs as students in traditional schools? And what can education leaders learn from the way the Manhattan Project mobilized talent and innovation to solve an enormous problem?

These questions (and more!) came directly from the you, and we're answering them on this episode o...

What does the rise of AI mean for technical programs? Surprisingly, it's not a new concept to CTE fields. It is embedded in robotics, automation, diagnostics, and data modeling across modern manufacturing facilities today.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Matt Kirchner sits down with Dr. Andrew Neuendorf, Associate Dean of Manufacturing, Engineering, Trades, and Transportation at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), to e...

The labor market is evolving faster than traditional signals of competence can keep up. Roles are shifting, technology is accelerating, and employers are searching for clearer ways to identify real capability. In that environment, degrees remain valuable, but verified skills are becoming increasingly central to hiring and advancement.

In a marketplace now saturated with more than a million credentials, clarity has become the differe...

Over the past several years, many leaders have noticed a subtle but meaningful shift inside their organizations: the erosion of basic workplace courtesies, particularly from younger employees new to the professional workplace. Not misconduct; not ethical lapses. But something more subtle. Employees announcing time off instead of requesting it. Cameras off in meetings. Missed meetings treated casually. Messages left unanswered for a...

Imagine giving middle and high school students a full week to explore careers without grades, homework, or “regular” classes. That’s the core idea behind Camanche Community School District's J-term: a dedicated pause in the academic grind that turns school into a career-exploration lab, where 5th-12th grade students can test-drive career fields, build confidence, and discover options they didn’t even know ex...

Your organization doesn’t have a data problem. It has an intelligence problem: the gap between having information and being able to act on it with speed, clarity, and confidence. That gap shows up everywhere: hospitals, schools, manufacturers, and any team drowning in dashboards while leaders still wait on someone to “find the story.”

Rick Anderson (Chairman & CEO, The Hive Health) is back to show just how much...

The U.S. Department of the Interior manages the nation’s most consequential assets—public lands and waters, energy resources, and critical minerals—making it a crucial center for AI capabilities, national security, and workforce opportunity.

In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner sits down with Doug Burgum, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, to connect the dots between Interior's responsibilities an...