Conference Session

ME Division Technical Session 2 - Harnessing AI and Machine Learning to Transform ME Education

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harrison Zimmerman Brown, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Reza Ebadi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)

ThermodynamicsAbstractGenerative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has become ubiquitous. Convincing languagecomplemented by constant modifications and upgrades have made GenAI models, such asOpenAI’s ChatGPT, an appealing tool to address complex problems. According to a survey byIntelligent.com nearly a third of college students in AY 2022-2023 used ChatGPT for schoolworkand 77.4% of them were likely to recommend using it to study to another student. Despite theirappeal, these models have proven flawed in answering technical prompts. Their convincinglanguage may entice the user to trust the responses without verifying them. For example, theauthors failed to retrieve accurate thermodynamics properties of some common substances fromthree publicly available models (OpenAI’s

Conference Session

ME Division Technical Session 2 - Harnessing AI and Machine Learning to Transform ME Education

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wenhai Li, State University of New York, College of Technology at Farmingdale; Yue Hung, Farmingdale State College; Gonca Altuger-Genc, State University of New York, College of Technology at Farmingdale; Sen Zhang, State University of New York, Oneonta; Akin Tatoglu, University of Hartford; Zhou Zhang, State University of New York, College of Technology at Farmingdale

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)

. The session then transitions to the transformative role of Transformers in NLP, focusing on their improvements over RNNs without delving into advanced mathematical details. This leads to the discussion of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT [8], emphasizing their engineering applications. Students learn to use ChatGPT’s API to integrate NLP into workflows, with a Python example showing how to send prompts, receive responses, and maintain conversational context by including prior interactions. These hands-on examples help MET students understand the practical applications of NLP tools like LLMs in solving engineering problems. • Topic 8: Reinforcement Learning (RL) – The last topic

Conference Session

ME Division 8: Measuring What Matters: Concept Inventories, FE Exam, and Learning Skills

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anahita Ayasoufi, Auburn University; Amanda Sterling, Auburn University; Jeffrey C. Suhling, Auburn University; Daniel Kevin Harris; Kyle D Schulze, Auburn University; Ashu Sharma, Auburn University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)

in freshman information processing and the rise in Using academic resources both fall outside of the 2 sigma bands starting the Fall of 2022. Since ChatGPT was introduced in November 2022, this decrease is likely not due to AI usage. The COVID-19 pandemic effect, on the other hand, matches the timing. The national trends mentioned in sections IV.A.1 and 2 above support this theory. However, whether this is the true cause needs further research. Further, the rise in Using academic resources may be happening in compensation for the dropping Information Processing skill. Again, to establish if this is the case, will need further research. 2