Final Validation and the Capstone Defense
What I learned while refining What’s On My Food, completing the thesis, and presenting my capstone defense.
What I learned during my capstone
Throughout my capstone, I learned how to turn an idea into a working application and support my decisions with research and testing. Building What’s On My Food brought together research planning, software engineering, data analysis, AI, visualization, and human-computer interaction. During Milestones 11–12, I refined the app, prepared the beta build, and checked that the thesis and presentation matched the study records. One of the hardest parts was connecting external data and hosted AI services while keeping the app useful when information was missing or a service failed. Presenting and passing my final defense showed how far the project had progressed. The committee’s questions also helped me understand why positive user ratings do not establish explanation accuracy or prove that AI alone caused an improvement. I learned the value of clear architecture diagrams and a future comparison with AI enabled and disabled within the same app. Feedback was generally timely and useful, and instruction met my expectations. More practical exercises in deployment, controlled studies, and device testing would have helped with the challenges I encountered. My biggest lesson is to start with a manageable scope, document decisions throughout development, and make testing and honest limitations part of the finished product.