Aug. 26, 2025

Ferris State educators highlighting AI’s impact, cancer research and other innovations as part of Tech Week 2025

Ferris State University educators will be exploring the impact of artificial intelligence, research on a cure for cancer, game-based training and other topics as part of Tech Week 2025, a six-day series that brings together educators, tech industry leaders, students and the greater community to highlight tech and innovation in West Michigan.

The event run from Sept. 15 to 20 and concludes with Confluence, an annual festival that celebrates innovation across art, music, science and technology.

Ferris State University President Bill Pink is Tech Week 2025’s co-chairman, working with co-chairs Mentavi Health CEO Keith Brophy and ADAC Chief Technology Officer - Vice President of Engineering Danche Gjorgjievski.

Tech Week last year featured more than 70 events around the region with more than 16,000 attendees. The event is organized by The Right Place in partnership with more than 100 community partners.

Additional Tech Week events include conversations about artificial intelligence and its growing number of applications, addressing top talent challenges, healthcare, cyber security, and other topics. A full list of events is available online.

Ferris State educators are heading activities throughout the week, including:

Student Tech Showcase, Tuesday, Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grandville Robotics and Engineering Center, 4874 Canal Ave SW, in Grandville with Ferris State leaders presenting about careers in plastics, mechanical engineering, manufacturing and product engineering. The event is attracting middle school students from across the region, introducing them to high-tech.

Innovating Lung Cancer Care Through Nanotechnology, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 9-9:30 a.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building, 17 Pearl Street NW in Grand Rapids. Click Here to Register.  

Diving into Nanotechnology: Potential for Improved Drug Delivery in Lung Cancer, highlights innovative expertise across our colleges and fields of study. This forum will highlight innovative research, strengthen professional networks, and provide a platform for students, faculty, staff, and partners to share insights that enhance visibility and elevate our collective brand in the scientific and healthcare marketplace.

Diving into nanotechnology offers groundbreaking potential for enhancing drug delivery in lung cancer treatment. By enabling targeted, controlled release of therapeutics at the tumor site, nanocarriers can improve efficacy, reduce side effects, and overcome resistance mechanisms.

This advanced approach opens new possibilities for precision medicine, transforming how lung cancer is managed and offering hope for improved patient outcomes through innovative, nanoscale drug delivery systems 

Collaboration to Harmonize Antimicrobial Registry Measures: CHARM, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 10-10:45 in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

This project is an initiative aimed at standardizing antibiotic use measures across outpatient clinics. It addresses the critical need for consistent and timely data on outpatient antibiotic prescribing practices, which is essential for effective outpatient antimicrobial stewardship and public health impact.

This presentation highlights how data-driven innovation, collaboration, and digital tools can enhance patient outcomes and strengthen our region’s leadership in health tech. 

CHARM GPT (Locally Hosted LLM Model), Tuesday, Sept. 16, 11-11:45 a.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Presenters have created a locally hosted AI using free open-source LLM models. Unlike ChatGPT, these are locally hosted in the Ferris State network. The primary purpose of creating this is to ensure that none of the CHARM healthcare-based data is uploaded to the internet, and also to seek LLM-based support at work.

This system has a web UI with multiple co-workers from the CHARM team who can connect to it, who are in the Ferris local network. This demo will walk you through multiple open-source LLMs (from Meta, Google, DeepSeek, etc.) running side by side and how we can utilize them for our own purposes.

The long-term purpose is to create AI agents that can automate some of the manual interventions we perform at CHARM, i.e., cleaning messy healthcare data to obtain structured and standardized attributes. 

Dawg Tech: Cell Factories for New Antibiotics, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Engineering New Macrolides to Outsmart Resistant Bacteria. Microbial cell factories are being redesigned to build the next generation of macrolide antibiotics. This talk will cover how scientists reprogram polyketide synthases —the molecular assembly lines that create these complex molecules—and use glycodiversification to add new sugar groups that can boost antibacterial activity. By combining pathway engineering with smart design, these approaches aim to produce novel macrolides capable of overcoming antimicrobial resistance. 

Uniting Sight & Sound Through Innovation, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Deaf and hard-of-hearing people face unique challenges when obtaining and using appropriate vision correction. Innovative measures are available to help address these. Dr. Daniel Taylor, co-inventor of one of these innovations, the Protoconch adapter, will discuss this unique medical intersection and how health care providers are helping. 

Digital vs. Analog: Boosting Rural Business Growth, Wednesday, Sept. 17, from noon to 12:45 p.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

With a preponderance of attention aimed at growing industries and markets in traditional urban and suburban landscapes, this session will explore not only the opportunities and possibilities in the rural sphere, but also how to procure a foothold in such regions. Moreover, even with the proverbial 'digital divide' that might exacerbate access and timely communication, this session will also highlight how to cultivate and distill business relationships, and what it takes to reconcile the digital and analog worlds. 

Art After Algorithm, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2-3 p.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

AI-generated images, deepfakes, and algorithmic remixing are disrupting the creative industry, and are raising new questions about authorship, ownership, and opportunity. This timely panel brings together artists, designers, and creative technologists to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the way we create, share, and safeguard creative work.

Are these tools, collaborators, competitors, or something in between? How can artists adapt without losing their voice? And how can businesses harness creative AI while staying ethical and ahead of the curve?  Expect lively debate and a peek into how West Michigan’s creative ecosystem is navigating the future. 

Developing Tomorrow’s Talent Through Real-World Projects, Thursday, Sept. 18, 9-10:15 a.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Together, the Design Project Center and the Business Innovation and Lean Center, located in Ferris State’s College of Business, have connected and collaborated with industry on a total of 275 design and process improvement projects. Experiential learning opportunities allow both design students and business majors in operational excellence programs to apply their skills in real-world contexts.

Design students support non-profits and businesses by developing brand systems, communication tools, and user-centered experiences that clarify goals and connect with audiences. Meanwhile, business students focus on streamlining operations through process improvement, data analysis, and strategic planning. 

While these groups currently work on separate projects, their parallel contributions demonstrate how creative and operational problem-solving can align—and lay the groundwork for future interdisciplinary collaboration. Both tracks offer students valuable experience, professional references, and pathways to internships or post-graduate employment. 

This session will highlight how engaging students with in-person/remote/hybrid experiential projects enhances learning and furthers the next generation of talent development, how to recognize the importance and value of organizations partnering with universities/colleges for experiential learning projects, and how to effectively contribute as an industry partner. 

Gamifying Learning: Engaging Students Through Interactive Play, Thursday, Sept. 18, 10:30-11:30 a.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Explore how game-based learning is transforming higher education across disciplines in this interactive 60-minute session.

Participants will engage with Enrolled, a board game developed to increase student engagement in First-Year Seminar courses and discover how students can become co-designers of their own educational experience.

 Learn how historians use gaming to help students reconstruct the past through a modern lens, making abstract concepts tangible and interactive. Finally, examine how gamification is being applied in healthcare education to boost learning outcomes for both students and patients.

This session highlights practical strategies, showcases cutting-edge tools, and demonstrates how educational games foster deeper engagement, retention, and real-world skill development across diverse fields. 

Owning What You Build: Tech Intellectual Property Rights, Thursday, Sept. 18. 1-2 p.m. in room 217, Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Who owns your code, content, and ideas—and how can you protect them? In this panel discussion, we will unpack the essential intellectual property issues facing startups, individuals, public institutions, and established enterprises working with digital tools and global vendors. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls, protect what you create, and navigate tech ownership and licensing in a rapidly evolving digital economy.  

Whether you're launching a startup, building digital tools for public use, or creating content in an academic setting, understanding who owns technology—and how to protect it—is essential. This discussion will explore how intellectual property (IP) impacts startups, students, public institutions, and private enterprises in a tech-driven, global economy. 

Quantum Frog: Where AI, Art, and Ethics Converge, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2:30-3:30 p.m. in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building. Click Here to Register. 

Join transdisciplinary artist Natalie G'NAT Wetzel of The Moon GR for a groundbreaking session. Dive into Quantum Frog, her multimedia project installation, with writer/collaborator Catherine Chung, at Germany’s Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, where photonic quantum models and generative AI collide with handcrafted, wearable sculpture costumes.

Through video excerpts, live costume demonstrations, and an interactive question and answer period, presenters will explore the environmental footprint of largescale computing, ethical imperatives for AI, and the future of creative labor in an age of algorithmic invention. 

Confluence concludes the week and includes a strolling exhibit 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, in room 217 of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building.

Confluence’s Saturday, Sept. 20 activities include an Esports Expo from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., a Maker Expo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a Robotics Expo from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. with a robotics parade at 1 p.m.

Confluence is in a new location: 17 Pearl St NW, in closed streets and open spaces in and around Ferris State’s Kendall College of Art and Design.