*Editor's note: Some names (indicated by ) have been changed to protect interviewees' anonymity.

Every senior at NYU Abu Dhabi completes the Capstone project as the culmination of their academic experience, but not all Capstone experiences are created equal. The Capstone experience varies greatly among divisions and majors regarding the types of projects, mentor-mentee relationships and the general culture around Capstone. The disparity between different Capstones across divisions has widened even further due to Covid-19.

The Gazelle spoke to students from all four academic divisions, including those completing in-person lab or performance projects, about their Capstone experiences and how the pandemic has affected them.

Niccolò Acram Cappelletto, Class of 2021, is working on an Art History Capstone on an exhibition currently at the Galleria Nazionale in Rome, Italy. His research traces the history of the institution and analyzes the new display of the museum.

From the early stages of his capstone, Cappelletto’s mentor emphasized finding resources within the country. While in Italy, he thought he could benefit from Italian libraries, but museums and libraries were closed to the public due to the pandemic. This left him with only scans of resources from NYU Libraries.

“The digitalization of the libraries and many archives has been fundamental for me and without it, I would have been lost, especially staying at home for the semester. It is also important to notice that this luck is still more an exception than the rule,” said Cappelleto.

“I believe that the Capstone itself is fundamental and necessary because it represents an experience that made me grow as a student and individual,” he added.

Zou Xinyi, Class of 2021, is working on a Philosophy Capstone individual research project. The format of this project lends itself well to virtual academics, but Xinyi still faces difficulties due to the pandemic. “For me, it’s mainly that Philosophy requires tapping into a very particular part of your brain which can be difficult. There are times when I couldn’t tap into that part of my brain and I’d sit down and my mind is blank.”

Naomi Thomas* , Class of 2021, is completing an in-person Biology Capstone, working in the Experimental Research Building investigating brain algae and marine bacteria communication.

Thomas shared that a lot of Biology Capstone students start their research much earlier than Senior year because of the difficulty of completing such an extensive project in only one year and the competition of securing both lab spaces and mentors. However with the constraints of the pandemic, most seniors were unable to get an early start on their work.

“Our major heavily relies on being in in person labs and doing lab work,” said Thomas. “I wasn’t able to access the lab from my junior year, my summer plans were immediately cancelled, and even when I got back here during my senior year I had ... difficulty accessing the lab in person because of some logistical issues.”

Aleksandrina Dimova, Class of 2021, is completing a Capstone project in Psychology, studying eating disorder development. Independently of the effects of the pandemic, Dimova chose to use novel approaches to her research.

“I am utilizing a novel approach by not using a clinical population, which helps me avoid confounding effects of the ill state. Additionally, my project’s approach is novel in the way it views eating disorder symptoms on a continuum rather than as distinct diagnoses and nothing in between,” explained Dimova.

However, her use of novel approaches, coupled with the pandemic which forced her to conduct her experiments online, was not without its challenges. Dimova was the first person in her lab to conduct online experiments so she had to learn from scratch with little guidance when issues arose; solving every problem on her own slowed down the data collection process. Dimova also highlighted the challenges of her Capstone because of the pandemic’s effects on her personal well being.

“It is my mental health, which was completely wrecked by the pandemic, and some of the technical issues that I have faced, that have made my capstone experience challenging in a negative way,” said Dimova.

Despite the challenges of her novel research and personal struggles, Dimova expressed immense gratitude for her mentor who supported her along the way.

“My mentor, Dr. Kartik Sreenivasan, is absolutely the best mentor I could possibly have wished for,” said Dimova. “He has supported my ambitious project idea from the very beginning.”

The workload for Capstone students in the sciences is also very intense, especially given that their timeline for in person work was tightened during the pandemic.

“It’s not just a few hours per day, sometimes you’ll stay 10 or 12 hours in the lab or you will do something over the weekend, ” said Thomas. “Although it’s a four credit class, I’m spending so much time and energy on it that all my other things are getting less attention.”

Unexpected quarantine periods added a uniquely 2021 challenge; for any number of reasons, seniors might find themselves in quarantine and losing two or more weeks of valuable work time.

Rumail Memon, Class of 2021, is completing an Electrical Engineering Capstone with a team, working on designing a device to remotely monitor the concentration of bacterial cells in an incubated environment.

“Being an Engineering Capstone in which we are designing a physical device, having access to lab space where I can prototype and test iterations of the device is essential,” explained Memon. “For me in particular, I spent my fall semester at home in Abu Dhabi. Since I was the member on the team with most experience in 3D modelling, my faculty mentor allowed me to bring the lab 3D printers home. I would work on designs, print them and occasionally drop them off at campus, where my teammates, Cristian Garcia and Ahmad Nasralla, would test them in an actual biological lab setting.”

The Capstone experience in the Engineering department requires a balance between meeting formal requirements and making progress on projects. There is an emphasis on the aspects of the project involving management and other required assignments such as reports, posters and presentations.“While there is a lot of emphasis on teaching us how to manage projects, it seems like this goal overshadows the goal of actually making progress,” Memon concluded. “It would be nice if the formal requirements could be toned down a bit.”

Even within the same major, students can face a very different set of challenges. Hannah Kasak-Gliboff and Lubnah Ansari, both Class of 2021, are completing Social Research and Public Policy Capstone projects. Kasak-Gliboff is working on a quantitative project, completing an experimental survey with computer software, while Ansari is working on a qualitative project, involving an interview based study.

“I have a lot less constraints due to the pandemic than people who are doing qualitative projects where they have to interview people,” said Kasak-Gliboff. She had originally hoped to do an ethnographic, interview-based study but switched to a quantitative study given the constraints of a remote environment.

“A lot of SRPP majors planned really nuanced qualitative work that would really work best in person and now everyone’s had to reevaluate that. Either you have to find a way to conduct your interviews remotely, which sometimes doesn’t have the same effect, and there are certain populations you can’t realistically get a Zoom interview with,” described Kasak-Gliboff.

“It’s really challenging with qualitative data to conduct it over Zoom, because qualitative data over the internet feels dehumanizing to some extent. Also, those who have access to the internet or Zoom are often from a particular class backgrounds,” said Ansari, who is researching how Hindu-Muslim partners in India negotiate their identity after marriage.

Some seniors have suggested that their mentors are the best people to grade their Capstones, since they have seen their work and effort for an extended period of time.

“At the end of the day, I think it’s all about increasing options and allowing people to make the choice for themselves,” said Ansari. “Everybody has different needs and requirements and accommodations right now, and I think the only way to navigate that is through options and choices.”

The Return to Campus Committee has encouraged advisors and program heads to reach out to current seniors to check in and explore ways to support their academic progress. Seniors shared that their Capstone experience relied heavily on the nature of their relationships with their mentors.

“[My mentor] Dr. Sreenivasan truly takes mentorship on another level by genuinely caring for his students beyond academic conversations and I cannot thank him enough for all the support and empathy he has shown me in the past year,” said Dimova. “I think mentors should be empathetic, supportive, and open to feedback and willing to change a project if a student needs this type of accommodation.”

“My mentor is amazing. I don’t even know where to begin,” echoed Ansari. “She’s so incredibly supportive, empathetic, understanding and also allows me to take my capstone work beyond academia and encourages me to translate into other forms of knowledge production such as art to make my research more accessible.”

There is also a feeling of responsibility on the part of seniors to live up to expectations of their mentors during the constraints of the pandemic.

“[The pandemic] definitely has impacted my productivity, and I feel guilty at times because my mentor is so supportive that I feel like I’m letting [my mentor] down,” said Kasak-Gliboff. “She’s never expressed disappointment and I really appreciate that. I wish I were working with her in a year when I were more productive and I were a better Capstone mentee.”

The Capstone experience varies greatly for each major and the pandemic has adversely affected seniors in unique ways. Yet, the challenges seniors are facing are not exclusive to academics and the frustrations with Capstone are not exclusive to the pandemic.