Software Engineering Commons^™

Lessons From The Club Homeschool Capstone: Testing, Data Discipline, And The Computer Science Curriculum, Shane Brown

University Honors Theses

This thesis looks at the CLUB Homeschool Capstone project to argue that Portland State University's Computer Science curriculum should introduce testing and data quality discipline earlier and more intentionally than it does now. As team lead of a seven-person team, I coordinated sprint planning, communicated with the sponsor, and developed custom Discourse plugins that enhanced an existing forum platform instead of creating a separate application database, as requested by the sponsor. The project's requirements document called for a formal testing plan, but our team lacked the practical experience to implement one. This gap became evident through my internships as a …

Custom Sbc Gps Tracking And Geocaching Carputer Software Development And Implementation, Joshua A. Davis

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that hardware-integrated capstone projects develop software engineering skills that traditional coursework cannot replicate. A team of eight developers built a GPS tracking system on a Raspberry Pi 4 over two academic terms, integrating real-time position streaming, the APRS amateur radio protocol for network-independent location sharing, and PostGIS spatial queries for "new road" detection. The system implements SmartBeaconing for adaptive GPS data reduction, achieving approximately 80% storage savings while preserving route fidelity. The project exposed challenges absent from classroom assignments: hardware debugging without stack traces, cross-layer integration failures, and coordination overhead when deploying to unfamiliar architecture; demonstrating that …

Agile In The Age Of Ai: Considerations And Improvements For Streamlining Developer Workflows, Stephen Feng

University Honors Theses

This paper examines the integration of AI language models into Agile developer workflows during a six-month software development project. Using the development of SagacityWall, a mindfulness-based social media application built by a team of eight undergraduates, it identifies three key areas in Agile processes where AI provided meaningful leverage: translating business requirements into actionable developer work tickets, accelerating framework research and technology stack decisions, and reducing onboarding friction through AI-assisted code scaffolding and Behavior-Driven Development story formatting. The study finds that AI meaningfully boosted productivity across these stages – not by replacing developer judgment, but by reducing overhead at each …

Conello Vendor Marketplace Capstone: A Review On The Capstone Process And Computer Science Degree, Levi Hauck

University Honors Theses

This Capstone Review Thesis discusses the current structure of the Computer Science Degree path and Computer Science Capstone at PSU. This thesis reviews the Conello Vendor Marketplace Capstone, a project designed to help address the issue of teambuilding in the workplace. It points out ways in which teamwork and organization is an underdeveloped skill in Computer Science. During the Capstone project, the project management method of Agile development was recommended and used. However, it became clear that the team, leader included, had a gap in knowledge and skills to be successful, as well as a lack of experience in team …

How Agile Became The Design Philosophy Of Ai Fishbowl Under Real-World Constraints, Jad Saad

University Honors Theses

This capstone review examines the development of AI Fishbowl, a public-facing, interactive artificial intelligence system, as a case study in how Agile methods evolve from a project management tool into a design philosophy under real-world constraints. Although the project adopted an Agile workflow early on through a Kanban-style task management approach, the initial system design and architecture were still shaped by a largely plan-first mindset. This created a mismatch between flexible process and rigid design assumptions, which became increasingly apparent as the team moved from high-level architecture into implementation.

A critical turning point occurred when early architectural plans proved difficult …

Capstone Reflection: Developing A Muslim Prayer App For Psu Students, Jeremiah Su

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the development process of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) App, a computer science capstone project. The app strives to help the Muslim community at Portland State University (PSU) and the Portland area by consolidating essential information for prayers, such as local prayer times, nearby masjids, and the direction of Qibla. The team behind this project was developed by 6 computer science developers, a majority of whom were from the Muslim culture and background. This paper describes the entire capstone development process from the perspective of a developer who is not rooted in Muslim customs. It also describes …

Experience From A Distance: Improving Transparency For The Multnomah Athletic Club, Matthew Penner

University Honors Theses

Portland is home to the largest and one of the most prestigious athletic clubs in the world: Multnomah Athletic Club. In many ways, it is the pinnacle of luxury and innovation, and over time, it finds any way to entice prospective members to pay the expensive upfront fee of $6000 and monthly membership fees exceeding $300. Due to the previous technological barrier, which was not being able to see the full extent of what amenities the club had to offer, the club faced major challenges in recruitment and marketing. Over two academic terms, a team of six computer science capstone …

Helmholtz Cage: Software Development And Implementation For Cubesat Testing, Gustavo A. Cotom Lopez

University Honors Theses

This paper details the successful development and deployment of a Helmholtz cage system, designed to produce precisely controlled magnetic fields for testing and calibration purposes. The core focus was on creating a robust, modular software architecture enabling independent current modulation on each axis, comprehensive serial communication between multiple microcontrollers, and real-time data acquisition from the MR3 magnetometer. All software components, including the serial communication drivers, control algorithms, command line interface, and calibration routines, were developed from the ground up. The system was fully operational upon completion: all hardware components functioned as intended, serial communication with each subsystem was reliable, and …

Henna Chatbot Capstone Review, Kobe Norcross

University Honors Theses

This thesis reviews the development of the Henna Chatbot, an AI-powered DEI consultant designed to provide personalized feedback to organizations. Sponsored by DEI consultant Arsh Haque, the project aims to address gaps in current DEI software, which often lacks team-specific feedback. The Henna Chatbot leverages GPT-3.5 Turbo to create an affordable SaaS platform where organizations can train Henna with their DEI values, and Henna will help organizations stay aligned with those values. The project spanned twenty weeks and was completed by a team of eight computer science students at Portland State University. The development process followed Agile methodologies, emphasizing effective …

The Institutional Challenges Of A Quantified Self Study: An Attempt To Ascertain How Data Collected From A Mobile Device Can Be An Indicator Of Personal Mental Health Over Time, Julian Lazaras

University Honors Theses

The adoption of an application of new technology always comes with a bias, this is never more true for the case of human behavioral analytics within higher education. While movements such as the quantified self movement make strides to reinterpret the realm of data analytics, psychology, and computer science, there are inevitably limitations to the adoption and application of such approaches within the standard realm of research. Herein is presented a case where an effort to evaluate the prospect of use of mobile phone data as secondary indicators of personal mental health through the lens of data analysis was put …

Cards With Class: Formalizing A Simplified Collectible Card Game, Dan Ha

University Honors Theses

Collectible card games (CCGs) have been a wildly popular game genre since the release of Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering. These games revolve around their thousands of cards and the hundreds of thousands of interactions they can create with their many effects. For designers, it is an incredibly demanding task to ensure that every single card works properly and that each card's text unambiguously conveys its intended behavior in all cases. The task only grows more difficult over time as the number of cards in the game grows and card effects become more complex or experimental. If the …

Auditory Ace Mobile Application Capstone Review, Layla Smith

University Honors Theses

This paper describes the development process and outcomes of my 2023-2024 Capstone Project, Auditory Ace, a self-directed auditory training mobile application for individuals with cochlear implants. Recognizing the limitations of current market offerings, Dr. Timothy Anderson created a Capstone project proposal to develop an accessible auditory training mobile application. The Capstone team that took on this proposal consisted of Darya Haines, Dustin Huynh, Jordan Nguyen, Nihar Koppolu, Scott Thorkelson, Sienna Day, and myself, Layla Smith. This paper is structured to follow the Agile software development methodology, which we used to develop Auditory Ace, reviewing in detail every major choice we …

Virtual Field Environments Capstone Software Review, Ashton Sawyer

University Honors Theses

This is a review of the Virtual Field Environments computer science capstone project, sponsored by geology professor Rick Hugo. The tool aims to create and render VFEs, interactable 360° environments hosted on the web that are used as virtual field trips for K-12 students. This essay discusses the development process, including understanding requirements, tool and technology selection, problem-solving, and decision-making strategies. It also highlights the differences between the capstone and the other core computer science courses, and how those differences help to prepare students for the workforce. The project was completed over the course of twenty weeks by a team …

Lang2views Capstone: The Importance Of A Conscientious Team Lead, Joseph Wornath

University Honors Theses

This review essay reflects the Lang2views capstone project from the perspective of a team lead. The Lang2views capstone project was a web-based user interface designed to simplify how the Lang2views corporation localizes videos into other languages for their clients. Our capstone group was split into three subgroups: front-end, back-end, and DevOps. The strategy for completing the project went through a major change midway through development wherein we changed our software development methodology from a more rigid Waterfall-type approach to a more flexible Agile methodology. Because of this, many of the initially planned features had to be reevaluated as out of …

Job Management Portal Software Review, Ruchir Elukurthy

University Honors Theses

This essay provides an overview of a computer science capstone project focused on developing a website for Abilities At Work, a non-profit organization. The website aims to assist employment specialists in managing clients' information and tracking their job application in finding meaningful employment. The essay highlights the various stages of the project, understanding requirements, selecting tools and technologies, creating an application architecture, and writing code. Also, this essay focuses on the challenges encountered during the project, along with the valuable lessons learned. This essay emphasizes how the project closely resembles real-world software development, offering insights for prospective students and professionals. …

Classifying Dead Code In Software Development, Arman Alavizadeh

University Honors Theses

Dead code pervades as an issue in the world of software development as a source of many famous software disasters such as the ARIANE 5 rocket failure and chemical bank withdrawal error. Defining dead code on narrow levels of granularity has not been fully explored, yet is crucial to better our understanding of dead code. Here we will be starting a discussion on how to approach classifying dead code via comparing dead code research specific to an industry segment. Research will be compared primarily by methodology and limitations. Dead code subtype classifications are gleaned from research comparisons and can serve …

Expanding Temperature Sensing For The Orion Bms 2, Samuel J. Parker

University Honors Theses

Formula SAE (FSAE) is an annual collegiate design competition that takes place across the globe. Portland State University’s team, Viking Motorsports, was committed to designing an Electric Vehicle (EV) for the 2021 FSAE competition. The team designed a completely custom lithium-ion cell battery that is managed by an Orion BMS 2 battery management system. The FSAE rulebook requires a robust temperature monitoring system for any EV power supply. The Orion BMS 2 can only directly collect data from eight temperature sensors, which is not enough to meet FSAE regulation. However, the BMS can be configured to monitor many more sensors …

Functional Programming For Systems Software: Implementing Baremetal Programs In Habit, Donovan Ellison

University Honors Theses

Programming in a baremetal environment, directly on top of hardware with very little to help manage memory or ensure safety, can be dangerous even for experienced programmers. Programming languages can ease the burden on developers and sometimes take care of entire sets of errors. This is not the case for a language like C that will do almost anything you want, for better or worse. To operate in a baremetal environment often requires direct control over memory, but it would be nice to have that capability without sacrificing safety guarantees. Rust is a new language that aims to fit this …