The Workforce Development and Research Lab (WDRL) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Student Challenge Competition!
The first prize of $1000 was awarded to Dadang Sunandar, PhD student in the HRD program of the OLPD department, for his proposal for an applied research project called “Analyzing and Aligning the Higher Education Program’s Curriculum with Workplace Demands in the Human Resources Development Field.” As Dadang stated in his application, “the proposed study will tackle the diminishing alignment between HRD programs’ graduates’ knowledge, skills, and mindsets and those demanded in the workplace.”
The second prize of $500 was awarded to Nathan Price, PhD student at the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, for his proposal titled “Building the Dream Building Academy to Impact All”. The proposed research study will support the creation of “an innovative platform that leverages gamification, simulation tools, and AI-driven insights to foster high school students’ self-awareness, career exploration, and future-proof workforce skills.”
Dadang and Nathan will be invited to join the WDRL as fellows and will pursue their research over the next twelve months under the mentorship of WDRL faculty members. Upon completing their projects, fellows will present their findings and serve as resources for future cohorts.
The WDRL would like to congratulate Dadang and Nathan and thank all other participants in the 2025 Student Challenge Competition.
The objective of the WDRLab Student Challenge 2025 is to spark innovative, interdisciplinary programming, scholarship, and research to address complex issues of workforce development, while also creating a cadre of ‘change agents’ whose projects, stakeholder engagement, knowledge generation, and dissemination enhance the workforce development opportunities for underrepresented and marginalized groups.
In recent years, advancements in artificial intelligence and automation have put pressure on the labor market to understand the demand for new skills, new jobs, and occupations and to implement more accessible and effective alternatives to workforce learning and development. Consequently, the need to understand the demand for new skills, implement innovative educational solutions, and create more inclusive workplaces has become increasingly important to mitigate social inequalities, reduce disparities, and prepare the current and future workforce.