GO STEM Names Elaine Swanson as AI and Technology Educator to Lead Rural Workforce Initiatives

GO STEM Names Elaine Swanson as AI and Technology Educator to Lead Rural Workforce Initiatives

LA GRANDE, Ore. – Eastern Oregon University and the Greater Oregon STEM Hub (GO STEM) are proud to announce the appointment of Elaine Swanson as the region’s new Technology Workforce Exploration Educator. In this Future Ready Oregon-funded role, Swanson will lead AI and technology workforce initiatives across Eastern Oregon.

In her new position, Swanson will travel throughout the GO STEM region, which encompasses Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Grant, and Harney counties, engaging with middle and high school students on tech career opportunities and with educators on integrating AI into their classrooms. 

“AI is becoming a part of nearly every sector we rely on in our conventional society, and rural communities are no exception,” Swanson said. “Take the agricultural sector: John Deere, CAT, and Reinke have been working on integration into their factories and products for over two years now. These technologies are vital for Eastern Oregon’s economy.” 

Like most technologies, Swanson says, “There is a large divide between those who use them and those who understand how they work.” She aims to close that divide by preparing local students and teachers with the curiosity and skepticism needed for its development and use. “There’s no reason AI hardware experts or computational engineers can’t come from places like Frenchglen or Pilot Rock. It all comes down to exposure and a little bravery.”

Swanson, a Baker High graduate (2009) from Sumpter and Baker City, earned a degree in Applied Computation from Harvard. There, she worked with Baker Valley Irrigation District to develop a model that generates 90-day water volume forecasts for Phillips Reservoir using satellite snow imagery from the Elkhorn Mountains and Hydromet data from Mason Dam. The model applied a gated recurrent unit AI algorithm. Her findings are slated for publication in 2026.

“Near the end of my first semester, the ChatGPT-3.5 tool was released to the public,” she recalls. “The coding and mathematical architecture behind it was exactly what I was studying. For the first time in my life, it felt like I was at the forefront of something transformative.”

At GO STEM, Swanson will lead efforts to integrate AI into rural education. She will support teacher professional development, advise on AI applications in math and agriculture, and connect middle and high school students with career pathways in agricultural technology.

“In GO STEM’s seven counties, USDA data shows that our agricultural producers generate a combined market value of $1.7 billion in products per year, and that 65% of those producers are 55 years or older,” she says. “What is this industry going to look like in 15 years? I don’t want our rising generations to be left in the dark.”

Swanson also examines the infrastructural impact of AI on rural areas. “AI depends on water, land, and energy,” she says. “It needs a physical footprint, and rural regions like ours are hosting more of that infrastructure. Just look at Boardman and The Dalles.” She encourages communities to engage directly in shaping how they benefit from big tech investments.

“I think a lot of people mix up AI with the data centers that power it. AI itself is syntax and math; the actual training and usage happen in server farms located inside data centers. That is where water is treated and used to cool the machinery. When people express concern about AI, they’re often reacting to the very real environmental cost of processing and storing data at this scale. Yes, it costs water and electricity to ask AI for something. It also costs water and electricity to scroll through your social media accounts or use a streaming service. Every digital move you make has a cost; AI just makes that cost harder to ignore.”

Swanson embraces these contradictions inherent in technology and society. 

“Technology is changing faster than the public thinks. Classical computing as we know it is going the way of the dodo,” she jokes. “The internet became publicly available in 1993, and today it’s completely mainstream. My generation can’t simultaneously be the product of innovation and avoid responsibility for where it is headed. We need to become leaders and contribute to developing leaders.”

Originally bound for a USDA role in D.C., Swanson saw her path shift back home due to the federal firings. 

“Eastern Oregon really came through for me when I needed it. I’m grateful for the work with GO STEM and as the new ditch runner for Baker Valley Irrigation District.” 

Even with these big-picture concerns, she falls back to thinking in terms of place and community. 

“I’ve missed my mountain peaks and the slower pace of life here for sure,” she says. “But this area can be isolating if you’re not focused on marriage or kids. So I’m excited to hit the road and connect with students and teachers across our counties.”

For more information about GO STEM and to schedule Swanson for programming at your school, visit www.go-stem.org and contact her directly at swansoce@eou.edu. She is available for career-connected learning in agriculture and math classrooms, community lectures, and professional development for educators.