2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Student Perceptions and Use of Generative AI Tools in Engineering and Computing Classes

Presented at Computers in Education (CoED): Learning, Engagement & Inclusion (1 of 9) -- M308B

This paper explores students' utilization and perception of generative AI tools in an academic environment. Students' perceptions regarding the utility of these tools for various engineering and computing workflows, including research, code generation, and text generation are individually assessed. In addition, perceptions regarding students' trust and perceived value within their coursework are also assessed. Comparative results are presented for an identical survey administered across three nearby institutions (one R1 university, one emerging research university, and one community college).

Authors

Dr. Henry Griffith Alamo Colleges District
Dr. Heena Rathore http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-9403-8071 Texas State University [biography]

Heena Rathore is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Prior to that, she was a visiting assistant professor at Texas A&M University. She also worked as a Research Scientist and Program Manager at Hiller Measurements for couple of years. Prior to that, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher for US-Qatar Joint Collaborative Project between Temple University, USA, University of Idaho, USA and Qatar University. Also, she was a visiting scholar for Wichita State University. She received her Ph.D. (with distinction) in Computer Science and Engineering Department while she was a Tata Consultancy Services Research Scholar at Indian Institute of Technology, India. She received her bachelor’s in Computer Science Engineering from College of Technology and Engineering in 2010 with Honors. She has also worked professionally as Design Executive with Phosphate India Private Limited and academically as Guest/Assistant Professor with the University of Texas, Austin and SS College of Engineering, India respectively. She has been the winner of a number of prestigious awards including IEEE Achievements Award, Young Engineer Award, Global Engineering Impact Award and Graphical System Design Achievement Award. She has published more than 30 papers in peer reviewed journals and conferences in her field and is the sole author of Mapping Biological Systems to Network Systems (Springer). She was also featured on TedX, Qatar held by TedXAlDafnaEd in Qatar and her work is covered in professional and major trade publications, major media, such as Microwave Journal, Everything RF, Financial Express, Science Reporter, the Times of India, and India Today. She is IEEE senior member, Vice Chair of IEEE EMBS chapter in San Antonio and IEEE Central Texas Section in Austin. Her research interests include cyber physical systems, deep learning, machine learning, security, cryptocurrency, distributed systems, wireless networks biologically inspired systems and software defined networks.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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