2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Integrating Generative AI Tools into the Capstone Course

Presented at ECE-Applications of AI and ChatGPT in Engineering Education

Engineering capstone courses increasingly integrate entrepreneurial principles to bridge the gap between technical expertise and market-driven innovation. However, managing these courses—especially in smaller programs—poses significant challenges, including guiding students through problem definition, customer discovery, and engineering design, all within limited class time. To address these hurdles, we introduce CAPCHAT, an AI-powered Capstone Guide Chatbot, designed to assist students in refining their engineering and marketing requirements. By leveraging generative AI, CAPCHAT provides real-time feedback, enhances project planning, and ensures a structured approach to design validation. This paper presents the development, implementation, and evaluation of CAPCHAT in an electrical engineering capstone course. We analyze its impact on student learning, compare project outcomes between AI-assisted and traditional approaches, and explore faculty perspectives on AI integration. Our findings highlight the potential of AI-driven tools in transforming capstone education, improving project quality, and fostering innovation while maintaining ethical and pedagogical integrity.

Authors

Dr. Farid Farahmand http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9610-4901 Sonoma State University [biography]

Farid Farahmand is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science at
Sonoma State University, CA, where he teaches Advanced Networking and Digital Systems. He
is also the director of Advanced Internet Technology in the Interests of Society Laboratory.
Farid's research interests are optical networks, applications of wireless sensor network technology
to medical fields, delay tolerant networks. He is also interested in educational technologies and
authored many papers focusing on eLearning and Active Learning models.
Shivakumar Mathapathi Northeastern University, Silicon Valley Campus [biography]

Shivakumar Mathapathi is an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University as well at UC San Diego, Extension.Shivakumar has been a passionate educator for nearly 25 years of industry experience with a strong desire to help students recognize the connection between learning and industry needs. His teaching and research areas include the foundation course in software development, internet of things (IoT), machine learning (ML) , artificial intelligence (AI) and privacy, security and usability. He has authored numerous articles published in prestigious journals, including IEEE, and various conferences, such as NIST Smart City projects. Shivakumar is the co-editor of two recent publications from Springer; Emergent Converging Technologies and Biomedical Systems ETBS 21 and Soft Computing for Intelligent Systems ICSCS2020.

Shivakumar is the co-founder of Xtrans Solutions LLC, which is a leading company in establishing center of excellence (CoE) assisting higher education focusing on research and development projects on IoT and machine learning cutting edge solutions. He is also co-mentoring few research programs in collaboration with Next Generation Internet Transatlantic Fellowship program supported by European Commission.

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