2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

As students and faculty grapple with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education, it is imperative that universities stay up with the latest trends and capabilities to equip their students to function beyond the classroom. In this work, we introduce a variety of AI tools to an introductory thermodynamics course within a mechanical engineering curriculum. Students are taught AI fundamentals along with basic query techniques applied to engineering-relevant examples throughout the course. Varied applications of AI are utilized during many lessons of the course to increase comprehension of course learning objectives and content through finding relevant applications of course concepts, as well as studying for quizzes and exams. Additionally, specific AI concepts are applied to thermodynamic processes to understand AI’s broad use beyond generative large language models (LLMs) AI that permeate popular discourse. Student familiarity and sentiments regarding AI will be collected to understand how the course activities influenced their perceptions of AI’s utility in an engineering context. This study will also investigate how AI’s use in class impacted students’ sense of belonging and engagement, problem-solving abilities, and impression that the material was tailored to their needs. By exposing students to many facets of AI, with a focus on engineering applications, we seek to develop student capabilities utilizing AI in working through their academic and professional duties.