Dr. Priya Deshpande, an Indian American assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Opus College of Engineering atMarquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been named a 2025 Engineering Unleashed Fellow by the Kern Family Foundation (KFF).
This prestigious national honor, awarded to 29 faculty members from 23 institutions across the country, recognizes faculty who demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing undergraduate engineering education and embodying the entrepreneurial mindset championed by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN).
Deshpande earned this recognition for her work to redesign Marquette’s undergraduate database design course and share her experience and ideas with engineering educators across the country, according to a University release.
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Her project transforms the course into a platform for entrepreneurial learning through gamified modules, real-world case studies and stakeholder-driven capstone projects.
This approach equips students to connect technical skills with societal impact, preparing them to become proactive problem solvers who create meaningful value beyond the classroom.
As part of the fellowship, Deshpande will receive national recognition across KEEN, a $10,000 grant to advance her project and opportunities to collaborate with a network of Fellows nationwide.
Her work is expected to directly impact undergraduate students at Marquette and extend its reach to peer institutions through publications, workshops and the Engineering Unleashed online platform.
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With an MS in Information Technology fromUniversity of Pune, India, Deshpande earned her PhD in Computer Science from DePaul University, Chicago.
She is a Senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).Previously she and Dr. Praveen Madiraju won a $100,000 Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI) mini-grant for their project, “Towards a comprehensive framework and repository for documenting and assessing biases in using Large Language Models in health.”
She also received a $52,000 MU SEED 2023 grant for “Investigating Large Language Models for Improving Aphasia Patient’s care and Speech Recognition”
Deshpande and Madiraju received another $50,000 Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI) mini-grant for “Auto Completion of Chief Complaint.”