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Emerging & Future Technologies

Emerging & Future Technologies

The pace of technological advancement is rapidly reshaping every aspect of human life and society’s foundations — education, work, justice, environment, and human connection. Artificial intelligence rivals the internet in societal impact, while fields like regenerative medicine, materials science, and quantum computing hold vast promise — and profound risk.

Guided by our Pro Humanitate ethos, Wake Forest’s Emerging and Future Technologies (E‑FT) Initiative advances inquiry and education that integrate discovery and technical excellence with ethics and policy to promote human flourishing.

As scientific discovery accelerates and technological systems become more deeply embedded in daily life, Wake Forest is embracing an approach that joins engineering and computation with ethical reflection, creativity, and social responsibility. Innovation, in this view, is never separate from the people and communities it affects.

We envision a future in which breakthrough technologies are designed with care for both people and the planet; discovery is approached with integrity; and progress expands opportunity rather than widens divides.

This vision means:

  • Transforming fundamental science into materials, devices, and systems that improve health outcomes, reduce environmental impact, and strengthen resilient communities.
  • Uniting disciplines: engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, medicine, law, business, divinity, and the arts to shape technologies that advance justice, sustainability, and human dignity.
  • Approaching artificial intelligence as a space for understanding human agency, character, and judgment, a catalyst for transformative learning and student growth as well as a means to develop new tools for efficiency and/or automation.
  • Creating experiential learning environments in which students and faculty design with vision, deliberate with wisdom, and act with courage.
  • Developing partnerships and new approaches to communication with communities outside of higher education to foster trustworthiness, equity, and long-term societal wellbeing.

Stories

Showing up & taking action

Securing the Future of AI

With a $598,609 NSF CAREER award, Wake Forest computer scientist Sarra Alqahtani is developing the first safety and security standards for multi-agent AI systems, with real-world applications in healthcare, disaster response, and conservation.

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Professor Oana Jurchescu Named 2025 Fellow of the Materials Research Society

Physics professor Oana Jurchescu became the first Wake Forest faculty member elected to the Materials Research Society Fellows, recognizing her sustained contributions to the field of organic electronic materials.

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WFU Physicists, Physiologists and Physicians Developing Promising Technology to Prevent Device Thrombosis

A Wake Forest research team is using far-red light and nitrite to reduce dangerous blood clotting in dialysis machines used in ICUs, with a new NCBiotech grant supporting the technology’s next development phase.

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Computer Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award to Advance Alzheimer’s Research Using AI

Assistant professor Minghan Chen received a five-year, $500,000 NSF CAREER award to develop an AI framework called Neuron Twin that models how Alzheimer’s disease spreads across brain networks to improve early diagnosis and treatment.

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On Campus

Compassionate Action