The Capstone Project is described as “one of the culminating experiences for all students at NYU Abu Dhabi”” on the university’s website. Although it is undoubtedly a long, difficult and taxing process, completing capstone is also incredibly rewarding. Depending on the department and major of study, working on the project can allow students to develop independent research skills and explore topics that interest them within their fields with the guidance and support from a faculty mentor. As submission deadlines are approaching quickly, this article, as well as the next one, will showcase some of the capstone projects of members of the Class of 2022, across different majors and media.

Capstone projects in the arts involve a complete submission which usually consists of multiple deliverables, including a creative project (composition, play, short film, art portfolio, installation, etc.), as well as a piece of writing to accompany it.

Class of 2022 member Kacper Madejek agreed to speak to us about his capstone in music. “This project entails a research paper on hauntological practices in film scoring, which is also applied to my original film scores of two separate films,” he explained.

Hauntology is the idea that the awareness of alternate futures can have a tangible impact on the present, an idea stemming from the works of 20th-century philosopher Jacques Derrida.

“The domain of hauntology, both in philosophy and academic discourse and creative practice in music is relatively new. There is a lot of scholarship, a lot of art works produced currently on this topic and this is what makes it so exciting. It stems in different directions; it’s like an octopus,” Madejek remarked enthusiastically, clearly satisfied with his chosen capstone topic.

When asked about what he enjoys the most about working on this project, Madejek stated that “it is interesting to experiment with how sound decays over time and how analogue recording media carry this sound”. He brought up the interesting idea of “building with ruins, building with deconstruction”, which clearly mimics the hauntological nature of his work. Madejek also expressed interest in further pursuing this topic in his future research, which is one of the great opportunities that capstone work provides students with – the chance to find a subject that they might engage with for years to come.

Capstones in the sciences usually entail carrying out an experiment and presenting its findings in a scientific paper and a poster or other presentation. Janine Contreras’ biology capstone is “a series of experiments looking at the effects of early life stress on sleep architecture, gene expression and behavior in adult mice.” In her project, Contreras expands on the work of a postdoctoral researcher in her advisor’s lab, whose focus is on how sleep architecture can signal stress susceptibility in mice before stress is encountered. “Aside from sleep, I wanted to look at behavior related to sociability, anxiety and depression in mice and see if it could be traced down to gene expression,” Contreras clarified.

When asked about her favorite parts of the capstone process, Contreras said, “I really enjoyed reading what has already been done in the field and figuring out the missing pieces in the puzzle, which I could potentially find through my own experience.” She also added that she appreciated being able to learn new skills in terms of conducting experiments and analyzing data.

Máté Hekfusz and Sofija Jancheska, Class of 2022, are also completing a capstone in the sciences, specifically in computer science, with a focus on bioinformatics. “We’re trying to create a tool and a model that, if you give it samples of your gut microbiome, DNA samples, then it will be able to tell whether you have a certain set of diseases,” explained Hekfusz. When asked about the reasons for choosing this particular topic, he stated that there was “a lot of new ground that we can cover and, overall, because it seems very interesting.”

However, the process of completing a capstone project can be filled with uncertainty and lead to self-doubt. When describing the experience of working on the project together with Jancheska, Hekfusz emphasized the importance of planning in advance and managing expectations. “You should start with a goal that you know is very achievable and very much within your bounds for the time that you are given and if you do achieve the initial scope then you should be able to expand it, if you have the time and energy still,” Hekfusz explained. “In our case, for example, we can decide whether we want to cover this disease in our model or whether we want to analyze this data set or not. We can fine-tune the scale quite well and the results will always be meaningful, so that’s what I’m thinking about,” he elaborated.

In philosophy, the capstone project consists of months of getting acquainted with the literature in one’s fields of focus, formulating a research question and attempting to come close to answering it. Jaime Fernandez is focusing on the intersection of ethics and epistemology in his project. One of the reasons he chose this subject is that “it’s a very recent topic, so there’s a lot of literature being produced on it.” When it comes to the process of working on his capstone, he reminisces about his favorite aspects. “Every week, having the chance to meet up with one of the most prominent scholars in the field and having her read my work, that was just so amazing”, he reminisced. “I feel like when you make progress in philosophy work, that’s enjoyable, when you have those Eureka moments,” he added.

The capstone process can seem to stretch on at times, especially during very busy periods. Sometimes it is easy to feel like giving up. Fernandez shared that he felt similarly toward the beginning of his project. “There was a time period where, particularly during my first semester doing capstone, I was reading and then writing weekly reflections and I just… I was so worried… [...] There are some good papers, how could I contribute?” he remarked. These feelings are normal regardless of your major, because the capstone project is designed to be challenging. Whether through a change of topic or just as a matter of time, students overcome their doubts and hopefully, come out of the experience feeling proud. “Looking back it’s just enjoyable and rewarding, looking back at how hard it was and [...] knowing that I’m now in a position to know that I’ve worked through this”, Fernandez concluded.

Look out for announcements about exhibitions and capstone festivals in the coming weeks and come support your peers’ work. Considering the amount of time and effort that goes into completing the capstone, seniors should take time to congratulate themselves for their hard work and dedication to their projects. Next week, we will focus on another group of members of the Class of 2022, who will talk about their capstone projects.