Postdoctoral Scholar, Bentonville Institute of Technology

Art and Wellness Enterprises (AWE) is a professional services organization supporting non-profits founded by Alice Walton, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Art Bridges Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Momentary, and Heartland Whole Health Institute.

Job Description:

Job Title: Postdoctoral Scholar

Reports to: Provost and Chief Academic Officer (day-to-day guidance from an assigned faculty mentor)

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (On-site)

About Bentonville Institute of Technology

Bentonville Institute of Technology (BIT) is a new higher education institution being developed in Bentonville, Arkansas to advance new models of STEM education and workforce development. The university is designed to deliver a flexible, experiential educational model that combines rigorous STEM instruction with an entrepreneurial and business-infused mindset.

The institution will focus on areas such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, mobility, health technology, energy systems, and entrepreneurship. Through strong partnerships with industry and regional organizations, the University aims to prepare students with practical, high-demand skills needed for the evolving knowledge economy.

The university will develop a distinctive educational model based on experiential learning, stackable credentials, flexible entry and exit pathways, and strong industry engagement. The University plans to enroll its first undergraduate class in 2029 and establish a new national model for innovative STEM higher education. Additional information about the university’s founding vision can be found here: https://www.bentonvilleinstituteoftechnology.org/

Initially, faculty and staff will be hired by Art and Wellness Enterprises and immersed in a broader ecosystem on the Crystal Bridges Campus for Art and Wellness, providing shared operational services and subject matter expertise, in close proximity to the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM).

Founding Context

• •BIT is being built without legacy departments or an inherited curriculum. The working academic model is a three-year, 120-credit baccalaureate with a substantial shared academic foundation and four concentration areas – Mobility Systems, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Health Systems, and Energy Systems – developed within a shared academic identity rather than as departmental silos.
• •BIT is planning toward an inaugural undergraduate class in Fall 2029. Postdoctoral scholars join in early 2027, while courses, studios, laboratories, policies, and organizational structures are still being designed, and help shape how technical depth, projects, AI, business, entrepreneurship, human-centered design, communication, and systems thinking come together in one coherent student journey.
• •BIT’s graduates are meant to become Builders of Intelligent Systems – people who integrate technical knowledge, AI and data, human-centered design, systems thinking, business and entrepreneurship, communication, teamwork, and real-world implementation.
• •BIT is pre-accreditation and pre–Title IV. Accreditation eligibility filing preparation runs fiscal years 2027–2028, with candidacy targeted before the founding undergraduate cohort enrolls in Fall 2029. Curriculum maps, assessment designs, and evidence of learning developed by postdoctoral scholars feed directly into institutional approval and accreditation readiness.
• •BIT is an artificial intelligence (AI)-native institution – AI is woven into how the institution teaches, operates, and serves students. Postdoctoral scholars are expected to use AI tools fluently in teaching, curriculum development, and scholarship, and to help students build sound judgment about using AI in technical work.

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Scholar is a full-time, fixed-term developmental appointment for emerging scholars and practitioners who want to grow as educators, applied researchers, and institution builders. Working with faculty mentors and interdisciplinary colleagues, postdoctoral scholars design and test courses, studios, projects, assessments, and learning experiences for BIT’s business-infused, AI-enabled, project-based model, in which students learn by building real solutions to real problems.

Each postdoctoral scholar also pursues a defined program of scholarship, technical practice, curriculum research, or applied project work aligned with their field and BIT’s mission. Once the university opens, postdoctoral scholars teach or co-teach under the guidance of an assigned faculty mentor.

This is a builder role and a developmental appointment. It is not tenure-track. Each scholar has an assigned mentor and an individual development plan, with expectations for teaching, scholarship or professional practice, institutional contribution, evaluation, renewal, and professional development set in writing at the start of the appointment. Completion of the appointment does not guarantee a continuing or faculty position at BIT; postdoctoral scholars may apply for future openings through BIT’s established recruitment processes.

Success in this role requires disciplinary depth, a genuine commitment to undergraduate learning, comfort working across fields, and the energy to build while structures are still taking shape.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Discipline Focus

Each Postdoctoral Scholar contributes to one or more of the following discipline focus areas based on their expertise and assigned scope.

• •Computing, AI, and Intelligent Systems – Develop curriculum and applied work in programming, software systems, data, AI and machine learning, and intelligent-system development, helping students move from computational concepts to reliable working systems, and position computing and AI as enabling capabilities across all concentrations.
• •Mathematics, Modeling, and Quantitative Systems – Build the mathematical and quantitative foundations for BIT’s project-based technical curriculum, connecting mathematics to modeling, computation, data, optimization, uncertainty, and real-world decisions, with pathways that support students entering at varied levels of preparation.
• •Mobility Systems – Develop learning experiences and projects in the design, integration, testing, and operation of mobility systems, treating vehicles, autonomy, logistics, infrastructure, users, and energy as one integrated system.
• •Robotics and Autonomous Systems – Develop hands-on experiences in which students design, build, program, test, and improve physical intelligent systems, connecting sensing, actuation, controls, embedded systems, perception, AI, and safety.
• •Health Systems – Develop learning experiences and projects on technologies, data, devices, and processes that improve health and healthcare delivery, integrating technical design with safety, ethics, evidence, workflow, regulation, and implementation.
• •Energy Systems – Develop projects in energy generation, conversion, storage, distribution, controls, and intelligent energy management, connecting technical, economic, environmental, and infrastructure considerations.
• •Design, Making, and Systems Integration – Develop studios and multidisciplinary projects that take students from human needs and technical requirements to prototypes, tested systems, and implemented solutions.

Teaching and Student Learning

• •Develop undergraduate courses, studios, laboratories, projects, and other learning experiences aligned with the scholar’s expertise and BIT’s evolving academic needs.
• •Design rigorous, engaging activities in which students apply knowledge to authentic problems, systems, prototypes, and implementation challenges.
• •Develop approaches for mentoring students as emerging builders, strengthening technical capability, judgment, communication, teamwork, persistence, and professional practice.
• •Develop assessment approaches that gather and use evidence of