2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper describes one instructor’s first approach at integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in course design and the generation of multi-faceted case studies and assignments. The course, Energy Systems, is an elective course for upperclassmen in undergraduate Mechanical Engineering. Topics covered include power generation (fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, hydro, and wind), as well as emerging technologies, local and global trends, sustainability, and policy related to the energy sector. The course materials require significant updates with each offering to stay current with the swiftly changing energy landscape. To update the course materials and assignments for the latest offering of this course, the instructor utilized AI (Microsoft CoPilot) to help generate new case studies that included the traditional, technical engineering analysis found in many textbooks, as well as considerations for sustainability, policy/regulations, and the impact on the local community. Assignments were created to better align with the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) framework to further integrate sustainability concepts and challenge students with more robust engineering analysis and decision-making. The instructor also compared course outlines from previous offerings with topics suggested by the generative AI software to evaluate alternatives to the traditional course calendar. This paper includes sample AI prompts, modifications to prompts, and the resulting output. The results include a discussion of erroneous information generated by AI and identify course design elements that were made more robust with the assistance of AI. Instructor feedback highlights perceived benefits and challenges from a first experience using AI as a course preparation tool.