Dean's Message
Engineering Judgment Matters
June 2026
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With the rise of artificial intelligence, engineering and computer science judgment matter more than ever. As an engineering dean, I am well aware that I must equip our Jacobs School graduates with relevant AI skills. However, a critical question I continually ask is: how do we ensure our students acquire the engineering and computer science judgment they will need throughout their careers?
I don’t have a single overarching tactic for this — and I don’t believe anyone else does either. That said, empowering our students to acquire engineering and computer science judgment in the age of AI is one of the most important responsibilities facing educators of tomorrow’s innovation workforce.
I am proud that the Jacobs School is out in front in this work; our artificial intelligence major is rooted in computer science judgment; our custom AI Tutor platform is designed to stimulate student learning rather than generate answers; and curricula across the Jacobs School are being revamped for the AI age. I will keep coming back to these and other projects.
Today, I am focused on a broader factor overlapping all these efforts. In this age of AI, we must offer the best in-person learning experiences possible for our students, and relevant experiences that facilitate the early development of engineering and computer science judgment.
Building the mathematical and physics-based foundations and applying them to real-world challenges; learning problem identification and problem solving; figuring out how to thrive in cross-disciplinary teams; and developing technical communication skills. All of this is more important than ever. And it’s often done in person, with a teacher who trains students how to ask the right questions.
At the same time, students need to be exploring the upsides and downsides of AI tools and AI-suggested solutions within strong human-centered social contexts. These are not explorations to be made in isolation.
I think back to the genuine back-and-forth I had with the talented research librarians who helped me surface technical source documents while working as a research engineer at Xerox Corporation soon after I earned my PhD. Today, that function has largely been assumed by AI agents. Despite these changes, we must extend our capabilities as individual engineers and computer scientists, and we must never lose the human-centeredness of our work.
This summer, for example, we are preparing to open an expansion of our human-centered EnVision Arts & Engineering Maker Studio. This will increase student opportunities to develop engineering judgment, while expanding interactions with students from arts and humanities.
We also just celebrated the opening of a new data center in our computer science building. The facility offers student researchers opportunities for hands-on optimization and modification of computing infrastructure. In parallel, we opened new prime spaces on the first floor of the computer science building for students to meet and work together in person.
Experiential learning courses in every department, as well as a career readiness course run through our IDEA Engineering Student Center, all just wrapped up for the academic year. And this is just scratching the surface. The list goes on and on.
All across the Jacobs School, we are working hard to upgrade our abilities to offer students the experiences they need to develop the engineering and computer science judgment they will need throughout their careers.
If you are interested in getting involved in our work, please get in touch.
You can read the full June 2026 Jacobs School news email here.
As always, I can be reached at: DeanPisano@ucsd.edu
Sincerely,
Al
Albert ("Al") P. Pisano
Dean, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
Special Adviser to the Chancellor for Campus Strategic Initiatives