{"id":34944,"date":"2018-10-26T11:08:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/?p=34944"},"modified":"2019-05-24T10:10:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T14:10:54","slug":"2018-capstone-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/2018\/10\/26\/2018-capstone-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 Capstone Award Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

On October 19,\u00a0Boston University College of General Studies celebrated the outstanding students who received awards for the Capstone projects they completed last May.\u00a0The Capstone project is a 50-page research term paper that CGS students complete in their sophomore year. Students draw on two years of interdisciplinary studies, working together as a team to synthesize data into a meaningful whole. The Capstone award is given annually to the team of students who present the best overall Capstone paper and defense. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a College of General Studies student for an academic project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Team R: Creating A Sustainable Boston Public Transportation System: An Examination of the MBTA System and a Plan to Make it Work Now and in the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team R’s winning Capstone group–Nicole Bourke, Elena Desanti, Kevin Ho, Jacquie Jakimowicz, Justin Lee, and Coco Ocker–constructed a\u00a0thorough plan of action for the MBTA to improve its service and plan for the future.\u00a0The project focused on both short-term and long-term solutions for a transit system currently experiencing severe economic and technological challenges.\u00a0To make their case for what might and might not work in Boston, they examined subway systems in London, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. Drawing on these comparative studies, they outlined a well-conceived plan of action that stretches 50 years into the future. Team R faculty wrote that the winning group “combined a passionate commitment to a sustainable future with a keen understanding of the economic and environmental costs that accrue from poor transit planning.”<\/p>\n

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Team S:\u00a0The Joint Committee Report on the STEM Act (Screen Time Exposure and Mitigation Act)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team S’s winning Capstone group–Sofia Chavez, Sydney Christianson, Grace Golder, Jeanne Ilano, Yiyuan Li, Junfeng Liu, Yingjie Zhang, and Yichen Zhou–created The STEM Act, an imaginary and imaginative bill which aims to limit screen time for the young but to do so in accord with American constitutional and cultural norms.\u00a0The project had its source in a comparison between Chinese and American approaches to the issue of overexposure of the young to computers, the internet, and screens in general.<\/p>\n

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Team T:\u00a0Project H.E.A.L (Healthy Eating Active Living)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team T’s winning Capstone group– Deziray De Sousa, Max Enholm, Tommy Hagerty, Jen Margolis, Ciarra Nafus, Saeros Oskarsdottir, and Abigail Parsons–worked towards improving the overall health and wellness of students in public high schools in the Boston Area. Through an interactive mentor program partnering with Division One Boston University athletes and top ranked Sargent College Nutrition majors, they carefully plotted out how they\u2019d improve the health of students in Somerville and Brookline High School. Team T faculty wrote of this group, “Well-researched, pragmatic, thoughtful and clear, their Capstone soared above the rest.”<\/p>\n

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Team U:\u00a0Sustainable Green Spaces: A Reality for Boston University and Wheelock College?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team U’s winning Capstone group–Pablo Jimenez, Vivian Kim, Chase Madden, Kristyn Mize, Aqsa Momin, Karen Muraoka,Chiara Rolland, and Lena Washington–conducted a fine-grained analysis of existing green spaces in the two institutions. Considering such things as plant density, biodiversity and sustainability, the students provided photos, maps, and information from student surveys. Team U faculty wrote, “They were so thorough that they even identified individual plants by taking pictures with their phones and using a special app.”<\/p>\n

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Team V:\u00a0Pay for Play Controversy: Addressing the Issue of Compensation for Collegiate Athletes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team V’s winning Capstone group–Emma Bianculli, Amanda Boucourt, Devin Collins, Maggie Kartsonis, Mark Pogue, Jianan Wang, and Zeyi Wang–decided to tackle a difficult question: should college athletes be paid? This group tackled this challenge by writing in\u00a0the challenging adversary format, presenting the most compelling claims from each side. The group proposed a novel solution to the problem that is modest without seeming timid: a \u201claundry fund\u201d that would make need-based stipends available to some student athletes. Team V faculty wrote, “For all these reasons and more, this group is an exceedingly deserving winner of the Team V Capstone Award.”<\/p>\n

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Team W:\u00a0The South China Sea Dispute: De-escalation Via Collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team W’s winning Capstone group–Caolan Disini, Alexis Doreste, Richard Duncan, William Estrada, Janice He, Jack Valentine, and Sam Weiner–created both short-term and long-term solutions while also providing an impressive balance between direct American diplomacy with their Chinese counterparts and the construction of a multi-pronged Asian-Pacific alliance system that encompasses the host of countries fearful of China’s rising power in the region. In sum, said Team W faculty, one of the best projects they’ve seen in years: “Their research is thorough, their prose clear and precise, and the policy a rare and welcome combination of breadth and depth.”<\/p>\n

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Team Y:\u00a0Meltdown In The Middle East: An Analysis And Policy Recommendation For The U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team Y’s winning Capstone group– Rahim Barrie,\u00a0Christina Bissereth, Melissa Chan, David McCarthy, Matthew Schaffner, Maria Teresa Talbott, and Alec Vaughn– created a\u00a0sophisticated policy paper designed \u201cto prevent, at all costs, Iran from developing nuclear weapons.\u201d The team focused on the\u00a0U.S.-Iran nuclear deal of 2015\u00a0 (also known as the JCPOA),\u00a0and argued the U.S.should \u201cfollow the JCPO whenever it has to while increasing economic and occasionally military pressure everywhere else.\u201d Team Y faculty wrote,\u00a0 “This Capstone paper is thorough, penetrating, sober, very well-written, and, as a whole, highly commendable.”<\/p>\n

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Team Y:\u00a0CRISPR: A Revolutionary Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Team Y’s winning Capstone group–Samuel Agate, Charlotte Bacon, Allyson Buehler, Josh Nam, Emmanuel Reid, John Wetzel, and Maura Woods–argued for\u00a0new regulations and legislation regarding the use of CRISPR, the novel and revolutionary gene-editing technique.\u00a0A review and thorough understanding of current legislation, both here in the USA and abroad, leads the reader to the important need for more regulation and oversight by our own DHHS. Team Y faculty wrote, “To go with their all-encompassing introduction to and understanding of the the problem, the authors’ thoughtful, well reasoned, and extensive solution would end up benefiting all Americans concerned about the future of biotechnology.”<\/p>\n

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On October 19,\u00a02018, Boston University College of General Studies celebrated the outstanding students who received awards for the Capstone projects they completed last May.\u00a0The Capstone award is given annually to the team of students who present the best overall Capstone paper and defense. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a College of General Studies student for an academic project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4206,4262,334,1,4200,4205],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34944"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37137,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34944\/revisions\/37137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}