University of Advancing Technology's Official Technology Blog

Next week, February 24th and 25th, to be exact, University of Advancing Technology (UAT) will be hosting guests. Over the course of these days, a team of peers will be visiting as part of the University’s long-standing accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Team visits happen every five years and are moments when UAT tells our tech education story for our peers. UAT’s approach to learning and our community is unique in all the right ways. Showing you, the students, and your creations to the team is a “once in five years” moment of pride and fun. During the two days that the team is visiting, students can expect the campus to be tidy, projects to be displayed, faculty to deliver examples of Synchronic Learning, and events to demonstrate what happens at UAT during all the weeks when peer teams are not here. 

Most years, I like to jump-start my tech excitement by attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). If you haven’t encountered CES, it is the largest showcase of technologies in the world. Held in Las Vegas, with floor spaces filling the entire convention center and 2-3 major hotels. Anyone making their way through this vast spectacle of light, sound, and digital goodness will have their senses flooded with robots, next-generation vehicles, med-tech, agri-tech, AI-infused TVs, IoT homes, and more gadgets than your brain can likely absorb. The show is massive, as proven by my Apple Watch when it noted that I had put in over 8 miles of walking during one day’s exploration. Here are some of the highlights for anyone planning on their builds for boards and Student Innovation Project (SIP) and who are making early plans to attend CES2026:

• CES hosts a pavilion of tech award winners that should always be a first stop. Usually located in the Venetian, this area showcases the “best of” while also being an executive summary of what fills out the rest of the show. Very helpful when getting ready to navigate 2.5 million square feet of tech. Winning examples from 2025 included a $3000 supercomputer from Nvidia that would fit in a small backpack (https://www.wired.com/story/nvidia-personal-supercomputer-ces/). The robotic FingerVision R1 (https://www.fingervision.jp/en/post/20240627-1) caught my eye because of its use of optical sensors to create tactile feedback that is sensitive enough for robots to use in food handling and medicine. I also really liked the AirRay-Mini (https://www.ces.tech/ces-innovation-awards/2025/airray-mini/). It is a portable battery-powered X-ray system the size of a handheld camera that also claims to be a low-radiation device.
• Another key stop is the global pavilion of innovation. Imagine thousands of square feet worth of SIP-style emerging tech companies and startups organized by their countries showcasing tech innovations that are a few years away from being ready for release to the consumer wild.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) was everywhere. Unscientifically, it seemed that most of the tech products either incorporated AI or were the engines delivering this technology. AI was very visible in med-tech applications in devices ranging from portable cancer scanners to human augmentation applications such as earbuds that provided neural control of devices (https://www.naqilogix.com), cyborg-like carbon fiber knees (https://bionicm.com/product/), and body harnesses that extend strength and provide rehab.  Many of the AI providers leaned in on acknowledging the energy costs of AI and talked about trajectories toward sustainability.
• Wearable tech is evolving and making a bigger imprint. Driven by smaller, thinner, and flexible batteries and processors, medical devices are becoming less obtrusive and easier to naturally incorporate into items that can be carried and worn. Companies such as CSEM (https://www.csem.ch/en/) showed home and wearable tools for monitoring health through saliva and other fluids. KOROT (https://korot.com/en/) showed home systems for monitoring your heart. Exoskeleton tech has meaningfully benefitted from the evolution of processor and battery tech, along with AI, so these devices are smaller, have lower costs, and are more usable. Many company booths displayed examples, and a good starting place to explore is Cosmo Robotics (https://www.cosmo-robotics.com/eng/).
• In the category of “Why is this available for pets but not humans,” Point Biotech’s consumer early cancer screening tool for pets (https://www.ces.tech/ces-innovation-awards/2025/early-cancer-screening-device-in-pets/) showed how med-tech is making its way into home use.

This summary barely covers tech trends found at CES. To fill in the many gaps, I recommend hitting their website (https://www.ces.tech) and make plans to spend a stimulating-filled day in person at CES 2026.

Moving from shiny new tech to the process of building and innovation, February marks Black History Month. Pausing to take in this American community’s rich and often conflicted history reminds us to smile and celebrate our world for its wide-ranging cultures, perspectives, and traditions. In the realm of technology, I am reminded of Dr. Marion Croak, who led the team that created VoIP and ushered in the age of voice communication using the Internet. There is also Lisa Gelobter, whose team at Macromedia invented the tools that enabled media and animation delivery on web platforms. As tech builders, I recommend all UAT community members to drop their names into an internet search that will point you to their stories and accomplishments.

These two inventors shaped the modern digital age and are models for UAT’s tech-forward thinking on diversity, LGBTQ+, and DEI.  Terms that have been used loudly during this early 2025 stretch of weeks as our nation works through its emotions and approaches to a topic that is at once very personal and very divided. This is a conversation that I am comfortable with and glad is happening. That said, I do wish the tone within media streams would play out with the kind of care, learning, and listening that I see when UAT students, staff and faculty talk about ideas and differences. I also wish there were more mentions of the people whose perspectives add breadth and quality to everyone’s lives. And this thought brings me further to UAT.

UAT has always viewed colleges as communities where everyone has the right to feel safe, comfortable and respected in their unique’ness. With overtones of kindness, UAT’s perspective is DNA-woven within our values and goes step in step with the American expectation of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It also makes for excellent learning and better tech.

Environments where dignity exists, even when there are disagreements and barriers, are places where learning, personal growth and better solutions (tech and otherwise) thrive. Building technology solutions that people everywhere care about can’t be done solo. Widely useful solutions can’t be created by teams of people who are more or less the same. Putting nothing but water in a pan and heating it doesn’t make soup (it doesn’t even make tea). It takes a mix of ingredients that come together with stirring, care, and heat to make something tasty. Building relevant and sturdy tech has the same requirements of its creators.

UAT has guiding words cultivated by our staff, confirmed by our Board, and embraced in all our activities. As an example, UAT’s value of Pride is one expression of our community’s appreciation for differences as it states:

“We are proud of who we are and the unique things we do. We are proud of each other and the University. We are our authentic selves and are proud of other’s diversity.”   

Further, UAT’s institutional statement on diversity elaborates that:

“UAT develops technologists capable of creating valued solutions by creating opportunities that train, promote, and nurture working in diverse high-performance teams. Learning at UAT focuses on establishing trust while leveraging the unique attributes, abilities, differences, and perspectives of all participants. This approach cultivates respect, inclusion, dignity, and equity, valuing each team member’s unique contribution to the team and stimulates teams to work in harmony toward common goals and outcomes.”

There are daily examples of this that play out at UAT. During the most recent SIP Showcase, Amber Arnold presented Painting Rewards, a unique game mechanic, and Diego Garcia presented Project Chartlight, a secure project productivity software.  Both of these innovators  proudly acknowledged other students who helped shape their projects. One of the most remarkable things about UAT undergrads is how each of you creates a complex technology before graduation. As students, you should always remember that this is an accomplishment far above what other students do. Part of the magic that makes student creations possible is the culture of working in teams that begins from the moment each of you arrives. In front of peers, UAT students repeatedly explain what worked and didn’t during agile stand-ups. Students practice listening and sharing ideas with humans who are different and then implement this 360 feedback to improve their creations. In doing so, UAT students fulfill our guiding principles.

I am continuously proud of UAT, its brilliant students, caring professors and staff, and its community. My pride also glows when I see how this community lives its values and shows the world how to maximize everyone’s abilities and inputs, especially individuals who are not “the usual suspects”.

Dr. Dave Bolman, Provost