Still only a junior at Ohio State, Reed Kroeger doesn’t pretend to have his entire future mapped out, but he admits he’d love to be sitting in the C-suite of a company one day. Leading a team, serving customers, developing a vision.

But that’s years from now.

“I’m still curious and I’m learning,” said Kroeger, a third-year logistics management student in the Fisher College of Business. “Right now, I just want to get as much experience and exposure to people as possible.”

He knew Ohio State offered that, and he’s taken full advantage of it through internships, student organizations, a business fraternity and working as a teacher’s assistant.

But one of the most eye-opening experiences was Vince Castillo’s supply chain course that features AI fully integrated into the curriculum.

“Reading the syllabus,” Reed said, “I was shocked. But it’s cool.”

The class features a chatbot called Supply Chain Brutus that acts as a virtual mentor for students, featuring Castillo’s textbook and course materials. Students learn tools for making good decisions about business operations. Though few enter with programming experience, by the end they’re creating interactive supply chain maps using descriptive analytics and chatbots.  

“It was definitely intimidating at first, it’s a totally different way of learning using this AI tool alongside you,” Reed said. “But it keeps you on track to what’s relevant to class. It’s a good tool, it’s an assistant helping you develop your education.”

Though Reed often uses AI, he views it as a supplemental tool. Supply Chain Brutus, for example, is a great clarifying tool and keeps him focused on what matters most to the course. He’s also become incredibly adept at prompt engineering for focused results.

“The most important thing is learning how to talk with it,” he said. “Prompt engineering is very important. I think that’s what’s intimidating and what scares a lot of people.”

And Ohio State’s willingness to embrace AI through its AI Fluency initiative is something Reed loves.

“It makes me really proud to be a Buckeye, that we’re on the cutting edge of AI,” he said. “It’s a really intimidating new world. We’re living in but in times of uncertainty. But instead of backing down, it’s best to explore.

“We’re taking advantage of this uncertain time. I’m desperate to learn how to be creative with AI and that’s what will make students successful, learning creative solutions. That’s where success starts.”

Why Ohio State?

“It was Ohio State’s network. It’s a large university, there’s a big reach and their alumni network is great. That was a big pull for me. There’s so many opportunities here to get involved and put things on your resume. I’ve just been ambitious and asked myself, ‘why not?’ That’s been my biggest reason for success.”

An important experience at Ohio State:

“One of my best friends passed away earlier this year, it was obviously devastating. But the resources Ohio State had available to us were unbelievable. I’ve never felt so supported in a time of tragedy, how quickly and how responsive Ohio State was to my needs. And I think that’s a benefit of going to a big university like Ohio State, the counseling services were very beneficial to me.”