About the Ag-STEM Innovation lab
We prepare educators to teach the next generation of agricultural professionals, building both foundational agricultural mechanics skills and the automation, sensing, and artificial intelligence that are reshaping how food is produced. Operating from the Western Nebraska Ag-STEM Innovation Laboratory at the Panhandle Research, Extension, and Education Center in Scottsbluff, our work connects applied agricultural technology with secondary classrooms, developing hands-on, standards-aligned curriculum in which students build and program microcontroller-based systems that monitor and manage real agricultural processes.
Research funding has come from USDA NIFA and the National Science Foundation, including the USDA NIFA–funded iLEARN: Automation in the Heartland project and the NSF-funded iDARE project, a collaboration with the University of Iowa, the University of Arkansas, and Kansas State University. Curriculum and teacher resources are aligned to the Nebraska Skilled and Technical Sciences learning standards and national AFNR standards.
Lab
Teacher Professional Development
iLearn: Automation in the Heartland Year 2
Summer Workshop
Year 2 of the Automation workshop for those who completed Y1 last year. Troy White will contact qualified participants directly. This workshop will focus on the operation of CNC using Arduino and teachers will build a 2×2 open source CNC table. Teachers will receive a $600 stipend for attending, a CNC table to take home, and additional training on the Arduino, CAD design, and other cool applications for their Y1 equipment. Travel stipends are available and hotels and food are covered just like last year.
register here
Small Gas Engines
This class will be nearly identical to the Briggs & Stratton field school with the exception that you will not get their giveaways (textbooks, clear carbs, feeler gages, etc.). Participants completely disassemble a 130G32 Horizontal Shaft Engine. Teachers are provided a complete teaching curriculum, an orientation to the Briggs & Stratton Power Portal, and explore proven techniques for teaching small engines to secondary students. If projects are taking longer, additional time will be allocated in the evenings to complete them. Please reach out directly to Dr. Troy White if you have any questions.
register here
Residential Wiring & Basic Plumbing
This course covers basic AC and DC circuits. Participants will use Snap Circuits, Breadboard circuits, and scale walls to learn AC & DC circuits. AC circuits will include NEC requirements, residential and farm wiring, and participants will complete 10 labs, keys, and wall plans. Then we will transition to a basic plumbing project that uses copper, PVC, Poly, and PEX. Teachers will test connections using pressurized air. Teachers will take home all electricity lab worksheets and the plumbing project plans (and the project if it survives testing). Class will run from 8:00-6:30 each day with a working lunch. If projects are taking longer, additional time will be allocated in the evenings to complete them. Please reach out directly to Dr. Troy White if you have any questions.
register here
Laboratory Management & Safety
This workshop is designed to walk new and experienced teachers through the process of establishing a laboratory safety management plan, building comfort in using essential power tools, and teaching and documenting the safe use of power tools to minors. Teachers build a database of safety materials, and demonstrate competence in basic power tool use, storage, and maintenance.
register here
Explore the Ag-STEM Innovation Labs
Large Projects Lab
Our Ag-STEM Prototyping Lab is a full-featured design, prototyping, and fabrication space equipped with a CNC Plasma Table, CNC routers, laser engravers, 3D printers, wood and metal lathes, woodworking power tools and open-source electronics platforms. Designed to support hands-on inquiry-based learning, the lab gives teachers and students the tools to design, prototype, and test real world agricultural solutions.
Small Project Lab
The Prototyping and Design Laboratory is a rapid prototyping space with 3-D printers & CO2 Lasers, designed to teach teachers the STEM and inquiry-based processes students need to turn their ideas into reality. The lab allows users to design solutions for real world problems will encounter in production agriculture.
Equipped with professional grade tools and safety equipment, the facility supports teacher professional development and student skill building across power, structural, and technical science systems.
Funded Research
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
The UNL Western Nebraska Ag-STEM Innovation Laboratory conducts federally funded research and education projects supported by the USDA-NIFA.
iLEARN: Automation in the Heartland
AFRI AGRICULTURAL WORKFORCE TRAINING PRIORITY AREA AWARD 2023-67037-39938
iLEARN: Automation in the Heartland
Immersive Learning Experiences and Rural Networking: automation in the Heartland (iLEARN: AiH) is a four-year USDA-NIFA funded project addressing the rural brain drain by equipping rural agriculture and science teachers with the skills to deliver cutting edge agricultural automation instruction in their communities.
Stemming the rural brain drain is a national concern. As many as 40% of high school graduates who leave rural America to attend college never return. This project provides rural teachers with skills in inquiry-based instruction using open-source electronics platform, precision agriculture sensors, and automation technologies, enabling them to train students for the workforce opportunities emerging in rural America.
The project centers on cohorts of teachers completing two face to face summer workshops with ongoing electronic support and site visits. Participants gain proficiency in Arduino Uno microcontroller programming, sensor integration, and problem based learning module design - all tied directly to AFNR content standards. Teachers then develop and implement these lessons in their own classrooms, reaching students across Nebraska Wyoming, and South Dakota.
Core focus area include agricultural automation, right to repair electronics, precision agriculture technologies and the development of online professional learning communities to sustain teacher networks beyond the workshop experience.
Project Director - Dr. Troy White, UNL
CO-PI - Dr. Nathan Conner, UNL
Duration - 4 Years
Priority Area - Agriculture Systems and Technology