Capstone

Featured Capstones

We share some of the write-ups from our students' Capstone projects.

• Arts and Humanities

  Pearl Fishing in the ‘Persian Gulf of Mannar’: A Reconceptualization of the Gulf of Mannar and the Persian Gulf as Shared Spaces, c.1850-1950
  

  This Capstone attempts to reconceptualize the Gulf of Mannar and the Persian Gulf as shared spaces, specifically focusing on the pearl fisheries in both gulfs.

  In doing so, it hopes to highlight the importance of eschewing national heritage studies of pearling, in favor of histories of pearling outside of the nation.

  By placing the ecological landscapes, key actors and institutions, and contested ideas of territoriality in both gulfs in conversation with each other, this Capstone emphasizes a history that is at once connective and comparative.
  

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  On Our Borders

  Composed from interviews with students in New York and Abu Dhabi, On Our Borders is a verbatim performance about Third Culture Kids and the questions their between-cultures experiences pose.

  In a world still catching up with the profound shift in quotidian experience globalization has brought, are we defining identities and communities in ways that further the global circulation of ideas?

  Is it possible to create a world where everyone can be part of a greater whole? What does it mean to be a global citizen, not fully belonging to any one nation? And is it viable to reconcile our desire for cross-border communities with rising nationalist governments, parties, and polices?
  

• Engineering

  Drone Capturing Aerial Netting System

  Aerial drone capturing systems have various methods by which aerial drones are brought down. The need for this system has come to light with the rising breaches of commercial or restricted airspace caused by remotely controlled drones.

  The design of this project is dedicated to producing an autonomous aerial drone netting system that will detect, pursue, and capture invasive drones. 

  To achieve this, a detection and tracking algorithm will be implemented in an Nvidia Jetson TX1 on a pursuer drone. The algorithm will output 2-D coordinates of the evader drone through the use of fiducial markers.

  Subsequently, the coordinates will be used as inputs for the control of the pursuing drone to direct its flight maneuvers. Once the pursuer is within range of the evader, the pursuing drone will fire a net via its propulsion mechanism and capture the evader.

  This method can introduce a hands-free solution to the drone problem where the traditional level of skill of the capturer is eliminated from the loop in favor of a quantifiably reliable autonomous system.
  

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  Design of a 3-Story Educational Building with Ultra-Lightweight Cement Composite

  In an era where the cost of construction has soared to the highest heights, and concern for the environment calls for desperate measures, the need for an approach that addresses these two crucial aspects is inevitable.

  This project aims to design an educational building that is not only cost-efficient but also environmentally friendly.

  The design proposed integrates abundant natural resources of light and surrounding environment landscape to ensure that conducive and comfortable study conditions for the occupants are met while boosting the building performance and minimizing its carbon footprint.

  Furthermore, the material selection process in the house is based on criteria dictated by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which usually favors sustainable materials that are biodegradable and overall with net-positive effect for the environment.
  

   

• Science

  Jet Lag as a Global Stressor: Effect of Shifting Light on Depressive-Like Behavior and Stress Susceptibility
  

  Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disease rising exponentially across the globe, but there is gaping lack in effective pharmaceuticals or therapeutics.

  One of the principal factors contributing to the prevalence of depression throughout the population is extended exposure to light. Humans had evolved in the natural solar-light cycle, but we are now inundated with artificial light well into the evening.

  This Capstone project would use shifting light-cycles in a controlled setting to induce different simulations of jet lag in a mouse model. The purpose of my research would be to experimentally test a realistic example of the current human condition in which light affects natural rhythms which subsequently correlates with mood disorders.

  Tracing neural circuits in baseline and experimental mice provides a neurobiological basis for the observed differences and contributes to the discovery of treatments for mood disorders by identifying environmental triggers.
  

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  Behavioral Responses of Coral Reef Fish from the Thermally Extreme Persian/Arabian Gulf to Temperature and Time of Day
  

  Tropical coral reef fish are under extreme thermal stress in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG), with annual thermal fluctuations from winter lows of 12°C to summer highs of 36°C.

  Coral reef fish are exclusively ectotherms, so their physiological performance is directly tied to environmental temperatures and behavioral modulation is critical for ectotherms to regulate internal body temperatures.

  This study examined the effects of temperature and time of day on fish behavior in model fish from PAG, Lutjanus ehrenbergii and Scolopsis ghanam, at 18°C, 27°C, and 35.5°C between morning (07:15), noon (12:55), and evening (18:35) times of day on five ecologically important behaviors: relative swimming speed, activity, exploration, sheltering, and sociability.

  Results showed significant interactions with temperature and time of day, where notably relative swimming speed, activity, and exploration all increased as temperature increased with peak values in the evening.
  

• Social Science

  The Young Expat: The Development of Expatriate Adolescence in the UAE
  

  The stories of young expatriates, those who emigrate with their families to the UAE is a complex one. However, it is a narrative often assumed or set aside.

  This qualitative research project hopes to provide integral insight by understanding the nuances in the individual stories of young foreign nationals living in the UAE. The paper investigates and explores whether, how, and to what extent the intersection of an expatriate way of living — contained within expectations about what it means to a ‘good’ expat — conflicts with a restrictive nature of adolescent development.

  The social phenomenon is called Expatriate Adolescence. The process involves foreign teenagers toiling with the central question of how they come to navigate their new home in Abu Dhabi - be it social, familial, or cultural, what unique challenges does this populace encounter?

  Given the changing ethnoscape of this country, there is much variance in the degree to which the young expatriates experience a ‘curated’ adolescent life in the UAE. Hence, the studying of this population is vital in filling a lacuna in the scholarship on Gulf migration, as well as in adolescent development theory.

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  Do We Expect Women to Volunteer More Than Men? Framing and Gender Differences in the Game of Chicken
  

  Recently, Babcock et al. (2017) claims that one cause for gender differences in labor market outcomes may be that women are more likely than men to receive and accept tasks with low promotability.

  Using a lab coordination game similar to the game of chicken, they argue that women have higher probability of volunteering than men and that such behavior is influenced by subjects’ belief that women are more likely to volunteer.

  The experimental design labeling the volunteering task as “invest in a group account” raises questions on whether framing affects gender differences in the game and whether the conclusion is robust in a more diverse population.

  The Capstone applied three frames to the chicken game and conducted an online experiment. Results show that framing increases volunteer rates for both genders but does not affect gender gaps. The Capstone also finds that women indeed volunteer more than men across treatments and that women are more likely than men to expect their female colleagues to volunteer.