Suffolk University • Sawyer Business School

ISOM 260: AI for Business

Master the technologies reshaping every industry. From neural networks to production AI systems — learn by building.

View Sessions Course Syllabus
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13
Sessions
5+
Hands-On Projects
40
Students
150
Min / Session
01 // COURSE SESSIONS

13-Week Journey

From AI fundamentals to building production applications.

01

Welcome to the AI Revolution

Course overview, expectations, and the landscape of AI in business today

IntroductionAI LandscapeCourse Overview
02

How AI Actually Works

From neurons to LLMs — demystifying the technology powering the AI revolution

Neural NetworksLLMsHands-On
03
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The Art of Prompt Engineering

Master the craft of communicating with AI — from techniques to API calls

Prompt DesignCRAFT FrameworkAPI IntegrationBuild Your First App
04

Building AI Products + Intro to AI Agents

Ship a real product in 50 minutes, build your first AI agent, then read production code

Product BuildingAI AgentsNanoClawTool UseShip Fast
05
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Agents Meet the Real World

Real APIs, error handling, memory — take your agents from simulated toys to production-ready tools

Real APIsError HandlingAgent MemoryWikipedia APIWeb Fetching
06

Agent Patterns & Production Intelligence

ReAct reasoning, multi-agent architectures, and the patterns that separate demos from production systems

ReAct PatternMulti-Agent SystemsMCPBusiness AutomationAgent Architecture
07

Knowledge Agents — RAG

Your agent is smart but doesn't know YOUR business — add company knowledge with Retrieval-Augmented Generation

RAGKnowledge AgentsDocument SearchLong ContextBusiness Data
08

Multi-Agent Systems in Practice

One agent is useful. A team of agents is powerful. Build pipelines, coordinate handoffs, and manage agent teams.

Multi-AgentPipelinesAgent CoordinationHandoffsSpecialization
09
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Agents for Your Industry

Pick your department. Build your agent. Apply everything you've learned to YOUR career.

Industry AgentsDomain-SpecificMarketingFinanceHROperations
10

Human-in-the-Loop & Agent Guardrails

The best agents know when to ask for help — approval gates, confidence thresholds, and production safety

GuardrailsHuman-in-the-LoopTrustProduction SafetyCost TrackingResponsible AI
11
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Testing & Evaluating Agents

If you can't measure it, you can't trust it — build test suites, run evaluations, and prove your agent works

TestingEvaluationLLM-as-JudgeQuality AssuranceSystematic Evaluation
12

Final Project Workshop

From notebook to product, from prototype to pitch — teams form, scope locks, and building begins

WorkshopFinal ProjectTeam FormationPrototypingArchitecture
13

Demo Day

Ship it — live demos, peer voting, and the culmination of your agentic AI journey

Demo DayPresentationsPeer VotingLive DemosCelebration
INSTRUCTOR

Meet Your Professor

Prof. Hasan Arslan, PhD

Chief AI Officer, Sawyer Business School · Associate Professor & Assistant Chair, ISOM

Leads AI integration across the Sawyer Business School. Specializes in AI-powered business solutions, prescriptive and predictive analytics, and operations management. Creator of the SAGE Framework and recipient of the 2025 Eduventures Innovation Award. PhD from MIT.

harslan@suffolk.edu harslan