If you talk to our alumni, they often say the MHCI Capstone Project is both the most valuable and most challenging experience of the program.

Working with a real sponsor, real users, and real constraints, students spend seven months tackling complex technology challenges using research, product strategy, design, engineering, and iterative development. By graduation, they've experienced what it means to build technology as part of a multidisciplinary product team.

 

Capstone Project Overview

During the MHCI Capstone, a dedicated student team, closely guided by a faculty mentor, partners with the sponsor to tackle a real organizational challenge, resulting in an improved or new product/service concept.

The client defines the challenge. Our students uncover the opportunity.

Working as a multidisciplinary product team, students move through the complete product development lifecycle:

  • Understand stakeholder, user, and organizational needs
  • Conduct generative research and synthesize insights
  • Define opportunities and product strategy
  • Generate and evaluate concepts
  • Prototype, test, and iteratively refine solutions
  • Deliver research, recommendations, and a functional prototype

We have more than 20 years of projects. Download this PDF document to learn more about capstone projects and review a few example projects. 

The Schedule

The Capstone project is made up of two core classes taken consecutively: 

During the spring, students complete their remaining core classes and electives while also taking HCI Project I. In the summer term, students work full-time, in-person, on their Capstone project and are typically enrolled only in HCI Project II. 

The Work

During the spring semester, student teams immerse themselves in the sponsor's organization, industry, and business objectives. Working directly with client stakeholders, they conduct market, stakeholder, and user research to uncover opportunities and define product and service opportunities. Throughout this process, students learn to manage ambiguity, communicate research insights, facilitate stakeholder discussions, and balance business goals with user needs. At the end of the semester, each team presents its findings and strategic recommendations to the client and leads a collaborative workshop to define the project's direction for the summer.

During the summer semester, teams rapidly explore, prototype, and evaluate potential solutions through multiple iterative design cycles. Working closely with sponsors, students refine concepts based on user feedback, build and test functional prototypes, and develop implementation recommendations and product roadmaps. The project culminates in a final presentation to client stakeholders, delivering research findings, strategic recommendations, and a functional prototype. Some teams go beyond prototyping to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) that sponsors can immediately build upon.

The Student Teams

Each Capstone team consists of four to six MHCI students from diverse backgrounds. They are an independent product team that partners directly with a sponsor to lead the project from discovery through delivery.

Unlike in a traditional classroom project, students are responsible for managing the client relationship, facilitating stakeholder discussions, making strategic decisions, navigating ambiguity, and driving the engagement's direction. Faculty mentors provide coaching and guidance, but the team owns the process and the outcome.

The Faculty

HCII faculty members advise and mentor the student teams. Faculty meet with students weekly to provide guidance on scope and time management, and to guide communication between student teams and sponsors. Faculty also lead weekly capstone lectures or host guest appearances for the cohort.

The Sponsors

Each year, a variety of organizations, from nonprofits and startups to globally recognized brands, partner with the MHCI to explore complex challenges in product, service, AI, and emerging technologies. Learn more about the MHCI Capstone experience in this PDF document. 

To learn more about sponsoring an MHCI Capstone project, please contact Raelin Musuraca.

IP, Contracts and Gifts

Carnegie Mellon University is a non-profit organization. Legally, our students own the intellectual property they develop in the course. To participate in a sponsored project, students grant the sponsor a non-exclusive, royalty-free license. Any additional rights held by the sponsoring company are negotiated directly with the students upon completion of the project.