In this Bengal Business Radio Show episode, host Dr. Alex Bollinger welcomes Dr. Jim Widmann, Dean of Idaho State University’s College of Science and Engineering (COSE), for a wide-ranging conversation about engineering, education, and innovation in southeast Idaho. Widmann shares his journey from growing up in an automotive family in Michigan, working in the auto industry, and earning his graduate degrees at Stanford, to building a career as a mechanical engineering faculty member focused on active learning and student engagement.
The discussion explores how engineering and business intersect through entrepreneurship, design thinking, and cross-disciplinary teamwork, drawing on Widmann’s experience with Stanford’s d.school and IDEO-inspired approaches to collaborative creativity. Widmann highlights COSE’s distinctive strengths, including nuclear engineering partnerships with Idaho National Laboratory and NuScale’s small modular reactor technology, critical materials research in chemistry and geosciences, and immersive field experiences like the Lost River Range geology field camp.
Widmann also previews the upcoming EPIC Center (Exploration, Prototyping, Innovation and Collaboration) in the Lillibridge building—an advanced, student-driven maker space designed to serve students, faculty, staff, and entrepreneurs across campus with tools ranging from 3D printers and laser cutters to CNC machining and welding. He closes by reflecting on his Fulbright experience in Kathmandu, the growing Nepali student community at ISU, and the value of global connections in a university rooted in southeastern Idaho.
