| name | program-assistant |
| description | How to use the Cornell Systems Engineering Program Assistant (the ask_program tool) — when to call it, how to phrase questions, and how to invoke named /skills. Use whenever a user asks about Cornell Systems Engineering courses, faculty, degree requirements, forms, deadlines, pathways, contacts, or "who do I talk to about X". |
Systems Engineering Program Assistant
The ask_program tool answers questions about the Cornell Systems Engineering graduate program from a curated, Cornell-hosted knowledge base (course roster, faculty directory, program website, official forms). Answers are grounded with [n] citations; if the corpus doesn't contain the answer, the assistant says so and points to who to ask — it does not invent facts.
When to use it
- Any question about SysEng courses (offerings, instructors, terms), faculty (research, who teaches what), degree/pathway requirements, forms & deadlines, processes (transfers, petitions), or who to contact for something.
- Prefer it over answering from memory — it reflects the current program corpus and cites sources.
How to ask
- Pass the user's question (or a faithful paraphrase) as
question. Specifics help: include the term, course code, person, pathway, or degree when known.
- Relay the returned
answer to the user and keep the [n] citations; surface the sources if the user wants to verify.
Named skills (/name)
Include /skill-name with [keywords] in the question to run a structured workflow. Available skills:
/course-planning, /pathway-requirements, /compare-pathways, /degree-plan, /faculty-finder, /thesis-advisor, /who-to-contact, /forms-and-deadlines, /process-walkthrough, /capstone-examples, /career-paths.
Examples:
Use skill /who-to-contact with financial aid → returns Who/Role/How-to-reach/What-to-include./course-planning optimization Fall 2026 mornings → filtered course table./forms-and-deadlines graduation → checklist of forms, where to submit, deadlines.
Caveats
- Time-sensitive info (deadlines, schedules, requirements) should be confirmed on the official program page or with staff — the assistant flags this.
- It only knows the program corpus; for university-wide topics (housing, dining, parking) it will correctly decline and redirect.
