capstone project asu

Research and course projects

Experiences, research (for credit) at asu.

Engage in cutting-edge research projects at ASU while earning academic credit. ASU offers opportunities to work with faculty on research projects across disciplines, providing you with hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of your field of study. Check with your academic advisor to understand how you can obtain credit and find even more research opportunities.

Research (not for credit) at ASU

Explore research opportunities outside of the classroom by getting involved in faculty-led research projects at ASU. Check with individual departments or research centers within ASU for opportunities to volunteer or work on research projects that align with your interests in addition to searching here .

Research (for credit and not for credit) at other institutions/organizations

Expand your research experience by exploring opportunities to collaborate with other institutions or organizations outside of ASU. Many opportunities can be found using Handshake or by going to that institution/organization's website directly. Check with your academic advisor to understand if you can obtain credit and find even more research opportunities.

Field Experience

Immerse yourself in hands-on learning with field experience opportunities. Through your academic program, you may have the opportunity to partake in a field experience where you get to go outside the classroom and work in an environment aligned with your interests - typically while getting academic credit!

Capstone Project

The capstone project is a culminating experience that brings together knowledge and skills gained throughout your time at ASU. Students work on a project that addresses a real-world problem, challenge, or opportunity in their field of study. Capstone projects are typically completed during the final year of study and can be done individually or in a group. Check your major map to see if you have a capstone experience included.

A practicum is a hands-on learning experience that takes place in a professional setting. It provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in a real-world environment. ASU offers practicum opportunities in a variety of fields and majors. Check your major map to see if you have a practicum experience included.

Your experiences help you create your own unique story and is what makes you stand out for future jobs! Make sure to utilize all of your tools when trying to figure out or prepare for your next steps.

My experience learning about DNA Nanotechnology was outside of my undergraduate curriculum and opened up a sincere interest in molecular biology that continued past this project. Without the mentorship in doing this project, I would not be in a very technical and rewarding field that I’m in today in next-generation sequencing! I felt challenged, engaged, and had the opportunity to travel and explore more about science at the American Chemical Society’s conference in Miami, Florida. I really appreciated the extra attention from the faculty to complete a detailed project on something that truly sparked connections and interest to the skills I learned during my degree. It really helped my degree show me something tangible beyond scores.

Alberta Abram Biology, Psychology

Research and Course Project Examples

The SOLUR program provides opportunities for undergraduates in the School of Life Sciences to participate in exciting biological research alongside faculty and other mentors, while learning about scientific investigation through hands-on experiences.

Edson College Undergraduate Research Charter

The Undergraduate Research Charter through the Edson College of Nursing and Health Solutions provides opportunities for undergraduate students of all majors to participate in small-group health and nursing-related study and research experiences.

Watts College Undergraduate Research

Browse and apply to research opportunities housed by Watts College.

ASU’s Sustainability Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) program provides students with research opportunities to help build their career skills and enhance their competitiveness for jobs and graduate school.

REU in Sustainable Chemistry and Catalysis

Participants in this immersive, 10-week summer research experience will have the opportunity to design, conduct and optimize green chemical transformations while receiving hands-on research mentorship from faculty within ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences.

Sustainability Connect

Find experiential opportunities – research, service learning, clubs, capstones and workshops tailored to sustainability practices – within this community of collaborators that educates students and contributes to sustainability solutions across the globe.

Find exciting research and project opportunities on Handshake. Check out this list of positions that may fit your interests.

ASU Lodestar Center Nonprofit Job Board

Updated daily, the ASU Lodestar Center Nonprofit Job Board is the go-to resource for those seeking nonprofit jobs, internships or new opportunities.

TV Production and Graphics Lab

The Television Production and Graphics Lab is a unique professional program at the Cronkite School where you gain hands-on experience in TV production, and learn to build creative and innovative motion graphics.

The New College Undergraduate Inquiry and Research Experiences program provides New College undergraduate students with opportunities to engage in meaningful research partnerships.

School of Art Research

Browse the research activities coordinated by faculty from the School of Art and get contact information to connect with opportunities they may have.

W.P. Carey Research Centers and Labs

Explore opportunities at W.P. Carey research centers and department-supported labs, where they are conducting the latest research.

New Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab

The New Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab teaches students how to imagine the vast possibilities of information delivery, shows them how to build it, and gives them the skills and confidence to be leaders in innovation.

IgnitED Labs

The IgnitED Labs make up an innovative technology hub that presents interactions, products and services aimed to provide students with pathways to gain new skill sets and mindsets.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)

CRPE is dedicated to meeting the needs of every student by applying transformative and tested ideas in public education to inform important changes in policy and practice.

NSF I-Corps

Through the real-world, hands-on, immersive NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program, you will learn the entrepreneurial skills necessary to identify market opportunities for the discoveries emerging from your research.

College of Health Solutions Research

Participate in research initiatives supported by the College of Health Solutions and make a difference in wellness and health solutions.

Capstones cultivate high-tech opportunities for students and industry

by Learning and Teaching Hub Aug 31, 2020 Latest news

Since its inception eight years ago, the engineering capstone program at The Polytechnic School has made an indelible impression on its graduating seniors, alumni, sponsors and the Valley of the Sun as a whole. A pillar of the school’s engineering curriculum, it has become a rite of passage for seniors as they transition into engineering professionals.

Sponsored capstone projects, or eProjects, give students the opportunity to develop new solutions or improve upon existing engineering solutions based on their industry sponsor’s needs. Backed by engineering faculty and sponsor mentorship, students use the knowledge and skills they’ve learned throughout their undergraduate experience to execute their project. The result directly reflects on their grade and if they graduate. Industry sponsors use the eProject process to gain outside-of-the-box engineering solutions, intellectual property to implement into their company’s operations and as a recruitment tool.

Honeywell Aerospace , one of the valley’s cornerstone aerospace and defense organizations, has sponsored up to eight projects every year for the last several years and has hired many seniors along the way.

“The program is very hands-on and team-based, which aligns well with the real-world business challenges that our young engineers face, so they arrive poised to contribute on day one,” says Rich Barlow, a recently retired senior director for Honeywell and prior industry advisory board chair with The Polytechnic School. “The valley and southern Arizona businesses have really benefited from the quick contributions that these students have provided to their employers. It’s been a win-win!”

EProjects are effective because they mutually benefit the student and the sponsor in various ways. However, the school’s deep-rooted corporate partnerships coupled with a technology-heavy regional advantage and proven track record make the program even more impactful for everyone involved. More than 75 companies have sponsored The Polytechnic School capstone projects since the program launched, and, on average, more than 98% of projects are sponsored each capstone sequence.

Two students demonstrating their capstone project at the fall 2019 Innovation Showcase.

An information technology senior sharing her poster at the spring 2018 Innovation Showcase.

Two aviation students demonstrating their capstone project at the spring 2019 Innovation Showcase.

A Ping-sponsored capstone project called the Range Roamer on display at the fall 2019 Innovation Showcase.

Newcomer Summit Automation sponsored four teams last year and anticipates a long and fruitful future with The Polytechnic School’s engineering capstone program. CEO Patrick Gruetzmacher recently hired three students based on the high level of work they contributed to their eProject.

“The students I hired are awesome — simple as that,” Gruetzmacher says. “The way this program is managed is well thought out. My students figured out a way to think outside of the box, work around barriers and complete the project successfully, which speaks volumes for the engineering department at The Polytechnic School.”

Collins Aerospace has sponsored various projects over the past few years and find immense value in the coaching aspect of the program.

“Our Collins engineers have assigned real problems to the student related to our products and have helped the students refine and build upon their ideas throughout each semester, giving us the opportunity to mentor and develop the next generation of engineers,” says Rebecca Stoner, The Polytechnic School engineering industry advisory board member and Collins Aerospace senior director of engineering.

Engineering Professor and undergraduate Program Chair John Rajadas says, “Year after year, it’s amazing to witness the switch from student to professional. The program equips students with the experience to join the industry with cutting edge skills, a multi-disciplinary outlook and, above all, the aptitude and confidence to work in a professional environment.”

Mechanical engineering alumnus Alexander Razman is now a manufacturing engineer at Lockheed Martin , the company that sponsored his capstone project.

“Capstone was one of the few classes that allowed me to experience how to properly interact with a stakeholder,” he says. “It bridged the gap between an educational setting and an industry environment.”

Northrop Grumman Systems Engineer and engineering alumnus Aaron Dolgin remembers his capstone project fondly because it was one of the most comprehensive capstone projects in The Polytechnic School history.

“Managing a capstone project gave me the tools I needed to succeed in my industry roles,” he says. “It will be a project I remember forever.”

Tim Beatty has been the associate director of the business engagement catalyst at The Polytechnic School for two years after a more than 35-year industry career.

“When industry partners challenge and guide our seniors through real-world engineering demands and share their experience and wisdom along the way, it encourages students to dissect and understand the issue at hand and develop a solution that is driven by a real value proposition,” Beatty says. “It helps transition our students into contributing industry professionals — the engineers of tomorrow — and there is nothing more important than that in today’s world.”

Join us virtually for the Senior Capstone Project Showcase, April 29

April 26, 2022 (Last updated: September 8, 2022 )

For the last two semesters, students majoring in computer science, biomedical engineering, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, computer systems engineering, engineering management and informatics have been working hard on industry- and faculty-sponsored projects to solve real-world problems.

Join us online this Friday, April 29, 2022, to see their projects in action, interact with the students and learn how these engineers plan to change the world.

Senior Capstone Project Showcase Friday, April 29, 2022 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Learn more and attend!

Capstone projects confirm ASU students ready for industry

Gary Werner

Senior Media Relations Officer, Media Relations and Strategic Communications

480-727-5622 [email protected]

An Arizona State University team is working to keep the state’s front-line nonprofit agencies connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security at ASU has been at the forefront of working with partners during the crisis. The center, in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, had already established working relationships with org...

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ASU creates tool to link nonprofit agencies during pandemic response

Center for emergency management and homeland security faculty, students part of statewide collaboration effort.

An Arizona State University team is working to keep the state’s front-line nonprofit agencies connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security at ASU has been at the forefront of working with partners during the crisis. The center, in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions , had already established working relationships with organizations and agencies in Arizona, so when the COVID-19 crisis hit, the team was ready to go.

“Our collaboration with these organizations did not happen ad hoc because of COVID-19,” said Melanie Gall , research professor at ASU and co-director of the center.

“Our center has been a member of Maricopa County’s Community Organizations Active in Disaster group, and we’ve been a partner with the Arizona Volunteer Organization, which has all been in place before COVID-19 hit.”

Melanie Gall 

That regular contact is key to managing any disaster, especially a pandemic, according to Brian Gerber , co-director of the center and director of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security academic program at ASU.

“Natural disasters are limited by time and space, but a pandemic is global and of uncertain duration and the response to it involves literally everyone,” he said.

One major accomplishment of the center is a data dashboard that connects nonprofit organizations and agencies, called the Arizona Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters Situational Awareness Dashboard. AZVOAD is the convening body of all the disaster-relief nonprofit organizations in the state.

On the site, the organizations list what they do and what they need now. Food is the overwhelming need listed, followed by money, water, clothing, hygiene products, disinfectants and volunteers. The United Food Bank listed fuel and transportation. Pet rescue groups need help with animal care. The Arizona State Chaplain Services is asking for counselors.

The site, which lists 309 organizations in Arizona with unmet needs, up from 152 in late April, can inform decision-making on how to match resources with needs.

The dashboard, created by Gall, is based on similar logistics work she and Gerber did with volunteer organizations in Florida after hurricanes in 2017 and 2018.

“We can see on a map who is where and in what area they work,” she said.

“Do they do sheltering or food distribution or manage volunteers? And at the same time, they can say, ‘This is what we need.’”

Brian Gerber 

The center involves students in its work through Emergency Corps at ASU , a program for students in any major to find volunteer, professional or internship opportunities. Emergency Corps is a partnership with several ASU units, including the Public Service Academy, the School of Geographical Studies and Urban Planning, the School of Social Work, Sun Devil Fitness and ASU Health Services.

Danielle Jacobs, a graduate student in computer science, is interested in researching artificial intelligence and how it can predict disaster response, so she had already been in contact with Gerber and Gall when the pandemic hit.

“Everything shut down and they were working around the clock and needed assistance where possible, so I volunteered to pitch in with my skills,” said Jacobs, who is working on building a website for Maricopa County’s Community Organizations Active in Disaster group.

She’s been working several hours a day from home on the programming and is grateful to be able to help out right now.

“It’s been a good learning process and really interesting to find out more about the nonprofits in different communities and what they’re doing to help,” she said.

Gall said the pandemic is different from natural disasters because not everyone in the public can see the devastation.

“In this crisis, journalism is extremely important because that is the mechanism to connect people who don’t have firsthand experience,” she said.

“I can’t think of any other situation where the behavior of the public is as central to mitigating the disaster itself.”

While shocking, the pandemic was not unexpected among emergency-management experts, who plan for every scenario. In December, the Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security co-hosted a global exercise with ASU’s PLuS Alliance partners in which Gerber designed and, with ASU students, executed a simulation of a smallpox outbreak.

The hazard characteristics of this is unique, but the effective response is dependent upon the utilization of the coordination that we have in place,” said Gerber, who is an emergency operations center liaison to the Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management during the COVID-19 response.

“And I will say clearly and expressly that when you deviate from good practice of response management, that’s when you get into trouble.”

Explore the AZVOAD dashboard at    https://arcg.is/0XeaWu0 .

Top image courtesy of Pixabay

Mary Beth Faller

Reporter , ASU News

480-727-4503 [email protected]

Trending on ASU News

Capstone projects confirm ASU students ready for industry

Electrical engineering capstone innovation

by TJ Triolo | May 19, 2023 | Alumni Newsletter , News

Graduating seniors showed off their engineering ingenuity at the Spring 2023 electrical engineering Senior Design Capstone Demo Day

One of the final tasks for graduating electrical engineering seniors in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University is to show off their ability to solve a real-world problem with their skills. To test this ability, students coordinate a capstone group project incorporating electrical engineering.

For the Spring 2023 semester, dozens of teams from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering , part of the Fulton Schools, presented their projects to show off the culmination of years of hard work and dedication required to complete their degrees.

Forty-nine teams of both online and on-campus students displayed their solutions to electrical engineering problems in a variety of fields, including enhancing solar power generation capabilities, detecting toxic carbon monoxide gas, improving mobility for those with visual disabilities and purifying the air of carbon dioxide.

“We emphasize that a project should be comprehensive and integrate multiple areas covered in their coursework,” says James McDonald , an electrical engineering professor of practice in the Fulton Schools. “The project should also be open-ended and challenging.”

McDonald oversees the capstone project program with electrical engineering Professor of Practice Olin Hartin . McDonald oversees Demo Day events for students graduating in the spring semester, while Hartin takes the same role for the fall.

Industry members can also sponsor projects by providing funding and mentoring students. Industry mentors this year included representatives from the Salt River Project , Intel , Honeywell and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency .

Reducing carbon dioxide inside buildings

Mentored by a CIA member, a team of on-campus students built a carbon dioxide, or CO2, scrubber that can reduce levels of the gas in the air.

Carbon dioxide can be harmful to humans at high concentrations. At high levels, the gas can cause nausea, headaches and dizziness, and extreme amounts can even be fatal.

While carbon dioxide scrubber technology currently exists, team member Victoria Lewis explains that those devices have vastly different uses. 

“A lot of CO2 scrubbers on the market are industrial ones that tend to be built into buildings or submarines or spacecraft,” says team member Victoria Lewis. “They’re expensive, they have to be built in place and they’re huge.” 

Lewis adds that current residential devices on the market are typically low-end models with paper or cardboard filters and don’t display how much carbon dioxide is in the room.

The team’s portable device, powered by a rechargeable battery, brings air into a small plastic box and uses soda lime to remove the gas. The product’s small size is optimal for removing carbon dioxide from the air in a residential setting.

A digital display on the outside of the box shows the level of carbon dioxide in the device’s vicinity at any given time. A phone app can also display the level to users at any location.

“This is intended to be a middle of the road model for users where they can move it around from room to room,” Lewis says. “They can get the current data of the CO2 rates in the room and know its status and safety level.”

Making solar arrays adaptable for maximum efficiency

A hybrid team of on-campus and online students, mentored by Fulton Schools Associate Professor of electrical engineering Jennifer Kitchen , designed technology to adjust power routing in arrays of solar panels to generate as much power as possible.

Solar panels that are damaged or covered by shade can significantly detract from the total amount of power output. This project sought to solve the issue by creating technology that shuts off panels in a solar array that aren’t working optimally.

Team member Hudson Reed says that Kitchen used an analogy comparing solar panel arrays to holiday lights: when one bulb goes out, the whole strand doesn’t work. Similarly, when part of a solar array doesn’t work, this causes dramatic drops in output.

Using a combination of programming, microelectronic chips and tiny solar panels, the team created a demonstration with a small fan attached to a mini solar array to show how the program changes which panels are relied on more heavily to generate power on the fly.

Reed uses a theoretical example to show what the technology does: If part of a 20-watt solar array stops working properly because of an issue such as shade, damage or dirt, the output would drop to about 10 watts. Using the team’s optimization technology, the array would then shut off generation from the malfunctioning panel, taking more power in from the panels that are functioning, which would bring the power generation back up to about 18 watts.

This would help extend the lifespan of solar panels for consumers.

“If the panels can change configuration for the most efficient way, then a consumer would most likely keep that product, instead of thinking about replacing it,” Reed says. 

An economical and portable way to detect carbon monoxide

  A team consisting entirely of online students built a wearable carbon monoxide detector for their project. Carbon monoxide is an odorless and toxic gas that can be fatal at much lower levels than carbon dioxide.

While wearable carbon monoxide sensors exist for applications such as safety on industrial sites, the team sought to differentiate theirs by making it at a reasonable cost with a variety of alert types when dangerous gas levels are detected. The device alerts users when it detects hazardous amounts of gas via a built-in OLED screen, audio alerts, LED lights and a notification to a phone app. This is a greater variety of alert methods than many other sensors on the market.

The project’s industry mentor was John Lewis, a technology consultant and retired chief technology officer at CIA Labs . Lewis mentors multiple projects each semester.

Lewis and the CIA also helped with financial sponsorship that enabled each person to build their own sensor device to accommodate their remote locations. 

Overcoming visual impairment with vibrations

Each semester, one electrical engineering capstone team wins the Palais Senior Design Prize. The winning project is selected through judging from a secret panel of attendees at Demo Day and receives a cash prize and a lunch with Professor Emeritus Joseph Palais , who sponsors the prize with his wife Sandra.

This semester’s winner was a team of online students who designed a vest to improve mobility for those with visual impairments. The vest uses lidar technology that employs laser light to “see” a sensor’s surroundings. The technology is often used in autonomous vehicles to navigate their environments.

When the vest’s lidar detects objects, it provides vibrational feedback to the user and alerts them to the obstacle’s location and about how far away it is. This enables visually impaired people to move around with reduced risks of bumping into obstacles.

“One of our teammates put on a blindfold and was able to navigate an obstacle course using only the feedback from the vest,” says Jonathan Lightner, a member of the capstone team.

Lewis also mentored this project team with help from a CIA colleague.

An industry connection

McDonald sees capstone projects as the perfect opportunity for students to get used to working in industry.

“I may be biased because I worked in industry almost my entire career, but I think this course is a perfect introduction to working for a company,” he says. “This is exactly what you will be doing on the job. In this class, you must learn to work together as a team and learn how to manage a project, which includes defining the project scope, the schedule and the budget, just to name a few aspects.”

For the program’s future, McDonald plans to work with his colleague Hartin to incentivize students to form more hybrid teams of on-campus and online students. He believes the collaboration with people in other geographic locations and every team having an on-campus presence for Demo Day will benefit all students by implementing a greater variety of perspectives.

“Over the last several weeks of the spring semester, I learned more about putting on the Demo Day event,” McDonald says. “I’m so grateful for all the support from the teaching assistants, information technology and School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering staff. Putting on such an event would not have been possible without their contributions.”

ECEE Highlights

Read more engineering stories in Full Circle

Learn more about the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Learn more about the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

Behind the camera: Crowdfunding for capstone films made at ASU

For students in the sidney poitier new american film school, the capstone project process is as much a lesson in film as it is in finance.

Lights! Camera! Crowdfund? 

Capstone film projects are the pride of graduating students at ASU's Sidney Poitier New American Film School , but what audiences at Senior Showcase Night may miss while watching the premiere of short films is the extensive budgeting, resourcing and, in some cases, crowdfunding, that took place behind the scenes.

Capstone projects allow students to create original work using the mentorship and resources available through the film school. Capstone films are often the first big directing or producing gig for undergraduate students. The projects bring together students across programs, bolster portfolios and in some cases, the projects go on to film festivals . 

Student film projects are not unique to ASU, with other major American universities like Arizona , Vanderbilt and Georgetown boasting opportunities to bring the vision of film students to life across websites for prospective students. What these websites are less likely to highlight is how these student films get funding. 

For ASU students, the capstone process is as much a lesson in film as it is in finance.

The project begins with the capstone development course, when writers and directors craft scripts. From there, they forge connections with student producers and build a cast and crew. Just like in the film world, this early pre-production stage is also where the money talk starts, said writer and director Meline Guerrero, a senior studying film and media production.

"Our professors gave us a framework. They gave us a couple different companies that deal in financing short films, independent films. From there, we utilized those websites. We used the one called Seed & Spark ," Guerrero said.

Seed & Spark is a favorite among the film students. 

"I personally like the Seed & Spark interface the most. They have the most customization abilities and stuff like that," said writer and director Andrew Merfeld, a senior studying film and media production.  

But there is a big catch to the platform. 

"They require you to raise 80% of your goal in order to keep any of the funds," said Merfeld. "If you don't reach the 80% threshold you don't get to retain any of the money."

Merfeld's film " Astray " met its fundraising goal of $5,000 on the platform. Guerrero and their team made 81% of a $3,300 goal for the film " Catching Smoke ." Another film from their class of soon-to-be graduates, " No Questions Asked ," met its goal of $8,600 on Seed & Spark.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Astray (@astray_film)

The film school provides students with extensive equipment and state of the art sound stages at the MiX Center facility in Mesa, as well as faculty resources and post-production tools. Still, the reality is that students are left to come up with their own funding for a list of production expenses.

"The biggest thing is sitting down and going through every single thing you're going to need for this project down to the food for the cast and crew," said "No Questions Asked" writer and director Ashton Sasse, a senior studying film and media production.

Alongside food, Sasse listed transportation as a major cost for her film, which was partly set in Kingman, a city roughly a three-hour drive north from Phoenix.

Another significant cost is publicity and getting the short film in front of an audience. Even submitting a film for a festival can be costly due to submission fees.

The biggest portion of the "Catching Smoke" budget went to insurance. All of the equipment and sound stages at ASU are insured by the school, but the team had to pay insurance on one of its off-campus sets at a Phoenix park. After that, the director and producer were left paying out of pocket for smaller production costs such as a generator and props from Goodwill, which inevitably added up.

Often the bulk of the fundraising falls on the shoulders of the director and producer and the networks they have. 

"(For 'Catching Smoke') I started out with a friends and family group. As most people do," said Stella Foval, a senior studying film and media production who produced three capstone films including "No Questions Asked" and "Catching Smoke." "I got a list of friends and family from everyone on our team. I wrote a bunch of emails and did a bunch of posting."

Merfeld said "a huge misconception that a lot of people ... have is that you can get financing from just about anyone. And while at the end of the day you might, it's very much more likely that the money you'll get is from people you do already know and the people that they know."

There are unique circumstances when donors fund a film organically. "Catching Smoke" was able to reach a top-tier donor who worked in the film industry in Los Angeles.

According to Guerrero, "a really big part of it is social media, you don't realize how important it is until after it happens … Our No. 1 thing was just make a page for your film … That is kind of what exposes you to anyone else who might see your film."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Catching Smoke 2023 (@catchingsmoke2023)

Though crowdfunding strategies are taught at the film school, not every filmmaker finances that way. 

Jack Streveler, a senior studying film and media production said his film "Remission" was family and personally funded. Streveler kept his budget at $800. 

"I wrote my story as if I were going to make it on a shoestring budget," Streveler said. "I say write small and try to make the most of it. If you're going to be going into a capstone course and you're going to be writing a 10-minute film … that 10 minutes kind of limits your options already."

ASU has two "Friends of Film" scholarships for $250 each, given to the peer-chosen best capstone crowdfunding trailers each year. "No Questions Asked" was awarded one, but that is all of the direct financial support the interviewees received from the school. 

A development coordinator in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts declined to comment on the story.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by No Questions Asked - COMING SOON! (@nqa_film)

According to Foval, "We currently operate under 'all directors who want to be directors get their projects made,' which definitely affects how much money is available in our community for these projects." 

Regarding the overall capstone film financing process, Merfeld said that "the biggest lesson you learn is that film is a business. I mean, as much as it is an art, it's a business as well and you're not going to be able to create the final product if you don't put in the time or pre-production to gain a budget."

As for crowdfunding, Streveler said, "It's a big part of how we finance things and how we actually get things done, which ASU does not provide. But we have to do it ourselves, which isn't bad, it's just the reality of the industry we are going into."

Editor's note: Streveler worked for The State Press from January 2020 until December 2021 in the multimedia department . He did not contribute to the reporting or editing of this story.  

Edited by Claire van Doren, Piper Hansen, Greta Forslund and Grace Copperthite.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] and follow @SophiaBraccio on Twitter. 

Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter. 

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Novel coronavirus information

Fall 2020 update  |  FAQ page  |  Class flexibility for students  |  Novel coronavirus updates

Information Technology Program Capstone is a two-semester comprehensive project experience (IFT401 & IFT402). Students have the opportunity to synthesize and practice what they have learned in the program by undertaking an applied project within the IT industry. It is expected that the students will apply their technical knowledge and professional skills of teamwork and leadership. 

FT 401 presents principles for the strategic management of information technology systems within organizations ranging from assessing the impact of emerging technologies to designing a technology solution. The students will manage the tollgates of the system development life cycle process: systems planning, systems analysis (requirements), and systems design.

IFT 402 presents principles for the operational management of information technology systems within organizations to implement a technology solution. The students will finish the system development life cycle by using AGILE method to implement: coding, testing, and deployment. 

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Senior capstones

Spanning everything from a thesis to a performance to an art exhibit, capstones are culminating experiences, usually in senior year, that bring together the full wealth of a learner’s experiences.

of ASU undergraduate degree recipients graduate with a capstone experience.

Participation in senior capstones improves skills in writing, oral communication, project management, and research.

Senior capstones are “transformative learning experience because of their positive contributions to desired learning outcomes,” and a “high-impact practice”.

Completion of senior capstones demonstrate student mastery and practical application of their chosen field of study.

A New American University

ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.

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Support our SCAI seniors and their hard work

School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

For the last two semesters senior engineering majors have been working hard on industry and faculty sponsored projects to solve real-world problems. Teams work collaboratively to carry ideas from initial design through prototype fabrication, testing and evaluation to validate their solutions. As agents of change, our seniors also consider issues related to ethics, economics, safety and professional practice in their design solutions. Over 150 teams and over 500 students will be presenting their projects at the spring 2024 event on April 25th.

The capstone projects are designed to go beyond the classroom to bridge the gap between industry and education, and is the final educational element that ties together all the engineering, science, and humanities learnings as our students transition to the next phase of their lives. This event is an opportunity for our students, faculty, sponsors, alumni, and guests to come together to celebrate the completion of the projects. 

Your donation will support our bi-annual Capstone Showcase events and provide our senior engineering students the opportunity to highlight and celebrate their culminating team projects with their peers, faculty, industry mentors, family and community members.       

Sponsorship Opportunity

You can also support our students while showcasing your organization as an event sponsor! 

Gold Sponsor  $1,000

• Tabling opportunity at event
• Logo on event signage and website
• Opportunity to include a brief company  description and promotional video on event website 
• Mention in ASU news article and other promotional emails 
• Select winning team based on criteria set by company in partnership with ASU faculty. Company can provide up to 4 judges. Winning teams will be listed on event website after the event.

Silver Sponsor  $500

• Mention in ASU news article and other promotional emails

For more information about sponsorship, please contact Kati Martinez at [email protected] .

Provides encouragement for students showcasing their work

Enables collaboration between student teams

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Provides food for several student teams

Implementation

Provides materials and supplies for the event and projects

Silver Sponsor

Silver level event sponsor

Gold Sponsor

Gold level event sponsor

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Capstone projects confirm student readiness for industry

Posted by Gary Werner | Apr 15, 2020 | Features , Students

Gary Werner

Gary Werner is a senior media relations officer for ASU Media Relations and Strategic Communications. Prior to joining Arizona State University, Gary served as communications director for a Washington state government agency, as a senior nonfiction editor for Penguin Books, and as a newspaper and magazine journalist. Gary earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and in international affairs from the University of Colorado at Boulder, as well as a master’s degree in education from Northwest University. At the beginning of his career, Gary served for six years in the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic submarine fleet. Media Contact: [email protected] | (480) 727-5622 | Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

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Capping a successful undergraduate experience

Asu's senior capstones move up 9 spots in us news and world report rankings.

Designing a space robot as an undergraduate sounds pretty out of this world.

But for John McDougal — the lead systems engineer in one of the School of Earth and Space Exploration's Psyche mission senior capstone projects for the 2019-2020 school year — there were some very down-to-earth aspects that were crucial to master: budget and deadlines.

"It (the capstone project) is a good way to end off the degree — we actually get to apply what we've learned and challenge ourselves. We have a fiscal responsibility, we have a budget, we're not supposed to waste money or time — so it's like the real world," he said, adding that in real life, NASA "wouldn't want us to mess around."

Sometimes referred to as capstone courses or senior thesis, senior capstones are culminating experiences that take place near the end of a student's undergraduate college years. They can take many forms, but they are large, multifaceted projects that integrate knowledge and skills from the student's years of studies. And Arizona State University's senior capstones are gaining national notice: U.S. News & World Report has named ASU to its top 20 for senior capstone experience in its 2021 Best Colleges rankings.

In the rankings released Monday, ASU was No. 19, up from No. 28 last year, the first year that senior capstone was a category. ASU tied with — among others — the Georgia Institute of Technology, and it was ranked ahead of Swarthmore College and Butler University. The ranking is based on a peer survey.

“ASU’s high national ranking in senior capstone experiences signals to students that ASU is committed to creating specialized learning experiences that prepare students to transition into meaningful careers after completing their undergraduate degree,” said Mark S. Searle, ASU’s executive vice president and university provost. “From rigorous research with ASU professors to applied projects with industry sponsors, capstone experiences at ASU are intentionally flexible, so that students apply the knowledge they gained in their undergraduate degree to individual pursuits that fit within their personal career and life objectives.”

More U.S. News & World Report rankings:  ASU ranked No. 1 in innovation for 6th year  |  ASU ranked a top 10 university for 'first-year experiences'  |  Undergraduate business program rises in rankings

McDougal's team designed the anchoring and mining system for a robot on the Psyche asteroid — ASU's real-life Psyche mission will study it from an orbiting spacecraft, but the student team decided to look at the idea of actually landing on the asteroid and digging into it from an anchored position. They floated a number of ideas with capstone and NASA staffers before landing on their design.

That networking is a part of the capstone experience. McDougal — then an exploration systems design senior, now an electrical engineering graduate student with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering — said the teams encountered a number of NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory personnel throughout the yearlong project.  

For Rose Lopez, a mathematics senior last spring, her honors senior capstone helped her meet the source: Carl Pomerance, the inventor of the quadratic sieve algorithm. Lopez's senior capstone looked at that algorithm and the field of cryptography — specifically, at the tactics of the algorithm that balance robustness with speed.

"In this case, we took advantage of Barrett's external examiner option," said Nancy Childress, an associate professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, a faculty member in Barrett, The Honors College, and Lopez's mentor on her capstone. They invited Pomerance to be the third faculty member on Lopez's honors thesis and "she got to interact with him and hear his stories about how it all came about."

Lopez, winner of the 2020 Charles Wexler Mathematics Prize , the highest honor a mathematics undergraduate can receive, is now in her first semester of a PhD program at Berkeley.

At ASU, the senior capstone experiences can take many forms. The following are a few examples. 

• Students in the business data analytics program in the W. P. Carey School of Business have worked with the National Industries for the Blind (determining which factors led to the success of different NIB products), vehicle-management firm RTA Fleet (helping better project inventory demand based on maintenance/repair data) and dental continuing-education company Spear Education (optimizing use of its website and identifying trends that lead to membership).
• In the School of Earth and Space Exploration, students do a two-semester sequence in which they choose from a list of given projects. This year, students will be working on — among other things — building an experiment for a NASA stratospheric balloon to test a new terahertz sensor technology and measure the transparency of the atmosphere in preparation for future missions to observe water around newly forming stars and planets. And in an interdisciplinary capstone done in a larger team along with Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering peers, the school's students will be prototyping a robotic explorer for future surface exploration of the Psyche asteroid.
• In the School of Life Sciences, molecular biosciences and biotechnology majors research a particular biotechnology industry (medical, agricultural, industrial, etc.) and its associated intellectual property, ethics, and regulatory issues. In the end, they prepare a four-minute elevator pitch to launch a startup company to make products for that industry.
• Seniors in the School of Politics and Global Studies explore ethics and politics from new angles. One of this year's projects seeks to understand how exposure to different media on police brutality can affect people's attitudes and drive social change, and another thesis will look at whether people would put their own self-interest above all when building a political system or whether philosopher John Rawls' "veil of ignorance" would win out. 

The senior capstone is a chance for students to apply the tools and skills they've been learning all along in a real-world way, said Jason Nichols, assistant chair of the Department of Information Systems and a clinical associate professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business. His CIS 440 students work from a list of broad "problem spaces" — such as getting actionable and honest feedback from employees — that was developed with the input of USAA financial services company.

Working with actual companies and actual issues grounds what the students have been learning all along, Nichols said.

"It's a chance to step back and see the big picture and see how everything they've learned works together to bring value to them and the organization," he said. "... We approach it from the standpoint that the sum is greater than the parts — it's not just 'tick the boxes,' but combine them creatively to create value."

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Senior Capstone Experience

A Culminating Academic Opportunity

Congratulations!

You are starting your Senior Capstone Experience! This means you’re taking the next step toward graduating from ASU at Lake Havasu. This also means that you are beginning a journey that culminates your undergraduate experience, represents the quality of your academic commitment, and affords opportunity for reward.

The Senior Capstone Experience will enrich your scholarly achievements. Working closely with faculty is an opportunity to engage with professors who are not only nationally recognized in their fields, but are also specifically interested and committed to working with undergraduate students at ASU at Lake Havasu. Our faculty are committed to your success.

• Capstone Master List with Abstracts

Capstone Projects: Silver Class

Psyche capstone partnered with colleges and universities across the country during the 2022-2023 academic year, including Arizona State University (ASU), California State University – Los Angeles (CSULA), Florida A&M University-Florida State University (FAMU-FSU), Michigan State University (MSU), Oregon State University (OSU), Pennsylvania State University – Behrend (Penn State – Behrend), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT), University of Arkansas (U Ark), University of California – Irvine (UCI), University of Georgia (UGA), University of Texas – Tyler (UTT), and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

Silver Class (2022-2023)

• AR/WebXR for Public Engagement ( ASU-A ),( ASU-B ),( ASU-C ),( ASU-D ), ( Penn State – Behrend-A ), ( Penn State – Behrend-B )
• Hypothesized Surface: Future Power Solutions for Exploring Hypothesized Surfaces ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( ASU-C ), ( ASU-D ), ( UGA-A ), ( Penn State – Behrend-A )
• Art: Art & Exhibit Archiving ( MSU )
• Art: Public Arts Activity Analysis and Implementation Planning ( MSU )
• Interdisciplinary Project Marketplace ( MSU )
• Hypothesized Surface: ISRU for Hypothesized Surfaces ( Penn State – Behrend-A )
• Hypothesized Surface: Landing System for Hypothesized Surfaces ( U-Ark-A ), ( ASU-A ), ( RHIT-A ), ( OSU-A ), ( OSU-B )
• Hypothesized Surface: Robotic Explorer for Hypothesized Surfaces ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( UTT-A ), ( UTT-B ), ( OSU-A ), ( UGA-A )
• Hypothesized Surface: Sample Acquisition from Hypothesized Surfaces ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( UTT-A ), ( RHIT-A ), ( UGA-A )
• Hypothesized Surface: Sample Return from Hypothesized Surfaces ( ASU-A )
• Interactive Psyche Mission Museum Display ( RIT-A ), ( FAMU-FSU-A )
• Iron Meteorite Imaging System ( RIT-A )
• Near-IR Detector for Optical Comms ( ASU-A )
• Promotional Visuals ( ASU-A )
• Solar Wind Prediction Using Machine Learning ( VCU-A )
• Spacecraft AR in Museum Spaces ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B )
• Visualizing a Year in the Life of Psyche ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( ASU-C )
• Web-Based Game ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( ASU-C ), ( ASU-D ), ( ASU-E ), ( ASU-F ), ( ASU-G ), ( Tour de Space ), ( ASU-I ), ( Penn State – Behrend-A ), ( Penn State – Behrend-B ), ( UCI-A ), ( UCI-B )
• Web Portal to Psyche Web-Based Games ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B )
• VR Space Game ( ASU-A ), ( ASU-B ), ( ASU-C )

View a list of 2022-2023 participants

Copper Class (2021-2022)

Copper Class capstone projects Copper Class participants and universities

Nickel Class (2020-2021)

Nickel Class capstone projects Nickel Class participants and universities

Cobalt Class (2019-2020)

Cobalt Class capstone projects Cobalt Class participants and universities

Iron Class (2018-2019)

Iron Class capstone projects Iron Class participants and universities

Titanium Class (2017-2018)

Titanium Class capstone projects Titanium Class participants