2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This submission presents a transformative model for senior capstone education through the CS480 and CS481 courses at West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU-Tech), offered in Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. The program engages students from Computer Science & Information Systems (CS&IS) and Electrical Engineering (EE) in a year-long, project-based learning experience that emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation.
By framing the curriculum as infrastructure, the course embeds open-source ecosystems into its foundation, enabling students to interact with real-world technologies and platforms. Leveraging open-source platforms such as the National Research Platform (NRP), Chameleon Cloud, COSMOS, POWDER, and FABRIC—initiated and led by the instructor as Principal Investigator for WVU-Tech and WVU—students gain hands-on experience with advanced tools including Jupyter, Coder, AI/LLMs, Raspberry Pi, and FPGA integration. These resources empower students to explore real-world challenges through independent, creative projects.
A few student-led initiatives include:
• A Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)-based administrative platform for hardware monitoring and organizational efficiency visualization.
• A web-based financial advisory app using Blazor, C#, and MudBlazor, integrated with GitHub, SSMS, Azure/MS Entra, and potential hardware acceleration.
• An AI-driven steganographic malware detection system using PyTorch/TensorFlow, with a web frontend and a network testbed.
• A centralized student government website with club subpages, unified calendars, and subscription systems, offering future students site maintenance opportunities.
• Further projects investigate the potential of gaming and robotic technologies as effective tools for teaching and learning.
The course design incorporates insights from ATPSEC 2023 and collaborations with Argonne National Laboratory, enriching the curriculum with exascale computing and data science methodologies including cybersecurity and malware detection strategies inspired by student-led AI projects. This model aligns with ASEE’s mission to advance engineering education and offers a scalable, reproducible framework for integrating open-source and hardware technologies into undergraduate curricula, preparing students for emerging technological landscapes.
This curriculum also supports ABET accreditation outcomes by fostering competencies in problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and ethical responsibility—making it highly relevant for ASEE’s focus on advancing quality computer and engineering education.
The pedagogical approach centers on experiential and constructivist learning, where students actively build knowledge through hands-on engagement with open-source ecosystems. Additional projects explore how gaming theory and robotic concepts can be utilized not only as teaching tools but also as integrative strategies to help students apply foundational theories learned in lower-level courses. By incorporating these technologies, the course aims to enhance conceptual understanding and promote effective learning through interactive, application-driven experiences. Expected outcomes include the development of interdisciplinary technical competencies, project management skills, and innovation capacity. Assessment methods include milestone-based project evaluations, peer reviews, and final presentations judged by faculty and industry collaborators. We envision this course to elevate further by incorporating local startup companies and WV Public Media, providing students with hands-on experience through collaborative, community-driven projects.