HCII Requests Capstone Projects for Spring 2026
Apply our future HCI leaders to your organization's challenges
HCII Capstone project sponsors gain access to a dedicated team of talented students, guided by our faculty experts. Together, they'll spend one or two semesters researching and addressing the sponsor's challenges.
The Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) in the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science invites interested clients to reach out if interested in sponsoring a future Capstone project for HCI students. The next round of Capstone projects will begin in January 2026.
The HCII believes in the value of the Capstone experience so strongly that three of our academic programs – undergraduate HCI, Master of HCI, and METALS – require the Capstone course in the final semester. Capstone partnerships are mutually beneficial for the students and the clients. Students learn from the invaluable experience of working on a real-world project, while the project sponsors receive hundreds of hours of skilled research, development, and creative problem solving from a dedicated team.
Project details vary by program. Learn more about the undergrad, MHCI and METALS projects below, or email us.
Undergraduate HCI Capstone Projects
One semester (Spring) project; Work with a team of strong interdisciplinary undergrads; No fee to clients
A few recent projects - Our undergrads have designed a mobile game for CMU first-year students and an interactive exhibit for the Carnegie Museum, developed a clinician-AI feedback interface, improved the features of Resy, and continued to iterate with the music learning app, Noteful.
Overview - Projects will begin in mid-January 2026 and finish in early May. Teams of 4 to 5 undergraduate seniors majoring in Human-Computer Interaction complete a semester-long project with guidance from faculty and industry advisors. Students perform user-centered research, brainstorm new ideas for novel concepts and problem solving, build prototypes, and perform user testing. The final deliverable to the client is a polished prototype with documentation about the creation and design process, including the research conducted, design development, code and analysis.
Requirements - Clients must be participating on behalf of an organization, group, or registered entity. One person from the client will be responsible for providing weekly contact with their student team, as well as giving access to materials, software, feedback, access to users for testing, and other stakeholders (as needed) over the course of the project. All clients will be asked to sign an intellectual property agreement.
No Fee - There is no cost to participate with an undergraduate Capstone, although we do expect the client to be available regularly throughout the duration of the project.
Next steps - Fill out this form https://bit.ly/2026capstones by Monday, October 20, 2025 for consideration. Contact Amelia Baisley, undergraduate program manager, for more information or with any questions.
MHCI Capstone Projects
Two semester (Spring & Summer) project; Work with interdisciplinary graduate students; Fee required
A few recent projects - Designing Agentic AI with Consumer Reports, exploring the future of Human-AI teaming with 99P Labs, and creatively problem solving communications delays on the way to Mars with NASA Ames.
Overview - During the MHCI Capstone, a dedicated team of 4 to 6 master’s students—closely guided by expert faculty mentors—will partner with you to tackle a real organizational challenge, resulting in an improved or new product or service concept. The 7-month project (January to August) results in a functional prototype, detailed design specifications and actionable documentation—ready for you to take forward and capitalize on immediately. Students have worked with early stage startups and nonprofits to global tech giants, and have created a variety of solutions in past MHCI Capstone projects.
Requirements - The project sponsor is expected to serve as a domain expert and provide regular critique and collaboration with the team.
Next steps - Contact Raelin Musuraca, MHCI program director and associate teaching professor.
Master of Educational Technology & Applied Learning Sciences (METALS) Capstone Projects
Two semester (Spring & Summer) project; Work with graduate students with an ed tech or learning sciences focus; Fee required
A few recent projects - While there is no standard project, a small sample of past projects include:
- Incorporating generative AI to identify gaps and create personalized learning for learners
- Designing and incorporating Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) in instructional activities for K3 students (kindergarten through grade 3)
- Building an educator's app store for professional development with a recommendation engine for what to do next
- Creating an immersive second language learning system that incorporates AI, ML and speech recognition
- Designing and building a job shadowing application that was showcased at the White House.
Overview - The METALS program invites partners to join us in driving innovation in education by sponsoring a 7-month educational technology or learning science project of your choice. By partnering with CMU’s METALS program, you'll not only access a highly skilled team of experts, but also tap into the latest research and methodologies, giving you a competitive edge. This is a 26-week project on educational technology or learning science with an 11+ person team.
Requirements - The sponsor’s representative will meet with and advise the team weekly. The entire sponsor’s team will meet with the team for a kickoff meeting, end of spring semester review in May, and final presentation in late July or early August.
Fee - Yes, $60,000 including all project expenses, student travel and overhead. Reduced cost available for qualifying nonprofits and startups.
Next Steps - Ready to bring your ed tech or learning science project idea to life? Contact Michael Bett, METALS managing director, to discuss how we can partner.
Other ways to engage with the HCII
Not sure if your idea is ready for a full semester of team exploration? We offer individual and shorter duration project opportunities as well. Email us and we'll discuss the ways we can work together.