About
Our company
Our mission is to foster innovation in AI technologies by giving students and recent graduates
hands-on experience building cutting-edge solutions. They may come from any university or college
in Utah. Recent graduates are welcome, including those who have not yet found a position.
Solutions that demonstrate commercial potential are paired with founders to bring them to market.
Founding teams may include student volunteers with the required skills and drive, as well as
early-stage entrepreneurs. Founders and investors may earn or purchase a majority ownership
position in the venture.
Utah AI Lab provides mentorship, support, and access to resources including technology, financing,
supply chain expertise, technical specialists, and business networks.
We seek students and recent graduates who want deep, practical experience building AI agents and
related technologies. A student volunteer may later become a founder if they desire the challenge
and experience. We also welcome early-stage entrepreneurs who want to launch promising AI-enabled
commercial solutions.
Dave Norwood
Associate Professor & Technology Executive Dave Norwood is an entrepreneur, technology executive, and Associate Professor of Information Systems at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. He has founded and grown multiple technology companies, building businesses from startup through successful exits.
Dave brings that entrepreneurial experience to Utah AI Lab, where he helps connect students, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to turn promising AI ideas into commercial ventures. His focus is on identifying real business problems, helping student teams develop AI-enabled prototypes, and moving the most promising solutions from prototype to company.
With decades of experience spanning technology, business, cybersecurity, and higher education, Dave is particularly interested in the rapidly evolving potential of AI agents and other AI-enabled technologies to transform how organizations operate and compete.
At Utah AI Lab, his goal is to combine student talent, practical AI development, experienced founders, and access to capital and industry resources to create something more than classroom projects: scalable AI solutions with the potential to become successful companies.
Carson Pyle
AI Technologist & Instructor Carson Pyle is an AI technologist, researcher, and instructor at the University of Utah focused on building practical applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning. His work spans large language models, AI agents, multimodal models, predictive analytics, and AI-enabled software platforms.
Carson has led the development of AI and machine-learning initiatives at the University of Utah, including intelligent learning systems, custom language models, and analytics platforms designed to solve real operational problems. He also works closely with students through teaching, research, capstone projects, and AI competitions, helping them translate emerging technologies into working solutions.
At Utah AI Lab, Carson brings deep technical expertise to the process of turning business problems into AI prototypes. He helps student teams evaluate technologies, architect and build solutions, and rapidly test whether an idea can deliver meaningful value.
His experience includes bridging the gap between what is technically possible with AI and what can become a useful, scalable, and commercially viable product.
Darren Wesemann
Technology Executive & Crimson Projects Director Darren Wesemann is a technology executive, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor with four decades of experience building and scaling enterprise software businesses. He has served in executive leadership roles including CEO, President, CTO, and CPO across eleven companies and has helped build and manage more than 600 software and services products worldwide.
Darren also founded and directs the University of Utah’s Crimson Projects program, where graduate students gain hands-on experience in AI, data analytics, software development, and product management while solving real business problems.
At Utah AI Lab, Darren focuses on helping promising AI solutions make the transition from prototype to product and ultimately to scalable businesses. He brings extensive experience in product strategy, market validation, enterprise software, executive leadership, and commercialization across industries including healthcare, higher education, commercial real estate, and financial services.
His focus is turning innovative technology into products customers value, and helping teams build the strategy, discipline, and organization required to take those products to market and scale.
James Reilly
Technologist, Inventor & Educator James Reilly is a technologist, inventor, entrepreneur, and educator whose career has centered on developing new technologies and exploring how they can be transformed into useful products and businesses.
His experience spans technology innovation, intellectual property, product development, and entrepreneurship, giving him a perspective shaped by both the opportunities and challenges of bringing new ideas to market. He brings that experience to his work with students and entrepreneurs, with an emphasis on creative problem solving, experimentation, and building technology that delivers meaningful value.
At Utah AI Lab, James focuses on identifying promising ideas, exploring novel applications of AI, and helping teams think beyond the obvious solution. He works with students and founders as they move from an initial concept through experimentation, prototype development, and the creation of intellectual property with commercial potential.
His interest in Utah AI Lab is straightforward: use his experience to help talented people build worthwhile things, and create opportunities for students, entrepreneurs, and the broader community along the way.
Kevin Welsh
Lab Operator Kevin Welsh operates the lab. Each incoming problem becomes a statement of work, a student team, and a deadline; the outcome is a founder or a decision to pass. He keeps that loop moving.
