2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in both classrooms and workplaces has grown significantly in recent years. Students who lack education and experience in AI risk being left behind in this technological revolution. Therefore, it is more important than ever for students to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively use AI and understand its impact. In response to this growing need, several lectures were delivered in a chemical engineering capstone design course offered by the [Name] at the [University] which exposes students to two AI and machine learning tools developed at Georgia Tech — Polymer Genome (PG) and PolyBERT (PB). The goal was to how these AI and machine learning tools can assist in polymer processing and in predicting or understanding general polymer properties. The lectures were divided into several sections, including understanding the differences between AI and machine learning; learning how to use Polymer Genome and PolyBERT; comparing results from these tools to more general AI software such as ChatGPT; and exploring real-world applications of the PG and PB software. To demonstrate student learning, the students completed a short polymer project that incorporated the use of the software tools in real-world scenarios.
Surveys were used to assess student interest and the effectiveness of this activity. Generally, the students thought that this short introduction to the use of AI gave them something they could talk to employers about when asked the question “tell me what you have done in AI?”. They also found it useful that AI could allow them to design polymers to be used in ASPEN simulations. Although the technology was used in the capstone design project, it could be equally used in many other classes such as polymer processing, materials, or even fluids. We plan on making course content available upon request for anyone that wants to build on this approach.