Memphis native Dr. Nathaniel Phillips looks to strengthen local workforce through Polytechnic@UofM's Department of Applied Technology
September 30, 2026
Dr. Nate Phillips grew up in Memphis and always stayed close to his hometown professionally and academically, traveling to Starkville, Mississippi, for his PhD before returning to Bluff City as a professor of teaching at Rhodes College. At 38, Phillips entered the next chapter of his life and career this fall semester as an assistant professor of teaching and graduate program coordinator in the Polytechnic@UofM’s Department of Applied Technology.
“I like Memphis for a lot of different reasons,” Phillips said. “My parents and my wife’s parents both live here. It’s nice to have them nearby and be able to visit, but I also like the city for the energy it has. It’s got a specific kind of unique character. There are definitely some things Memphis struggles with, but developing and fostering entrepreneurship and creativity is something I see springing in Memphis as a city and I really like that.”
A graduate of Christian Brothers University, instructing his fellow Memphians holds a special significance for Phillips, especially those looking to take their careers to the next level. That’s the focus of the Polytechnic@UofM: giving people the tools they need to grow in their profession, whether through practical, hands-on job skills or an understanding of how to use artificial intelligence to take their craft to the next level.
“A lot of people here are looking for the next thing to do,” Phillips said. “They’re like, ‘Hey, you know, I don’t like my job. How can I find a better job?’ Or, ‘I’m looking for a job. How do I get there?’ I see our role here at the University of Memphis as providing those skills that they need. This is what you need to do. This is how you need to approach it to find the next thing, whatever that may be.”
Specifically, Phillips’ courses focus on concepts like how generative AI can assist with programming and visualization, a subject that anyone, regardless of educational background, can become familiar with through the Polytechnic@UofM’s AI for All minor. In Spring 2027, Phillips plans to take that instruction further with a graduate course on AI.
“AI for All takes people and says, ‘Okay, now what is your philosophy of use around AI? Let’s develop this. Let’s think about this. How do we introduce bias into these systems? What problems arise? What is it really good at, and how are we going to incorporate this into our way of doing things? Then, on the higher end, next semester you’ll have my graduate course on AI, which is going to focus a lot more on logistic development. We understand generative AI, and we understand how it works in a very broad sense. Now, how are you going to use that to solve complex problems, create automation and workflows that will work for you and keep supporting you in your job cycle?” Phillips said.
For Phillips, the answer lies in augmented reality. His research focuses on developing an integrated system that allows participants to see through solid walls. For instance, Phillips envisions a device like a virtual reality headset that would let firefighters see into a burning house and, based on a robot-provided rendering of the inside, tell whether anyone is inside or what obstacles they may face upon entry.
“I’ve looked into the question of how accurately, in augmented reality, we can judge distance to something that’s just a virtual object… If we could put on a headset and see a virtual window into a closed-off room, would we be able to judge that distance accurately? My research found out that it seems like we can judge distance accurately.
“The question my research was asking is: in augmented reality, which is a more complicated picture, how accurately can we judge these distances, even to fairly simple things such as a virtual cylinder target?” Phillips said.
But Phillips doesn’t spend all of his time exploring a virtual world. He has a very real family at home, including a two-and-a-half-year-old child and another child he and his wife welcomed just two months ago.
“I love spending time with them, playing on the playgrounds. That’s a big part of how I interact outside of here,” Phillips said. “I also enjoy things like reading and playing video games, but there’s been a little less of that with a one-month-old running around.”
Outside of academia and parenting, Phillips finds time to fence at Memphis University School and often competes in tournaments. He said the problem-solving abilities he applies in the classroom make him a better competitor.
“You’re thinking about your next step. You’re thinking about what’s going to happen and you’re making a plan. So, to me, I guess, the correlation I draw is that in fencing you’re focused on one outcome; you have an opponent and a back-and-forth exchange. School, in some ways, is kind of like that. Really, life is like that. You’re trying to get to a specific outcome or to a specific plan, like understanding programming or being able to use AI effectively. And there are going to be obstacles that appear, things that make it harder. What are you going to do to get around them? What strategies are you going to implement? How are you going to be able to use your curiosity to bridge this gap?” Phillips said.
Phillips hopes to help his students find that answer in their studies. He looks forward to watching the light spark in their eyes at the end of the semester when they look back and realize how far they have come.
“That’s what I want to leave my students with, and that’s kind of how I define success; just kind of being able to look back at the end of this semester and see the bridge that has been built. And from that bridge, see the next bridge and realize, ‘Wow, I did all of this in a semester. I can do so much more, or I have the potential to do so much. I can use computer science to build some really fascinating apps. I can use generative AI to really streamline my work schedule.’ You know, those sorts of realizations, I really like those,” Phillips said.