For students preparing to enter the workforce, the question is no longer whether to use artificial intelligence, but how well they can use it.
That shift was a central focus at SMU last week, as over 200 attendees, including more than 30 C-suite executives, gathered on April 16 for the Data Centers Innovation and Next-Gen Workforce Summit hosted by the Lyle School of Engineering and Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity
The event brought together CEOs, operators and workforce experts across energy, artificial intelligence, infrastructure resilience and technology to focus on how data centers are rapidly changing our economy — and what that change means for the next generation entering the workforce.
While panel discussions were held off the record to encourage candid discussion, the conversations centered on a common theme: AI’s main impact on the workforce is not eliminating jobs, but changing how they are performed and who is best prepared to do them.
In interviews outside the ballroom, executives explained that their companies aren’t looking to reduce hiring and replace jobs with robots, as many people think. Instead, they are actually looking for employees who understand how to use AI effectively and can bring immediate value. That shift is already influencing how employers think about entry-level talent.
“It’s hard to justify hiring young people fresh out of school who don’t bring immediate impact on day one,” said Ben Alingh, an SMU alum and co-founder of Monarch Energy. “If you can come in and know how to use these AI tools and kind of be our internal guru on that, that’s something I would hire in a heartbeat.”
For students and young professionals, the message was less about replacing careers and more about adapting.
Leaders emphasized that AI tools can accelerate productivity across industries, not just in engineering but also in many other roles. Learning how to use these tools and truly mastering them can create a significant advantage.
Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned Data Centers, said students should focus on building familiarity across all AI platforms rather than just one.
“Download all of them. Copilot, ChatGPT, use them all,” Schaap said. “I would say don’t be proficient in one but try different things with AI and become AI proficient.”
Schaap added that the real value of AI lies in how it is used, particularly when it comes to asking better and more complex questions.
“The generation that’s coming up, they’re going to have to know how to ask good questions, because the answers are all going to be there,” Schaap said.
Beyond the role of AI, the summit also highlighted what this moment means for SMU and Dallas. One industry map tracking data centers across North Texas puts the number of facilities in the area at more than 200, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported earlier this year that data center construction has far outpaced overall building activity since 2022, accounting for $10.8 billion in construction across Texas in 2025.
That level of growth is driving demand for a new wave of talent to support it, creating opportunities across both technical and non-technical roles.
“I think Dallas has a great opportunity to be the data center hub of the country,” Alingh said. “You need to have a university that’s feeding talent into the industry.”
For students already working at the intersection of technology and innovation, that shift feels immediate.
“Being in that environment showed how critical collaboration between startups, academia, and industry is, because the next wave of innovation will come from connecting research with real-world deployment,” said Panashe Siachitema, an SMU senior who volunteered at the event and is the founder of Appliwaste, an AI-powered sustainability startup focused on textile waste.
For SMU, hosting an event like this helps establish the university’s position in preparing students for that potential pipeline.
“To have industry representatives and leaders around the university opens up our minds and helps us think about where we should head,” SMU President Jay Hartzell said. “We know there are going to be jobs and opportunities here, and it’s a sector that’s going to need innovation and leadership.”