Computer Science Senior Design Projects – Call for Proposals

UPDATE: Fill out our Google Form when you are ready to submit your proposal – Proposals due by August 15, 2025!

The Department of Computer Science at Bucknell University invites partners in academia and industry to submit project proposals for student teams to work on as part of their senior design experience. Projects must be significant in scope to cover an entire academic year (Fall 2025 through Spring 2026) for CSCI 475/476.

Senior design is the final culminating experience for our students, bridging the transition from academia to professional practice. Your projects offer students perhaps their most valuable experience they will have before graduation. An ideal project provides a realistic, challenging problem for students that bridges together everything they have learned to date. It should be large enough in scope to give our students an opportunity to apply their existing software design and engineering knowledge while adapting new knowledge to solve the problem while working as a team with clients and stakeholders, ultimately shaping their professional identity.

Please note that long-term maintenance of projects beyond the end of the course is not provided. Any potential maintenance discussions can be coordinated with instructional faculty and project teams at an appropriate time.

Proposals for sponsored projects should be submitted by Friday, August 15th, 2025. Early submissions are encouraged, as they will be reviewed upon receipt and may require further discussion to refine scope and feasibility before selection. Projects will be presented to student teams during their first class on Monday, August 25th.

In the initial weeks of the course, students will evaluate all potential projects. Teams will select proposals that best match their interests and skills. You (or the person(s) you designate as the primary contact for your project) may be contacted by teams during this period to help define the project scope. It is possible that some proposals may not be selected. We can accommodate projects requiring non-disclosure agreements.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:

Brian King <brk009@bucknell.edu>

Past Senior Design Projects

Below is a sampling of recent projects that highlight the diversity of types of projects our students are able to achieve. (Some projects are intentionally vague due to confidentiality agreements made with the client.) Potential projects are not limited to only these categories. We accept any project proposal that has a strong computational component to it.

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Data Science

CoreSolutions Projects: Students engaged in projects sponsored by CoreSolutions, a local company here in Lewisburg, PA, demonstrating their ability to apply computer science principles to real-world business challenges.
Vision-Guided Robotic Tool Handling: This project, sponsored by TE Connectivity, involved designing and implementing a vision guidance system for collaborative robots. The system enabled precise manipulation of stamping dies, contributing to increased automation and accuracy in manufacturing.
ARIA: ARtificial Intelligent Advisor: This initiative focuses on developing an AI-powered academic advisor to assist undergraduate students with course selection, degree planning, and academic decision-making. The system will leverage course-specific materials to provide personalized, 24/7 support, aiming to improve student success and reduce advisor workload.
CodeCompanion: This project involves creating an intelligent, interactive AI learning assistant for introductory and core computer science courses. CodeCompanion will provide personalized assistance, code analysis, debugging help, and automated assessment, trained on course-specific materials to enhance learning outcomes and student engagement.
DataDrive: Automated Vehicle Research Management System: This project focuses on streamlining data collection, processing, and storage for vehicle research experiments. The system will automate data merging, secure uploads to a centralized database, and provide a user interface for metadata and performance indicator extraction.
DataPulse: Accelerating Discovery in Particle Physics: This project aims to develop a novel data management and processing system for large-scale physics experiments, specifically using the XENONnT experiment as a case study. The system will optimize data organization, implement smart caching, and create efficient shortcuts to reduce reprocessing time and computational resources for massive datasets.
TE AI Cup: Wildlife Asset Protection Element Recognition System for Utility Infrastructure: Students will develop a dataset and an image recognition system to identify wildlife asset protection elements on utility infrastructure. This AI solution seeks to improve wildlife conservation and utility reliability by automating the assessment of these crucial components.
Medical Education AI Tutor for Improving Faculty Use of Growth Mindset Language: Building upon an existing AI tutor for computer science, this project modifies and expands its knowledge base to assist medical educators in using “growth mindset” language. The goal is to provide a coaching tool to evaluate and improve how medical faculty apply growth mindset concepts in their teaching.
AI Dungeon Master: This project focuses on creating an intelligent system capable of running Dungeons & Dragons games, serving as an AI-powered Dungeon Master. The system will dynamically generate narratives, manage NPCs and combat, interpret rules, and adapt to player actions, offering a voice-interactive and immersive experience for various skill levels.

Interactive and Immersive Experiences, Education and Simulation

Virtual Reality (VR) Healthcare Simulations: Students collaborated with Geisinger Cardiology to develop immersive VR environments for collaborative learning among cardiology students. These projects aimed to enhance medical education by providing remote, interactive training experiences.
VR Cat Cafe Game Development (House of Meow VR): In partnership with KiB Cats, students created a prototype for a low-pressure, non-violent VR cat cafe game. This project aimed to fill a niche in the VR market for casual and relaxing immersive gameplay. Users commented it was a great game for mental health, without the furballs!
AntarctiAction – Gamifying Antarctic Conservation Advocacy: This project involves developing a mobile application that uses gamification principles to encourage Antarctic tourists and other individuals to take concrete actions supporting conservation. The app will include educational content, action challenges, and social sharing capabilities to amplify impact.
AR Study Abroad with Basho: This project focuses on developing an Augmented Reality (AR) iOS application that allows users to virtually follow Matsuo Basho’s historic journey in Japan. The app will feature AR nodes at significant locations providing historical context and literary excerpts, and explore interoperability with existing 2D video content.

Campus & Educational Technology Solutions:

Bucknell URL Shortener: This project aims to develop a user-centric URL shortening service specifically for the Bucknell campus. It will offer features like campus authentication integration, a user-friendly interface, customization options, and analytics, providing a robust alternative to general-purpose shorteners.
FairView: An Intelligent Transcript Processing System for Equitable Admissions: This project seeks to develop a system to anonymize and standardize high school transcripts for college admissions. The goal is to promote a more equitable and efficient review process by removing potential biases and ensuring consistent evaluation across diverse transcript formats.
BisonCoin – A Blockchain-Based Ecosystem for Academic Credentials and Campus Transactions: This project proposes developing a blockchain-based system to securely verify academic and co-curricular achievements and facilitate campus transactions. It aims to combat credential fraud, provide a holistic view of student capabilities, and foster financial literacy within the university community.
PA Tree Selector Tool: This project aims to create a publicly available, comprehensive web tool for selecting native tree species in Pennsylvania for riparian forest buffer restoration. Users will input variables to generate a list of suitable species with valuable descriptive data, assisting landowners and conservation planners.

Security & Public Safety:

Critical Reach Project Proposal: This project involves developing, deploying, and testing an AI algorithm to monitor surveillance camera footage for weapon detection, aiming to enhance school safety. The initiative focuses on detection speed, minimizing false negatives and positives, and providing a cost-effective active monitoring solution.
Ticket and Alert System: This project focuses on developing a versatile, web-based system for ticketing and alert management, suitable for security, safety, and feedback scenarios. Built on the Phoenix framework, it will offer streamlined manual and automated ticket creation, categorization, analytics, and real-time alerts.

Background

CSCI 475/476 is a two-semester culminating experience for Computer Science students in the College of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences. In the fall, the weekly workload includes 2 hours of instructional time and up to 6 hours of work outside of class. Teams start their work by developing the understanding necessary to tackle large-scale software engineering problems. They select a small subset of problems that are of interest to the team, and identify three possible solutions for each, ranking them according to criteria, goals and constraints. Ultimately, every team selects one project, selects the most appropriate solution, and develops an “investor pitch.” The pitch includes a persuasive proposal and presentation, with the idea that their pitch could be presented to angel investors and venture capitalists to obtain funding. Once the proposal is completed, teams start working on the design and implementation of their solutions. In the spring, the workload includes 3 hours of classroom contact plus 9 hours outside of class, in which they focus solely on the implementation of their solution, with regular client interaction expected through the duration of the project.

Concurrently, in our class time, teams explore topics including software engineering and design, intellectual property and licensing, failure models and effect analysis. Typically, the class invites professionals who are interested in talking about some of these topics.

Teams follow agile development methods as they design and implement a solution. It is essential that teams and clients interact on a regular basis (using whatever means appropriate for the client) to obtain feedback on the evolving work. Additionally, teams use classroom time to report their progress to the class and to the instructor. The implementation activities include the elaboration and application of a test plan for the teamsʼ products (and possibly the use of automated test frameworks, whenever applicable). The Senior Design experience culminates with public technical presentations at the end of the semester and with the delivery of the teams’ products, supporting documentation (developer and user manuals), and a final report.

Resources and Intellectual Property

Student teams will have access to state-of-the-art computing resources available at Bucknell University. In case a project requires the use of proprietary hardware, software, or data, the Department will work with partners to investigate how to meet the project’s needs.

Students in this class are prepared to work under the terms of non-disclosure and/or licensing agreements if requested by the client. We ask that clients communicate their needs for these types of agreements at the time they submit their problems in the RFP. Our standard NDA agreement can be found at the bottom of Engineering Corporate Relations page.

The majority of the students in Computer Science Senior Design will have completed coursework on the fundamentals of the discipline, in basic engineering, in mathematics, and in natural sciences. This includes:

• Calculus (three courses), differential equations, discrete math, statistics and probability theory, physics (two courses), chemistry;
• Introduction to engineering, foundations of electrical engineering, digital electronics;
• Computational thinking, programming in different language paradigms, algorithms and data structures, computer organization, operating systems, and computer ethics.

Students will often have taken computer science electives such as web information retrieval, machine learning, extended reality (XR), databases, networks, security, graphics, compilers, and analysis of algorithms. It is common for students to work quickly to become conversant with new programming languages and technologies that are required in their projects. In summary, our students have received good preparation to contribute to our partnersʼ interests and expect that Senior Design teams are highly likely to deliver.

Your Responsibility as a Client

The primary mission of the Senior Design experience is to foster the studentsʼ development into capable, responsible professionals. The collaboration with external partners in Senior Design projects is of immense value in achieving this goal. At the same time, we expect that our students will be able to contribute to the advancement of our partnersʼ interests by testing out ideas and/or developing product prototypes.

To provide the best conditions for our studentsʼ learning experiences and to enable the successful completion of our partnersʼ projects, frequent interactions between client and team are essential. We strongly encourage our partners to communicate with teams in person or using the best means of teleconferencing available. Although these communications are to be expected at the stages of project kickoff and at each design/development milestone, we encourage weekly interactions, whenever possible. Additionally, we encourage class visits to those partners who are interested and will consider invitations to site visits.

Funding

The Computer Science and Engineering department sponsorship fee (if applicable) varies according to the needs of the project and the resources of the sponsor. Sponsorship helps to support the department and associated resources, material, and any equipment needs beyond those currently available within the department (e.g., standard computing resources and software) and along with any required student and faculty travel.

Guidelines for Scoping a Computer Science Senior Design Project

An ideal project for computer science senior design describes a compelling problem that can be solved through a primarily software-based solution where no obvious solution currently exists. Project proposals should focus on the problem that needs to be solved and not suggest specific solutions or approaches. Student teams will work with your consultation to develop and propose a specific solution to your specific problem. Projects should have a well-defined goal and be solvable in 2- 6 months of full-time work for a single entry-level software engineer. Given a solution, it should be easy to assess if the problem is solved. Open-ended and research projects where a solution may or may not exist are discouraged (but not prohibited). Projects should not already have a commercially available solution. For example, implementing a database to record orders can already be solved by existing commercial solutions and does not make a compelling senior design project. Similarly, simple tasks like updating or creating a basic website are not suitable for senior design projects.

Sample Project Short Descriptions

The goal of this project is to create an application similar to “Duolingo”, but for medical education. Similar to learning a language, much of medical education involves repetition of concepts over years until it becomes second nature. Many physicians and other healthcare professionals use various books, question banks, and journal articles to keep refreshing their knowledge. These methods are tedious, boring, and require lots of dedicated time. This new interactive application will include an algorithm that will proactively deliver medical concepts in the form of simple questions and puzzles to the physicians and students at random times during the day. The system will keep track of their progress based on their specialty and show stats from other users of the same specialty.
Many swimming pools are maintained by their owners or operators rather than by professional service companies. Actions being taken to address water clarity and water chemical composition are generally done on a ‘reactive’ rather than a ‘proactive’ basis. By the time the ‘reaction’ takes place, the water has often started to become ‘out of control’ and the amount of chemicals required to bring it back, can be extreme. The solution would most likely comprise a smart device App that would interpret chemical data and present it to the user in a format that they could easily understand. This will require a significant effort on the part of the team to gather existing data and present it in a format that allows the user to maintain a clean and safe pool environment. There are 5 million in ground and 3 million above ground residential pools in the United States alone. The vast majority of these pools do not have an affordable solution to address this problem.
Production line scheduling is currently done “by hand” using a report that shows items needed by production line, product, and date. This is a labor-intensive process and not one that I believe is done efficiently. We need a tool to help develop daily production schedules for 3 lines based on orders in house. A more in-depth phase would be to use in-house orders and historical data to produce schedules.
When equipment is working in multi-story buildings and no cell connection is reliably available, there is a need to locate the equipment, often equipment that has no standard onboard power source. The project would be to develop a solution to this challenge, using a suitable technology. The technology would require a piece of equipment to be fitted with a ‘device’ that would have sufficient independence to allow a minimum of three years of service at an acceptable cost. It is assumed that the on-machine ‘device’ will interact with a ‘receiver’ of some sort, in order to provide a location to a minimum accuracy of a specific floor and ‘zone’.