David Riel

From Capstone to Command: How One Educator Turned His Classroom Into a Launchpad for National Security Innovation

When David Riel first brought Hacking for Defense (H4D) to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the spring of 2021, the world and his classroom looked very different. COVID was at its peak, and his first cohort of students logged in from bedrooms and kitchen tables. But even over Zoom, something clicked.

“We were in beta mode,” Riel recalls. “I didn’t know what to expect. But the methodology fit right away. It gave my students exactly what they were looking for—something real, something urgent, something they could build.”

As both an educator and a seasoned advocate for experiential learning, Riel had long integrated business-facing capstones into his curriculum. But H4D offered something more: a window into the stakes of national defense, and a framework that married speed, rigor, and impact.

A Different Kind of Student

What sets his H4D students apart?

“They’re not chasing resumes. They’re chasing real-world exposure,” he says. “They’re here for the experience, for the tools, for the mission. They want to build, not just in theory, but in reality.”

At CMU, that spirit is infectious. The program just ran its biggest class to date. And the way Riel kicks off every semester is exciting and infectious too. Each cohort begins with a multi-stakeholder customer discovery workshop that forces students into the deep end. It's a sprint through ambiguity, with real-world constraints, and that’s exactly the point.

A Moment That Still Gives Him Chills

Ask Riel what stays with him, and he doesn’t hesitate.

Fall 2024. A student team partnered with a U.S. Army sponsor based in Germany, working on a high-stakes problem: how to differentiate friendly and enemy forces in the field. They flew to Europe, connected with military stakeholders on the ground, and began mapping an MVP for identity tracking across current technologies.

“It was one of those projects where the spark was real,” he says. “You could see the students light up. For most of them, it was their first time thinking seriously about working with or inside government. It opened a door.”

Opening New World, For Students and Faculty Alike

Riel’s private-sector background gave him fluency in the language of markets and startups. H4D reoriented his view. “This work exposed me and my students to an entire ecosystem we hadn’t engaged with before. The problem sponsors, the pace, the seriousness. It’s not just another class. It’s a mindset shift.”

And that mindset has compounding power. The more engaged the sponsors, the more trust gets built. The more trust, the more momentum. “Get one out of six projects to the next level? That’s a success,” he says. “Because the skills, the confidence, the strategic thinking, and the grit carry forward.”

Where He Wants It All to Go

When asked where he sees this movement in five years, Riel doesn’t flinch.

“I’d like to see it reach the level of Stanford. Not just in reputation, but in reach. I want more colleges, more departments, more demand. This isn’t just pedagogy. It’s a life skill.”

For Riel, the course has become a living, evolving piece of work. “I’m constantly thinking about how to make it better. More rigorous. More transformative.”

And he’s not doing it alone. This spring, CMU partnered with the University of Pittsburgh to co-host their kickoff discovery workshop. This is proof that the movement is growing, and cross-campus collaboration is becoming the norm.

From the Classroom to the Mission

David Riel doesn’t just teach innovation. He trains defenders and builders.

And like so many CMP educators, he’s proving that the future of national security doesn’t just live in DC. It lives in classrooms across the country, where mission-driven student builders are learning how to solve the problems that matter.