When Bella Peterson first joined the I-Corps program, she was a college student with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Through University of North Dakota’s Center for Innovation, Bella connected with Russell Schell of RJ Energy Solutions to assist him with customer discovery throughout the 5-week program. Originally, their technology focused on repurposing wasted heat from commercial kitchens to improve

What started as a need to improve online learning for his personal computer science studies soon led Kian Ansarinajed and his sister Melika to think bigger. “Initially, I needed a platform with the features I wanted—that was my first step. But, as I talked with friends and proceeded with customer discovery, I learned about the common challenges people faced while