In this episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Ronan Shultz, a finance student at the University of Utah, to explore how students are actually using AI to learn, build, and move faster than traditional systems allow. This conversation offers a grounded, student-first perspective on what AI adoption really looks like on the ground.

Ronan shares how AI has become a personalized learning partner—helping him translate ideas into code, accelerate research, and tackle projects that would typically require years of experience. Rather than replacing effort, he describes a continuous feedback loop between himself, AI, and his professors—where critical thinking and validation remain essential to the process.

The episode also highlights a growing disconnect between how students are using AI outside the classroom and how it’s being addressed within it. For educators and administrators, this conversation is a reminder that students are already building with these tools—and that the opportunity now is to shift from controlling usage to guiding it.