STRAMGT546

RDI Foundations is a hands-on, applied course that teaches RDI as a method for developing a prepared mind-building deep industry understanding, uncovering non-obvious problems, and identifying meaningful opportunities. A core emphasis of the course is learning to rigorously leverage AI tools within the RDI process to enhance and accelerate learning. This course is ideal for students interested in entrepreneurship or career advancement and serves as the required foundation for the follow-on RDI course focused on conducting original research.The course prioritizes learning how to do RDI well and how to apply it to an area of exploration, using highly interactive class time that includes short lectures, live demonstrations, guided exercises, and laptop-open working sessions focused on AI-enabled research, interviewing, synthesis, and sensemaking. Students will learn to: Leverage AI tools effectively across multiple phases of the RDI process to enhance research quality and accelerate progress, Quickly build foundational fluency through secondary research, Conduct high-quality, curiosity-driven research conversations, Synthesize qualitative inputs into patterns, hypotheses, and points of view. By the end of the course, students will have completed foundational RDI work in their chosen domain (primer, stakeholder map, interview targets, outreach materials) and will enter the follow-on course with momentum. Completion of this course is required for enrollment in the follow-on RDI research course.