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Design Studio
In Design Studio, we integrate agile engineering processes, lean business development, and interdisciplinary design thinking into an iterative process for problem solving and product development - our unique brand of innovation. Our iterative development methodologies lead to the development of robust software products that address real problems and provide elegant solutions. Throughout the process, Design Studio teams are mentored by industry professionals from the community, helping teams more effectively communicate, overcome technical challenges, and drive innovation for their partners.
As the capstone program in the Raikes School, Design Studio integrates concepts from our unique computer science and business curriculum, reinforcing core concepts through four semesters of hands on learning. Students gain a head start in their careers by participating in product development teams, working with real clients to understand complex business requirements, and developing innovative solutions to wicked problems. The studio model ensures that, prior to graduation, each student in the Raikes School has gained the valuable experience of participating in the full software product development life cycle - from inception of the concept to deployment for the solution.
Design Studio Annual Report
Endless Opportunity for Students
Create innovative applications and business processes to solve real-world problems.
Gain valuable experience working with industry leaders in self-organizing teams.
Develop a greater understanding of how business and computer science are used in companies.
Work on a real software development project to develop strong project management skills prior to graduating.
Form key networking contacts with top local and national companies.
Earn college credit while working with cutting edge technology to complete real software projects.
Industry Partnerships
Design Studio serves as a connection point between academia and industry, creating a unique opportunity for our partners to engage some of the brightest minds on campus and leverage the value of a Big 10 research institution. Each year Design Studio engages industry partners who provide complex problems for which our student teams develop software solutions using industry best practices in software engineering and business development. This year, teams in Design Studio are completing the following projects:
Buckle – Virtual Try-On
The Buckle Virtual Try-On is a progressive web application that allows shoppers to see themselves wearing Buckle products without a fitting room, using a cloud-hosted Stable Diffusion model to generate high-fidelity clothing overlay images. Built with Next.js, React, and Tailwind CSS, the app features a live webcam feed, barcode scanning, and product browsing, and is designed for deployment at store entrance kiosks and on teammate iPads to reduce shopping friction and drive brand engagement.
Buildertrend – Document Classification: Unlocking Data Hidden Inside Documents
A document classification feature for Buildertrend's construction management platform that uses Google Cloud's Document AI to automatically tag uploaded documents — such as floorplans, contracts, invoices, and receipts — and extract key text data. This enables builders to quickly search and filter documents by tag and context, while auto-filled descriptions provide at-a-glance summaries, reducing time spent on manual filing and improving overall project organization.
Vendor Generative Assistant
An AI-powered chat assistant built for Conagra Brands' Data Management Organization that answers common vendor workflow questions by referencing SharePoint documentation, training materials, and vendor data — reducing the volume of repetitive inquiries reaching the DMO team. When questions can't be resolved automatically, the assistant guides users through an exit path to draft emails or schedule meetings, saving an estimated 10–15 hours of DMO staff time per week.
Creevo
Creevo is an AI-powered game development platform built on the Godot engine that lets users create and iterate on games through natural language, without needing coding knowledge or familiarity with complex game engines. At its core is the open-source Creevo Agent Library, a modular orchestration layer that handles prompt refinement and real-time game updates, while integration with a large asset library allows users to easily incorporate sprites, animations, audio, and UI elements into their projects.
DineU
DineU is a student-to-student meal delivery platform designed specifically for college campuses, allowing students to pay with existing meal plan currency while earning flexible income as campus deliverers. The full-stack platform includes a deliverer mobile app, customer tracking, an admin dashboard, and an external delivery API, and is set to launch a pilot at UNL in Fall 2026 through partnerships with UNL Dining Services and Transact Campus.
DMSi – Bill of Materials Classification and Assignment Tool (BOM CAT)
BOM CAT is a machine learning-powered tool built for DMSi that automates the classification and attribute assignment of building materials — like doors — during the Bill of Materials import process, which was previously a time-consuming and error-prone manual task. Using only a supplier's item code, product description, and category, the model predicts the correct values and attributes, and presents results through a web interface where users can upload supplier data, run the model, and download formatted predictions.
Farm Credit Services of America – AuctionScout
AuctionScout is a centralized platform for Farm Credit Services of America that replaces fragmented, word-of-mouth auction discovery with a structured system where employees can manage land auction details and notify customers of relevant opportunities directly through a Salesforce integration. The tool gives FCSAmerica customers timely, organized visibility into upcoming land auctions, while streamlining loan officers' workflows and strengthening communication between staff and the producers they serve.
FindU
FindU is a college discovery platform that simplifies the search process for high school students by centralizing information about schools, majors, and campus life, while a counselor dashboard gives guidance staff visibility into student interests and exploration. Built with direct input from Nebraska high school classrooms, the platform is accessible via web browser for school Chromebooks and computers, with plans to expand to more high school partners and begin connecting with colleges seeking prospective students.
HDR - AsseTrac: Asset Inventory Evaluation App
AsseTrac is a mobile-friendly asset inventory platform built for HDR that standardizes how field staff collect data, images, and condition assessments across infrastructure projects — replacing inconsistent tools like Survey123 and Excel with a unified, scalable approach. The solution integrates with existing reporting systems to improve data quality, reduce rework, and provide more reliable insights for maintenance planning and long-term decision-making.
Hudl – Hudl’s Ultimate Assistant Coach
An AI-powered coaching assistant prototype built for Hudl that lets coaches ask natural language questions and instantly receive targeted insights — such as player performance summaries, game breakdowns, and event timelines — without manually searching through game film or stat reports. Powered by AWS Bedrock, large language models, and retrieval-augmented generation, the system transforms complex game data into structured knowledge bases, reducing time spent on analysis and allowing coaches to focus on coaching.
Hudl – AI Coaching Assistant
The Hudl Ballers project refined an AI coaching assistant using a multi-agent retrieval-augmented generation pipeline, where specialized knowledge bases and AWS Lambda functions ensure each agent accesses only the most relevant player performance, game timeline, and statistical data. A classifier agent routes coach queries by intent while a formatter agent delivers concise, coach-friendly responses to both statistical and strategic questions, establishing a scalable foundation for conversational AI within Hudl's analytics ecosystem.
Knowledge Graph Pipeline for DoW Decision Advantage
A scalable AI pipeline built for Kana Systems and the Air Force Research Laboratory that converts unstructured patent and technical documents into a searchable knowledge graph, enabling proposal submitters and evaluators to quickly surface related technologies, key concepts, and research gaps without manual review. Using a GraphRAG architecture, the system automatically segments documents, extracts entities and relationships, and performs graph-based retrieval to deliver connected insights across multiple sources in response to natural language queries.
Kiewit – Automated Fall Protection Gear Assessment
A digital fall protection permit system built for Kiewit that automates repetitive calculations, replaces paper documentation with live updated records, and provides a single source of truth for safety data across worksites. The app also includes a camera-based verification tool that measures on-site fall distances and compares them against permit-calculated allowable distances, adding an extra layer of validation in safety-critical environments.
Kiewit - Automated Fall Protection Gear Assessments
A responsive web application built for Kiewit that digitizes and streamlines the Fall Protection Permit process, replacing cumbersome pen-and-paper or Excel-based forms with an automated fall clearance calculation engine that encodes safety manual charts and adapts to job site variables. Accessible on smartphones, tablets, and desktops, the tool reduces calculation errors, ensures compliance with safety standards, and serves as a searchable digital database of completed permits to support faster, more reliable safety planning.
Mutual of Omaha – External Bank Access Tracking
A cloud-based access management application built for Mutual of Omaha's Treasury Department that centralizes user access tracking, role assignment, and permissions management across multiple external banking systems. The tool replaces an outdated vendor solution with a more flexible, maintainable web application that supports automated role management and comprehensive audit trails to meet internal security compliance requirements.
Nelnet – ConnectNet
A student well-being platform built for Nelnet that replaces traditional surveys with frequent pulse check-ins, generating real-time dashboards and trend analytics that help school administrators identify and address concerns before they escalate. Students gain a voice and access to personalized resources, while administrators receive clear, actionable metrics on student sentiment to support early intervention and data-driven decision-making.
Olsson – Stream Assessment Portal
The Stream Assessment Portal is an interactive web application built for Olsson that transforms complex geospatial stream data into client-ready visualizations and reports, replacing hours of manual spreadsheet work by automatically processing GDB file uploads, applying weighted condition and hazard scoring, and classifying infrastructure assets by functionality. The platform gives municipal clients a clear, visual understanding of where to prioritize limited infrastructure funding, while freeing Olsson's engineers to focus on analysis and design rather than formatting deliverables.
Reach
Reach is a mobile ACT prep app that provides affordable, engaging test preparation for high school students through a recommendation algorithm and skill-building games, helping schools that lack resources to adequately prepare students for a test critical to funding, college admissions, and scholarships. Over the past year, the platform has supported 100+ students across Nebraska — from rural towns to Lincoln — with features shaped directly by student and educator feedback.
Signature Performance – Computer Vision–Based Agentic Automation Framework
An agentic automation framework built for Signature Performance that uses computer vision and a Python/LangGraph architecture to interact directly with healthcare web portals, handling repetitive tasks like eligibility verification, data extraction, and claim form submissions without requiring modern APIs. The scalable framework supports dynamic model selection and robust error recovery, freeing associates from manual portal work and reducing the administrative burden and cost across Signature's payer and provider operations.
Signature Performance – Agentic AI Automation Agent
An agentic AI tool built for Signature Performance that automates the manual process of navigating healthcare provider websites by deploying teams of AI agents that can click, scroll, and type just like a human user to retrieve claim statuses and EOBs. When agents encounter unfamiliar situations, they can flag an associate for help, allowing staff to oversee multiple agents simultaneously rather than performing repetitive web navigation themselves.
Tenaska – Credit Insights Experience
A mobile-friendly AI-powered credit intelligence platform built for Tenaska that aggregates proposal data from multiple systems into a single interface, synthesizing key financial metrics, contractual terms, and risk indicators into plain-language summaries for faster credit decision-making. Analysts can ask natural language questions about any proposal and receive instant, context-aware responses from their desk or phone, reducing time spent navigating fragmented systems in time-sensitive trading environments.
Industry Collaboration
Students in Design Studio learn not only from top practitioner faculty, but also from industry leading experts. Whether it is a local software executive who gives a guest lecture on enterprise architecture or a CEO who coaches a Design Studio team, students regularly interact with and learn from top industry professionals. Regular collaboration between faculty, students, and industry partners creates an ecosystem unique to Design Studio that drives innovation at all levels. Through that collaboration, students and their teams are making big things happen every day.
Students in Design Studio not only learn from industry leaders, they innovate with them. Every year our students are developing new concepts, sharing creative ideas, enriching our partner organizations, and becoming members of their team.