Project: Capstone Team Formation and Project Assignment Tool
Overview
The Design Lab offers “Multidisciplinary Capstone Design” as the culminating project-based experience for students in Computer Systems, Electrical, Industrial, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering. In this course, students work in teams to solve an open-ended real world multi-disciplinary engineering design problem. Each semester, over 100 students across four course sections are assigned to capstone projects, with each project staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of 6 or 7 students. These projects vary widely in scope, technical requirements, and expected outcomes, making the matching process complex and time consuming. This project will develop an AI-powered software tool to automate and optimize the student-to-project assignment process.
Work description
The student intern will develop software tools that will leverage Machine Learning (ML), optimization and natural language processing (NLP) to extract, interpret, and triangulate student competencies from unstructured data sources. The tool will map these competencies to project requirements and generate optimized, data-driven matches. The proposed solution is expected to automate this process to best match students’ interest and experience with projects. The project will be supervised and supported by the Design Lab team.
Eligibility: Applicants must be senior-level undergraduate students or higher.
Preferred Skills & Interest:
- Programming: Proficiency in Python for data processing and implementing ML and NLP techniques.
- Data Handling & Machine Learning: Knowledge of data preprocessing, and machine learning techniques for designing matching algorithms.
- Natural Language Processing: Experience with text extraction, parsing, and semantic analysis of unstructured data to identify skills, experience, and interests.
Duration: 3 months, ~20 hours/ week
Period: May 15th, 2026 – Aug 15th, 2026
Pay: $18/Hr
To apply: Send your resumes with cover letter to Valerie Masterson, mastev@rpi.edu
