Carlson Students’ Recommendation Creates New Express Bus

Minnesota Carlson’s Impact Lab puts undergraduate students in the driver’s seat — and, by recommending a newly created express bus route, these students have proven they can get fast results.

The students recommended the new express bus as part of a project aimed at increasing engagement on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus. University officials liked the students’ data-driven idea so much that they launched the new Campus Express Route 126 just three months after the students’ presentation.

The new bus route, which Parking and Transportation Services launched in March, makes fewer stops between the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses, cutting travel time in half.

“It honestly feels a little surreal,” says Liann Khaleel, a senior who worked on the project with five other students. “You would never think what happens within a classroom could translate to a tangible change on campus. It’s cool to see our project being realized.”

The student team studied St. Paul campus engagement and developed this recommendation as part of their Fall 2025 semester project for Impact Lab, a two-course sequence required for undergraduates. Impact Lab teaches problem-solving methodologies for students to use on real client projects.

In this case, working with the University as their client, the students made a difference in their own community. “It definitely gives me a sense of newfound confidence in myself that I am capable of making change and my voice does matter as a student,” says Khaleel, who is co-majoring in Management Information Systems and Business Analytics.

UMN Director of Local Government and Community Relations Tina Erazmus, who was the students’ client contact, says it only makes sense to seek insights and data-driven recommendations from students.

“Their ideas are grounded in their lived experience, so that gives them a unique ability to see the challenges from a fresh and insightful perspective, which I always find valuable,” Erazmus says. “This is such an amazing class because it is really giving these young adults real-world experience working with clients. Their presentation and the final product were top-notch.”

To research their recommendation, the Impact Lab team conducted a student survey that revealed “distance and transportation” as a barrier to accessing resources on the St. Paul campus, Khaleel says. Because the team members themselves were more familiar with Minneapolis, where Carlson is located, they also toured the St. Paul campus and spoke with some stakeholders directly.

In addition to helping her apply research and problem-solving skills, Khaleel says this project taught her a lot about stakeholder management and how to translate data into a tangible recommendation.

“You have to think about, ‘How do you work with a client? How do you manage expectations, and how do you align your vision with their vision?’ That was something I was able to practice,” she says.

Senior Lecturer Matt Ladhoff, who teaches Impact Lab, is thrilled to see his students’ recommendation implemented by the University so quickly. He adds that this project is just one of many in the Impact Lab where students gain real-world business experiences that will help them navigate their future careers.

“In any job, our students are going to have to adapt to the environment. They’re going to have to be responsive to whatever problem arises and be continually reprioritizing, reevaluating, and able to conduct analysis on the spot,” Ladhoff says. “The goal of this class is to prepare them by simulating that.”