School of Computing students gain experience through year-long capstone projects

Clients included Capgemini, Delta Air Lines, Gulfstream Aerospace, NASA

 By Susan Ambrosetti

Throughout the 2025 academic year, computer science students, together with their counterparts in various engineering majors, participated in a year-long capstone design course with projects ranging from tire tread measurements and soil sensors and farm data to self-serve computer training with manager dashboards and traffic light sensors for clients including Capgemini, Delta Air Lines, Gulfstream Aerospace, NASA, STEGO USA and Warner Robbins Airforce Base. The capstone offered students the chance to work in multidisciplinary teams, replicating work environments where diverse expertise drives solutions. Computer science students collaborated with electrical, mechanical, computer, and agricultural engineers, fostering creative and impactful problem-solving.

The Capstone Design course, led by the UGA College of Engineering, provides industry and community partners the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team of senior engineering and computing students focused on accomplishing innovative and impactful projects. Over the course of this two-semester program, students lead engineering design projects from planning to completion. While benefiting the project sponsor, students develop essential leadership and professional skills required of them when entering the workforce, including creative problem solving and cooperative collaboration. The ethics, laws, rules and regulations, licensure, leadership, and professional practice of engineering are also important aspects threaded throughout this course.

“The capstone project provided me with real-world experience.” said Jason Ouyang, a computer science major with a minor in mathematics, who contributed to the Delta Air Lines project. He explained that their D.E.P.T.H. (Digital Evaluation of Profile and Tread Health) project tackled a practical operational challenge. His team visited Delta, met with Aircraft Maintenance Technicians to understand their current tire tread assessment tools, and developed a solution that was “convenient, easy-to-use, and consistent—all while increasing operational efficiencies.”  Computer science major and Spring ’25 student convocation speaker Venn Reddy was part of the NASA project, emphasized the value of this approach. “I wanted to work on a multidisciplinary team—like you would in the real world,” he said. His team, combining computer science and mechanical engineering, optimized 3D models for accessibility, making complex Psyche mission research about the solar system’s formation understandable to the public. “This was an amazing experience that I know will help guide me as I enter the workforce at Deloitte later this summer,” Reddy said.

This year’s capstone highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the modern computing world of work and  included a digital tread measuring process for Delta Air Lines, interactive training modules with a reporting dashboard for Warner Robins Air Force Base, 3D modeling for Gulfstream, traffic sensor monitoring for STEGO USA, public information tools for NASA’s Psyche mission, and farm sensor technology for Capgemini. Emily Sperring, a computer science and mathematics major who worked on the Warner Robins project, described the transformation of traditional training. “This capstone for Robins Air Force Base provided us with an opportunity to transform a client's need from a classroom pencil-and-paper training model to an engaging, interactive, self-serve, on-demand, asynchronous, web gaming experience,” she said. Her team’s solution was fun for participants and included a tracking dashboard for manager transparency, reporting, and accountability, leveraging their diverse skills.

Students joined the capstone to connect classroom learning with powerful applications, preparing them for challenging careers. The multidisciplinary teamwork brought unique perspectives to each project. Rishi Musuvathi, involved in the Gulfstream project, explained his motivation. “I wanted real-world learning with high-level clients including NASA, Gulfstream, Delta Air Lines, and others,” he said. His team acted as an R&D unit, using augmented reality to provide “out-of-the-box” applications that drove business outcomes, allowing him to put his classroom knowledge into practice.

The range of projects enabled students to apply their skills in service of creativity and innovation. Preetam Jain, another computer science major, was part of the STEGO USA project, and highlighted the opportunity to work on a year-long project for a real company. “Our different disciplines allowed us to marry front-end and back-end computing skills with the electrical engineering technical portions of the project,” he said. His team developed a traffic light monitoring system with a human-centric dashboard for real-time insights, enabling the client to “fix it before it breaks” while providing practical application of their academic knowledge.

Similarly, Sammy Beard, a computer science major who contributed to the Capgemini project, described their FarmSmart AI application. “Our multidisciplinary team included computer science, agricultural engineering, and electrical engineering students,” Beard said. They developed a system to monitor moisture and temperature, increasing crop yields. and reducing waste. The team created a weather API using AI to deliver a week-long summary of precipitation, humidity, and temperature, tailored by crop or region. “Through this project, we were able to use technology in new ways to solve recurring real-world issues. I learned to expand my boundaries outside of software into hardware,” said Beard.