harvard university capstone project

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SEAS Design & Project Fair

• Engineering Design Projects (ES 100)

ES 100 is a year-long capstone course for Harvard seniors. Each student in the course designs and completes a creative project that solves a specific, real-world problem.

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• Coupling Multiple Particle Levitation with Mass Spectrometry: Simulation and Assessment of the Quadrupole Design
• SmartPass: a Non-Contact COVID-19 Screening System
• Modeling Enzymatic Recycling of Carbon Dioxide in Akaline Electrolytes
• Estill County Water District Distribution System Hydraulic Model

Title : Coupling Multiple Particle Levitation with Mass Spectrometry: Simulation and Assessment of the Quadrupole Design

Members : Amy Brooke

About : Chemistry in atmospheric aerosol particles affects climate and human health. Particle levitation is a novel experimental approach in atmospheric research, enabling the study of chemistry in authentic surrogates of atmospheric aerosols. Such controlled, multi-day studies that attain a high chemical specificity can be achieved using single-particle levitation coupled to mass spectrometry. High measurement uncertainty due to slow experimental throughput is a major limitation of the technique, which could be improved with levitation of multiple particles simultaneously, but this requires evaluation. In this work, the methodology of coupling multiple particle levitation in a linear electrodynamic quadrupole to mass spectrometry is investigated through an assessment of the stable trapping and sequential retrieval of multiple particles, using the ion optics field and trajectory software SIMION. Two designs, a capped linear quadrupole and a segmented quadrupole are evaluated and compared. Using technical specifications developed with the client, optimal operation procedures are established to reduce particle deviation and instability and increase retrieval efficiency. The parameter space, which consists of electric field parameters and the purge gas rate, was evaluated and its sensitivity to mass assessed. Both designs accomplish trapping and retrieval of at least five particles simultaneously. Therefore, we find that coupling multi-particle levitation in a quadrupole with mass spectrometry is a feasible methodology, capable of enhancing the throughput of current instrumentation. Furthermore, it is especially reliable when using the novel segmented quadrupole design, over the capped linear quadrupole design, which enables a highly systematic particle retrieval mechanism with a 100% retrieval efficiency.

Title : SmartPass: a Non-Contact COVID-19 Screening System

Members : Jamie Caines, Daniela Villafuerte

About : SmartPass is a non-contact COVID-19 screening system for building entry that records and analyzes vital signs as well as performs face mask detection for users seeking entrance. It uses these data in an algorithm to determine clearance for the user.

Title : Modeling Enzymatic Recycling of CO in Alkaline Electrolytes

Members : John Daley

About : A potential strategy for meeting long term climate goals is electrochemical reduction of CO2 using renewable energy. One key barrier to the commercial viability of this strategy is the loss of CO2 gas from the anolyte through a multi-step chemical process. The goal of this project is to design a novel gas diffusion electrode system that incorporates a carbonic anhydrase catalyst for efficient recycling of CO2 from alkaline electrolytes. The design will be modeled using COMSOL Software to optimize chemical and physical parameters. Ultimately, the Nocera lab will use these results to build and test a physical CO2 electrolyzer.

Title : Estill County Water District Distribution System Hydraulic Model

Members : Caleb Stickney

About : A hydraulic model of the Estill County Water District drinking water distribution system developed in the KYPIPE software, useful for identifying problem locations and optimizing distribution system functionality

• Pollution-Minimal Energy Storage: A Mechanical Battery for Application in Human-Powered and Lightweight Transport
• Design, Model, and Characterization of Actuated appendage for HAMR
• Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy for Treatment of Early-Stage Oral Cancer in Low Resource Settings
• Design and Validation of an Easily Machined CubeSat Structure

Title : Pollution-Minimal Energy Storage: A Mechanical Battery for Application in Human-Powered and Lightweight Transport

Members : Charles Biggs

About : This project was centered on designing a mechanical battery that is competitive with modern batteries but which does not require the mining of environmentally damaging materials. It is meant to replace or at least compete with modern electric transportation solutions.

Title : Design, Model, and Characterization of Actuated appendage for HAMR

Members : Kahlil Wassell

About : This project involved the design and testing of an actuated tail for the micorobot HAMR that would help with bump traversal.

Title : Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy for Treatment of Early-Stage Oral Cancer in Low Resource Settings

Members : Jessica DeVilla

About : India has long been regarded as the oral cancer capital of the world where it accounts for over 30% of all reported cancers in the country. Due the lack of medical infrastructure, the burden of oral cancer in rural areas is especially high. To improve treatment access and efficacy in low resource settings, recent efforts have involved the development of low-cost, smartphone-based modalities for delivery of photodynamic therapy (PDT), a non-invasive method of oral cancer treatment and imaging. The aim of this project was to improve upon an existing platform for PDT delivery by implementing an automated image processing pipeline for oral tumor image analysis and treatment monitoring. An algorithm was developed to identify regions of interest from a clinical dataset and to output tumor parameters relevant for treatment monitoring and evaluation. This work presents a significant advancement to a low-cost oral cancer treatment delivery and monitoring platform which would contribute to improved treatment outcomes and quality of life in patients with cancer in low resource settings.

Title : Design and Validation of an Easily Machined CubeSat Structure

Members : Joseph Sanchez

About : To address the issues of cost vs time spent on CubeSats in hopes of increasing the mission success rate, I developed an easily manufactured CubeSat structure and have released its design under an opensource hardware license.

• Out of Bounds Detection: Live Electrical Positional Tracking of a Soccer Ball
• Automated and Self-Contained Aerobic Composter for Home Use
• Buoyancy Control Unit (BCU) for Soft Robotics Education Kit

Title : Out of Bounds Detection: Live Electrical Positional Tracking of a Soccer Ball

Members : Fahad Alkhaja

About : This project is an electronic position tracking system that aims to detect whether a soccer ball is out of bounds by live tracking its position on a field using a combination of both GPS and IMU. This system, when placed in a soccer ball, will help referees make accurate decisions faster and eliminate the need for inconclusive video replays. Three corners of a soccer field are saved as calibration points. Then, field dimensions are calculated and the position detection algorithm is able to position the ball on the field and make the out of bounds determination and transmit that result.

Title : Automated and Self-Contained Aerobic Composter for Home Use

Members : Eileen Egolf

About : For this project I design a small-scale composter intended for residential use to address the problem of landfilled food waste. The composter is designed to be used indoors like a typical kitchen trash can and can accommodate the continuous addition of food waste from an average household. If widely used, this composter could significantly reduce the environmental impact of landfilled food waste.

Title : JazzMaster

Members : Alexander Mariona

About : JazzMaster is an automated accompaniment system for jazz music which is capable of generating a musically-appropriate harmony in real time for a musician who is playing a jazz melody, including improvisations.

Title : Buoyancy Control Unit (BCU) for Soft Robotics Education Kit

Members : Robert Jomar Malate

About : In order to expand the underwater functionality of a soft robot mermaid prototype, I developed a buoyancy control unit (BCU) to control the depth of the robot. This BCU provides a foundation for future functionality to be built onto the robot. As part of the Soft Robotics Toolkit, this robot is part of a greater effort to design a soft robotics education kit, aimed at introducing students to the field of soft robotics. 

• Modeling an Electric-Powered Jet Propulsion System for Commercial Aviation Applications
• Low-Cost, Educational Wind Tunnel
• Optimization of Multi-family Housing Designed with Earth and Concrete
• Engineering Pulmonary Monocusp Leaflets for Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Reconstruction in Neonates

Title : Modeling an Electric-Powered Jet Propulsion System for Commercial Aviation Applications

Members : Ahmad Saaid

About : This project consists of a series of exploratory computational models of a novel electric jet propulsion technology which utilizes a microwave ionization system to generate a plasma jet by ionizing an injected stream of high-pressure air. The Microwave Air Plasma Propulsion concept is based on the paper “Jet Propulsion by Microwave Air Plasma in the Atmosphere”, published by Ye et al. in May 2020

Title : Low-Cost, Educational Wind Tunnel

Members : John Schmidt

About : My ES100 project was on the design of a low-cost, educational wind tunnel for undergraduate institutions. A lot of work was done with the computational fluid dynamics software COMSOL to iterate on the geometry and structure of the wind tunnel, while some work was done on simulating a power plant setup with a physical build. The finished project included 3D models of the full wind tunnel with a bill of materials listing each part. This was definitely a great learning experience in being resourceful, especially considering that everything was done at home. A full, final physical build is shown.

Title : Optimization of Multi-family Housing Designed with Earth and Concrete

Members : Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke

About : The outcome of this project was a software for generating optimal parameters defining structural and facade systems for multi-story homes in order to minimize their financial and environmental cost, while maximizing indoor comfort of occupants. The technique hinged on designing to the strengths of concrete, the world's most popular building material, and compressed earth, its more sustainable alternative.

Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke recording (video)

Title : Engineering Pulmonary Monocusp Leaflets for Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Reconstruction in Neonates

Members : Nina Uzoigwe

About : This thesis presents a geometrically optimized pulmonary monocusp leaflet for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in neonates. With isotropic material properties resembling expanded poly-tetrafluoroethylene, it was adjusted for free edge length and axial height based on dynamic mesh simulations within COMSOL Multiphysics Software. This was performed until markers of pulmonary regurgitation, namely orifice size during maximum closure and coaptation height with the vessel wall, were less than 1% and greater than 3mm, respectively, during a 15-20% increase in vessel diameter. This novel work presents the first leaflet of its kind that can withstand wider vessel diameters resulting from patient growth.

• Trike Eco-Car
• Exploiting Multi-Agent Cumulative Reward to Speed Up Reinforcement Learning
• A Fully Synthesizable Phase-Locked Loop
• A Probabilistic In-band network Telemetry CHeckER (PITCHER)

Title : Trike Eco-Car

Members : Allan Cramblitt

About : A look at developing an automotive prototype with reverse three wheel and tandem passenger seating design for improved fuel consumption values.

Title : Exploiting Multi-Agent Cumulative Reward to Speed Up Reinforcement Learning

Members : Victor Qin

About : Future robotic systems are multi-agent systems, comprised of smaller robotic systems that required deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods to control. While these methods are powerful, they require a lot of data, and current parallel RL methods (where multiple agents try to solve the same problem) depend on piling together data and updates to make better policies. I designed a new parallel RL method that builds better global policies by taking a weighted average of all agent policies, and tested it on a inverted pendulum and quadcopter environment. My method showed good improvement over the single-agent RL algorithm, with potential to demonstrate these improvements on more algorithms and platforms.

Title : A Fully Synthesizable Phase-Locked Loop

Members : Matthew Giles

About : I design a circuit that takes in a 50 MHz reference clock signal and steps it up to 800 MHz to form a clock signal that will be used within a chip design project that a research group on campus is working on. The circuit used is a phase-locked loop (or PLL), and this particular design is made using only digital circuitry and can be synthesized using only standard logic cells, which are the building blocks of digital electronics.

Title : A Probabilistic In-band network Telemetry CHeckER (PITCHER)

Members : Gabriele Oliaro

About : The goal of this project is to design a real-time telemetry software (PITCHER), with an accuracy that is comparable to the In-Band Network Telemetry (INT) framework, and a greatly reduced reporting rate. In particular, the proposed solution will aim to render the INT collectors capable of automatically filtering redundant or irrelevant telemetry information out, and reporting only the data pointing to some new network event. PITCHER will be useful to network operators, data-center administrators, and internet service providers to perform real-time network monitoring.

• Indoor Composting Chamber for Apartment Dwellers

Title : Indoor Composting Chamber for Apartment Dwellers

Members : Araceli Marcial

About : A gravity-fed, mechanical composting chamber was designed to address the need for indoor composting solutions.

• Applied Computation
• Introduction to Electrical Engineering (ES 50)
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Guide to the ALM Capstone Project

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• Course Catalog
• Frequently Asked Questions

When can I start?

Once you are admitted to the program, you can begin topic discussion with your research advisor, Kathy Jones. We encourage you to think about a topic early on in your program because your capstone project could inform your course selection. In addition, we recommend that you choose an area of interest within museum studies to focus your studies. Optional focus areas include: business of museums, collections and care, exhibition design and develop, museum education, or technology.

How do I choose a topic?

Topics should be firmly grounded in the scholarly literature of museum studies and pertinent to the issues and trends of the field.  The topic should be one that will support your academic and career goals.  It may be related to your internship, if you choose to do one, but this is not required. See Past Capstone Titles for inspiration as well as Literature reviews.

How long will it take?

You are required to register for the Capstone Proposal Tutorial, have your topic approved, and submit the first draft of your capstone proposal at the start of the semester before capstone registration (summer semester for fall capstone and fall semeester for spring capstone).  For specific deadlines, see Timeline. It is important to remember that a well researched and structured capstone proposal--research plan--sets the stage for a strong capstone, worthy of a Harvard degree, and one that you'll be proud to share with your professional network.  Once you are in the capstone course, doing the research and writing the capstone paper will take one semester.  If your work will involve surveys or interviews, prior to the start of the capstone, you may be required to submit your research plan to Harvard’s Committee on the Use of Human Subjects .  If you don't plan well in advance, waiting for approval from the Human Subjects Committee can create a delay in project approval.

Who will advise me?

You will meet with Kathy Jones, your research advisor, to discuss possible topics and to finally choose a topic.  During the capstone proposal tutoiral, you will submit multiple drafts of the proposal document to Kathy Jones, who will offer mentoring and guidance. During the capstone course you will work closely with the instructor, Kathy Jones, and you will have the option to receive advise from a content expert, either a museum studies instructor or Harvard University museum professional. The selection of the content expert is made in conversation with Kathy Jones, your research advisor. You may offer her suggestions.

What is the Capstone Proposal Tutorial?

The tutorial introduces critical precursors to research project design, and it is where you receive one-on-one advice from Kathy Jones on your individual capstone proposal. It is a structured, semester-long advising session to ensure that your capstone project is well deisgned prior to start of the capstone course. You need to begin the capstone course ready to engage in research, not still planning how you'll go about the research. While the tutorial is noncredit, your due diligence throughout the semester is required. If you do not have an approved proposal or a proposal that is close to being approved by the semester’s withdrawal deadline, you’ll need to withdraw from the course, delay capstone registration, and re-take the capstone proposal tutorial again in a future semester.

How do I submit my proposal for approval?

You register for Capstone Proposal Tutorial the semester before your capstone registration--during the summer registration period (March), for the fall capstone and during the fall registration period (July) for the spring capstone. But you should have had several meetings and discussions with Kathy about your topic ideas since admission to the program. The first draft of the capstone proposal is due at the beginning of the tutorial. See Timeline for specific dates (ordinarily in May for the summer tutorial and in October for the fall tutorial).

Is there a prize for the best capstone?

Yes! The Dean’s Prize for Outstanding ALM Capstone in museum studies recognizes work that embodies the highest level of scholarship and is presented at the diploma-awarding ceremony in May.

• Choosing a Topic
• Research Methods
• Precapstone Tutorial
• MUSE E-599 Past Capstone Titles
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Use of Human Subjects

Data Science: Capstone

To become an expert you need practice and experience..

Show what you’ve learned from the Professional Certificate Program in Data Science.

What You'll Learn

To become an expert data scientist you need practice and experience. By completing this capstone project you will get an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills in R data analysis that you have gained throughout the series. This final project will test your skills in data visualization, probability, inference and modeling, data wrangling, data organization, regression, and machine learning.

Unlike the rest of our Professional Certificate Program in Data Science , in this course, you will receive much less guidance from the instructors. When you complete the project you will have a data product to show off to potential employers or educational programs, a strong indicator of your expertise in the field of data science.

The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world. By the end of the course, participants will understand the following concepts:

• How to apply the knowledge base and skills learned throughout the series to a real-world problem
• How to independently work on a data analysis project

Your Instructors

Rafael Irizarry

Professor of Biostatistics at Harvard University Read full bio.

Ways to take this course

When you enroll in this course, you will have the option of pursuing a Verified Certificate or Auditing the Course.

A Verified Certificate costs $149 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate. 

Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums.  Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.

Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra

Learn to use R programming to apply linear models to analyze data in life sciences.

High-Dimensional Data Analysis

A focus on several techniques that are widely used in the analysis of high-dimensional data.

Introduction to Bioconductor

Join Harvard faculty in this online course to learn the structure, annotation, normalization, and interpretation of genome scale assays.

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Carly Yingst

The handout for my capstone project summarizes a major part of my year's work as pedagogy fellow: the redesign of the syllabus for the English department's teaching colloquium. In response to a new sequence of proseminars in our department--one of which now directly addresses professional development, formerly a topic covered in the teaching colloquium--the new course-head and I collaborated to develop a new pedagogy curriculum, one which now devotes more time teaching practice (in the form of weekly teaching demos) and developing more robust community conversations around pedagogy. I also had several discussions with this year's teaching colloquium cohort throughout the year, asking them for feedback on the course’s new approach with an eye toward identifying ways that future leaders of the colloquium can continue to build on the foundations this year's new syllabus laid for encouraging practice and community conversations. These potential new directions--including encouraging early teaching practice, building an informal peer TF mentorship program, and developing a teaching resource bank--are outlined on the second page of the handout.

View Carly's capstone project.

Michael Allen

My capstone project is the slide deck for a job talk I gave at the University of Leeds in the UK. The position I was interviewing for—part lecturer in English, part pedagogy consultant—required me to synthesize and apply the insights of the Bok Center to a very different educational context. As I prepared this talk in consultation with the English faculty, I strove to speak to two different audiences: first, faculty who were enthusiastic about the application of pedagogical research and methods; second, faculty who wanted a colleague grounded (only?) in traditional humanistic inquiry. In response, I adopted a hybrid approach. For example, in answering the question “how will you transform our teaching?”, I drew on the philosopher L.A. Paul’s influential definition of transformative experiences and linked that to the pedagogical research supporting the value of fostering a growth mindset in students.

View Michael's capstone project.

Alex Creighton

In my dual roles as Bok Pedagogy Fellow and FAS Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Fellow, I served as a consultant for various English Department initiatives meant to foster a culture of diversity and inclusivity. I collated resources and presented on best practices for creating diverse and inclusive syllabi ; I came up with a preliminary reading list to supplement the department's G3 Pedagogy Seminar (English 350); and I served as a consultant on the Development Committee, whose goal is to improve departmental culture. Through these efforts, I have helped in creating a foundation for future departmental D.I.B. efforts.

View Alex's capstone project.

Christopher Spaide

The purpose of my capstone project, an ongoing Canvas website titled Pedagogy in English, is twofold. For G3s in English becoming first-time Teaching Fellows, Pedagogy in English serves as the full course website for the required pedagogy seminar English 350: Teaching and Professional Development Colloquium, complete with overviews of weekly topics, assignments, relevant links, sample teaching materials, and pedagogy resources. And for English graduate students at any stage of their careers, Pedagogy in English offers an evolving repository of readings, sample teaching and job materials, FAQs, and links to resources inside English, across the university generally, and outside of Harvard.

View Christopher's capstone project.

Data Science: Capstone

Show what you’ve learned from the Professional Certificate Program in Data Science.

Associated Schools

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

What you'll learn.

How to apply the knowledge base and skills learned throughout the series to a real-world problem

Independently work on a data analysis project

Course description

To become an expert data scientist you need practice and experience. By completing this capstone project you will get an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills in R data analysis that you have gained throughout the series. This final project will test your skills in data visualization, probability, inference and modeling, data wrangling, data organization, regression, and machine learning.

Unlike the rest of our Professional Certificate Program in Data Science, in this course, you will receive much less guidance from the instructors. When you complete the project you will have a data product to show off to potential employers or educational programs, a strong indicator of your expertise in the field of data science.

Instructors

Rafael Irizarry

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Data Science: Inference and Modeling

Learn inference and modeling: two of the most widely used statistical tools in data analysis.

Data Science: Probability

Learn probability theory — essential for a data scientist — using a case study on the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

High-Dimensional Data Analysis

A focus on several techniques that are widely used in the analysis of high-dimensional data.

Soumya Ghosh: CMP Capstone Defense

• Event date April 23, 2024
• Event time 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
• Add To: Google Calendar | Outlook | iCal File
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Some Resonances Soumya Ghosh, PhD Candidate, Physics

Location: ArtLab, 140 N Harvard St, Boston

CMP Capstone Committee:  chukwumaa Visiting Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies

Marko Lončar Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering

The wave nature of sound or light is not directly apparent or apprehendable in most of our interactions with them. In my research on nanophotonic systems, I mentally project myself into the frame of reference of light waves as they travel through various structures nano-sculpted in a crystal, visualizing or intuiting how their frequency contents and relative phases change through their interactions with structured media. This projection or visualization process of exploration is a nonverbal aspect of physics research which is not typically externalized or presented as part of a finished research product. My CMP capstone piece is the latest in a series of experiments I have undertaken using sound and space to externalize this internal process of projection in spaces with a variety of acoustic properties.

Any bounded volume of matter in space gives rise to a set of acoustic resonances – wavelengths at which a traveling soundwave copies itself as it reflects between two facing walls, resulting in a self-reinforcing standing wave whose peaks and troughs oscillate in place. The long wavelengths at which room resonances occur are on the order of the size of the human body; thus, the structure of a standing wave established in a room can be explored by walking around inside of it.

In this iteration of my experimental practice, I use carefully positioned loudspeakers to excite different pairs of acoustic resonances in an otherwise empty room. The different standing waves interfere with one another to produce a complex structure or landscape of loud and quiet points at different frequencies which can only be found using one’s somatic and aural faculties. I invite you to investigate this structure as a type of kinetic sculpture, trying to perceive the overall shape of the waves and seeking points of interest, loudness, silence, comfort and discomfort.

• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• Faculty of Arts & Sciences Libraries

Soviet history: archival resources at Harvard university library and archives

• Comintern Archive
• Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State
• Revolution and Civil War
• Trotsky Papers
• The Stalin Era
• Smolensk Archive
• Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System
• Soviet Information Bureau Photograph Collection
• Communist Party - Miscellaneous Records 1941-1990
• Andrei Sakharov Archives
• Cold War Project Archival Materials
• José María Castañé Collection
• Soviet/Post-Soviet Ephemera Collections
• Ukrainian Archival Materials
• Judaica archival materials
• Western archives
• Open access

Comintern Archive (Third Communist International), 1917-1940

Filmed at the former central Communist Party archive in Moscow (Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsialnoi i politicheskoi istorii -- RGASPI), this collection consists of records of the Communist International. Series I contains records of congresses, Series II of plenums. Both series include materials of the preparatory and working commissions, stenographic reports of meetings, draft presentations and reports, and data on delegates. Many of the draft documents include marginal comments by major Soviet leaders, including I. V. Stalin.

Comintern Archive: resources

• Finding aid
• Related collection

Comintern archive: inventory to the collection

CD-ROM containing an inventory (finding aid) of the entire collection, identifying location of materials from each congress and plenum by microfiche card number. Also includes an introduction to the collection and a searchable index of persons and topics.

Series 1: Comintern archive -- Congresses, 1919-1935

Contains records of the 1st-7th congresses of Comintern held in Moscow 1919-1935.

7475 microfiches

The indexes to the congresses are found on the following fiches:

Fiche 1 : 1st congress--1919

Fiche 30 : 2nd congress--1920

Fiche 240-242 : 3rd congress--1921

Fiche 860-862 : 4th congress--1921-1922

Fiche 1793-1795 : 5th congress--1923-1924

Fiche 2406-2410 : 6th congress--1927-1929

Fiche 4718-4722 : 7th congress--1934-1935

Series 2: Comintern archive -- Plenums.

7084 microfiches

Each plenum section is preceded by index.

Organization:

Fiches 1-80 -- Plenum I, 1922

Fiches 81-128 -- Plenum II, 1922

Fiches 129-279 -- Plenum III, 1923

Fiches 280-297 -- Plenum IV, 1924

Fiches 298-908 -- Rasshirennyĭ plenum V, 1925

Fiches 909-1686 -- Rasshirennyĭ plenum VI, 1925-1926

Fiches 1687-2862 -- Rasshirennyĭ plenum VII, 1926-1927

Fiches 2863-3153 -- Plenum VIII, 1927

Fiches 3154-3544 -- Plenum IX, 1928

Fiches 3545-4346 -- Plenum X, 1929

Fiches 4347-4961 -- Plenum XI, 1930-1931

Fiches 4962-6245 -- Rasshirennyĭ plenum XII, 1932-1933

Fiches 6246-7084 -- Rasshirennyĭ plenum XIII, 1933-1934

Comintern Archives: files of the Communist Party of Mexico

29 microfilm reels

Contents note: "The original documents have been filmed with the equipment of IDC Publishers at the Russian State Archive of Political and Social History (RGASPI), Moscow."

Files in collection are numbered: Fond 495, Opis' 108, Delo 1-230.

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• Last Updated: Oct 26, 2023 6:39 PM
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Cool Course: The Capstone Project for the MA in Teaching

• Posted by by Carrie Lynn Hawthorne
• April 22, 2024

“There’s a sense of fear that teachers have about getting their kids to think critically, or really challenge the narratives that are the common tropes that we hear, that aren’t actually true,” says Heather Cheney. This fear can come from trying to find ways to tackle difficult subjects like environmental catastrophes and wars, but it also comes out of the fear of discipline from state laws and local school boards that are increasingly targeting teachers with disciplinary action for, in some cases, teaching about slavery, gender identity, and LBGTQIA+ communities. As Cheney explains it, this fear and the silence it causes can stop teachers from “getting kids to think more critically about history and to think about links between what’s broadly happening in the world and how it affects their day-to-day lives.”

Today, Cheney works to resist this pattern and instead encourage critical thinking in her roles as Core Faculty in Antioch University’s School of Education and Co-Director of the Seattle-based MA in Teaching . And one of the key ways faculty in this program encourage teachers in training to resist the forces of fear and silencing is through the Capstone Project. 

The Capstone Project is a student-driven project focusing on a topic of particular interest to students. In the course, which was developed by and is often taught by Caryn Park, faculty encourage student teachers to take what they have learned about teaching and put it all together to act as changemakers in their schools and in their communities.

A Project Combining Math and Storytelling

“Capstone allowed me to merge what I learned in the program with who I want to become as a teacher,” says Cheneka Shannon, an alum of MA in Teaching program. Shannon used her Capstone Project to explore using the power of storytelling to help teach math. 

For Shannon, this was a problem that affected her own classroom. She was teaching second graders, and gradually, she realized that she was having as much trouble teaching math as her students were having understanding it.

Shannon decided to experiment with using storytelling to help her students who were struggling with math—this was not only a way to provide them with a very human connection, but it was also an opportunity to use diverse texts to help BIPOC students feel seen. Stories, she reasoned, are how we connect with people, and they’re also a great way to get kids to remember information. 

The experiment was broadly a success. Using stories that spoke to students’ identities and interests taught Shannon the impact of putting the student first, not the curriculum. Shannon reflects, “I learned the importance of making sure all scholars, especially those who are marginalized, are prioritized and given space to feel seen and heard in my class.” 

When she wrote up her report on the capstone project, she realized that it also started out with once upon a time . It was another powerful story to tell. Explains Shannon, “I wanted to navigate my audience through my journey, starting from who my students were—brilliant, diverse, funny—to how I taught most of the content areas using stories, to being very candid about my struggle with teaching math.”  

Teaching as Social Activism

Cheney sees teaching as a form of social activism, and she says that today, we need the people educating our children to be fearless and to stand up for what’s right. That’s why so many of the programs in Antioch’s School of Education center around anti-racism and social justice. As MA in Teaching students come to the end of the one-year program, they have so many ideas around these topics. The Capstone Project offers a perfect chance to dig deeper into a topic and put it into action.

Cheney hopes these projects help teachers realize their own agency and the importance of sharing their gifts with their students. Today, many public schools require teachers to follow pre-written lesson plans that remove much of the creativity of teaching. “Especially as a new teacher, you feel vulnerable and think, I can’t take a risk, I can’t go off-script,” says Cheney. She says that at the start of a teaching career, it can feel overwhelming to jump into such weighty topics. She sees teachers telling themselves, “These things are just too big, and I don’t know enough about them to really dig into these questions.”  

But Cheney encourages new teachers to do just that—to dig into the big ideas. And she explains that when they do, not only do their students learn from them, but so do their fellow teachers. As she says, “I think what they gain most from each other is inspiration and courage.” 

For Cheney, the best thing about the Capstone Project is, as she puts it, the way that it “connects students’ vision and mission as social justice educators to the real needs of the context that they find themselves in and allows them to go deeper into those particulars.” Each project is different, but they share the characteristic of responding to the social justice needs of students and communities.

Shannon agrees that this is important. She says that as education becomes more politicized, “it has become much harder to safely teach with social justice as the foundation.” The Capstone Project can offer students a key testing ground.

“I think public education can be a space where we can move toward a more just society,” says Cheney. “And I think part of a thriving democracy is having a space where no information is put aside because it might make people in power uncomfortable, critical thinking is embraced, and important questions are asked about whether we’re living up to our best selves.”

Carrie Lynn Hawthorne

Carrie Lynn Hawthorne is a writer and mother from Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in  Cultural Daily, The Hennepin Review, The Sunlight Press,  and elsewhere. She is an MFA candidate at Antioch University Los Angeles. For links to her recent publications, visit  carrielynnhawthorne.com .

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Capstone Project- 2024

Over the course of my second year at The Ohio State University, I worked very closely with the people who run Dream Center in the short north. I volunteered over 36 hours at Dream Center as I went weekly on Mondays. Dream Center is run through Rock City Church which helps the unhoused. They provide clothing, hygiene products, and hot meals to those in need. Most of the time I worked Monday mornings. I would help the other volunteers make breakfast. I learned a lot about teamwork during these times. We would divide and conquer to make a lovely meal. It seemed like I was in a new position every week, which I appreciated. I loved learning the ropes of Dream Center and feeling like a regular there. The organization of dividing up work was really helpful for the volunteers and the guests. When we worked well together, the guests had a much better and more efficient experience. I was so grateful to get this opportunity to connect with my community. When you are in college it is hard to get a sense of perspective outside your campus. Dream Center has helped me understand what really goes on in Columbus as a city. I have met so many people and heard their stories. Unfortunately, the world is not very kind to those who are without housing, and it breaks my heart. I have learned to be more patient and accepting of those who may be acting out. You never truly know what someone is going through. They could be having one of the worst days of their life and you would have no idea. Being kind and patient has never done me wrong and the value of those characteristics continues to increase the more I grow and mature. I loved working with Dream Center, and I hope I can continue to work with them in the future regardless of my position in the scholar’s program.

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Harvard Youth Poll

• Introduction

A national poll released today by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that among 18-to-29-year-olds nationwide, more than half of young Americans say they will definitely be voting in the Presidential election this Fall. But findings show that among those likely voters, levels of support varied significantly among different subgroups.

The poll also finds:

• Broad support for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war;
• Economic concerns continue to be top of mind for young voters;
• Confidence in public institutions continues to decline.

Since 2000, the Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) has provided the most comprehensive look at young Americans’ political opinions and voting trends. It provides essential insight into the concerns of young Americans at a time when the nation is confronting numerous challenges both at home and abroad. President Kennedy once said, "It is a time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities." The IOP is preparing a new generation of political leaders to confront these very challenges and gain the ability to successfully lead in today’s complicated political landscape. Identifying areas of concern through the Harvard Youth Poll lets tomorrow’s political leaders get started on ideas, strategies, and solutions, and allows them to decide today what the next generation of political leadership needs to look like.

The Spring 2024 Harvard Youth Poll surveyed 2,010 young Americans between 18- and 29 years old nationwide, and was conducted between March 14-21, 2024.

"Young people today have clear concerns about where our country is headed," said IOP Director Setti Warren . "From worries about the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and climate, young people across the country are paying attention and are increasingly prepared to make their voices heard at the ballot box this November."

"As the Biden/Trump rematch takes shape, we see strong levels of engagement and interest in voting among young Americans," said John Della Volpe, IOP Polling Director . "Make no mistake, this is a different youth electorate than we saw in 2020 and 2022, and young voters are motivated by different things. Economic issues are top of mind, housing is a major concern—and the gap between young men's and young women's political preferences is pronounced."

"Young Americans are emerging from a pandemic that has tested our trust in democratic institutions and the bonds that unite us," said Anil Cacodcar, Student Chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project . "Despite this, young Americans are more ready than ever to engage with these institutions to push for the change we want to see in the world."

Ten key findings from the 47th in the biannual series are below.

• Key Takeaways

Among young Americans under 30, President Biden leads former President Trump by eight percentage points; among likely voters, Biden's lead expands to 19 points.

Approximately half (53%) of young Americans indicate they will "definitely be voting" in the 2024 general election for president. Young Americans' interest in voting in 2024 is now on par with Harvard Youth Poll data from 2020, which indicated that 54% would likely vote.

If the presidential election were held today, President Biden would outperform former President Trump among both registered (50% Biden, 37% Trump) and likely young voters under 30 (56% Biden, 37% Trump). When there is no voter screen (i.e., all young adults 18-29), the race narrows to single digits, 45% for President Biden, 37% for former President Trump, with 16 percent undecided.

Among the 1,051 "likely voters" in our sample, we found significant differences in support levels based on gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education levels, among other subgroups. For example, among likely young voters:

• President Biden's lead among young men is six points; among young women his lead is 33 points;
• President Biden's lead among 18-24 year-olds is 14 points, and among 25-29 year-olds it is 26 points;
• President Biden's lead among white voters is 3 points; among non-white voters his lead is 43 points;
• President Biden's lead among college students is 23 points; he leads by 47 points among college graduates. The race is even among those not in college and without a four-year degree.

For context, at this stage in the 2020 election, the Harvard Youth Poll showed Biden leading Trump by 23 points among all young adults (51%-28%) and by 30 points (60%-30%) among likely voters under 30.

One area where former President Trump has an advantage over Biden is enthusiasm. Three-quarters (76%) of Trump voters say they enthusiastically support their candidate, while 44% of Biden voters say the same.

A guilty verdict in any of former President Trump's trials could significantly impact the youth vote. If Trump is found guilty, we find that:

• Biden's lead among all young Americans increases from 8 to 18 points;
• Biden's lead among young registered voters increases from 13 to 21 points;
• Biden's lead among young likely voters increases from 19 to 28 points.

In a hypothetical scenario, when Biden and Trump were joined on the ballot by independent and third party candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Cornel West, and Jill Stein, Biden would still win the youth vote but with smaller margins.

Support for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is 5-to-1 in favor; majorities of young Americans sympathize with the Israeli and the Palestinian people.

While only 38% of young Americans tell us that they are following the news about the war between Israel and Hamas very or somewhat closely, the proportion rises among registered voters (45%) and those most likely to vote in November (52%). Overall, we find that Democrats (49%) are more likely to follow this news closely compared to Republicans (32%), and those with a college degree (50%) are more likely to be following these events compared to current college students (39%) and those that never attended (32%).

When young Americans are asked whether or not they believe Israel's response so far to the October 7 attack by Hamas has been justified, a plurality indicates that they don't know (45%). About a fifth (21%) report that Israel's response was justified with 32% believing it was not justified. Across most subgroups, more young Americans say the actions of the Israeli government were unjustified than justified. Republicans see Israel's actions as justified (36% justified, 16% not justified), while Democrats (14% justified, 44% not justified) and independents (19% justified, 30% not justified) feel the opposite is true.

Young Americans support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza by a five-to-one margin (51% support, 10% oppose). No major subgroup of young voters opposes such action.

Asked whether or not they sympathize with various groups involved in the war, we found that majorities of young Americans hold sympathy for the Israeli (52% sympathize) and the Palestinian people (56% sympathize), while they have far less sympathy for their governments (29% sympathize with the Israeli government; 32% with the Palestinian government). Seventeen percent (17%) expressed sympathy toward Hamas; for those who were presented with the information in a split sample that Hamas was an Islamist militant group, sympathy dipped to 13%.

Most young Americans believe there's a crisis at the Southern border; at the same time, youth believe immigrants improve America's culture.

A majority (53%) of young Americans—including at least a plurality of every significant subgroup—believe that the United States is experiencing an immigration crisis at the Southern border; only 16% disagree with this notion, while 29% neither agree nor disagree. Despite this, young Americans oppose construction of a border wall (36% support, 45% oppose) and believe by wide margins that:

• Immigrants improve the culture of the United States (50% agree; 17% disagree);

And they disagree by similarly strong margins that:

• Immigrants increase crime in my community. (21% agree, 45% disagree); and
• Immigrants are taking jobs that should go to Americans instead. (24% agree, 48% disagree).

Only 12% of young Americans say they would be uncomfortable if an immigrant moved next door to them. A solid majority (60%) of young Americans have had classmates who have been immigrants, 46% have friends who are immigrants, 41% have had immigrant coworkers, and 40% have had immigrant neighbors. Young Americans who have firsthand experience with immigrants have more favorable views about their impact on society.

After being informed by the U.S. Census Bureau's projection that white Americans will comprise less than half of the U.S. population by approximately 2045, respondents were asked to share their perspectives. A significant majority (60%) expressed a neutral stance, considering the news neither inherently positive nor negative for the country. Among the remaining young Americans, opinions were evenly divided, with 19% viewing it favorably and 18% perceiving it unfavorably.

Only 9% of young Americans say the country is headed in the right direction; economic concerns, along with reproductive freedom, continue to be top of mind for young voters.

Nearly three in five (58%) young Americans believe that the country is "off on the wrong track," and only 9% say that things in the nation are "generally headed in the right direction." An additional 32% say they are unsure. In the Spring 2020 wave, 21% responded that the nation was headed in the right direction; in the Spring 2016 wave, 15% said the same.

In an open-ended question about which national issue concerned them most, we found that about a quarter (27%) of young Americans volunteered something related to the economy. Immigration (9%), foreign policy (8%), and environmental issues followed behind.

President Biden's job approval among all young Americans is 31% (-4 since Fall 2023, +3 since Spring 2023). Vice President Kamala Harris (32% approval) and Democrats in Congress (34% approval) are in a similar position, while Republicans in Congress (24% approval) trail their Democratic colleagues by 10 percentage points.

President Biden's approval on economic issues, except student loan debt, is lower than his approval rating overall:

• 39% Student debt relief
• 33% Ukraine (-4 since Spring 2023)
• 30% Economy (+2 since Spring 2023)
• 25% Gun violence (-2 since Spring 2023)
• 23% Inflation (-1 since Spring 2023)
• 18% Israel-Hamas war

Additionally, we identified 16 prominent areas of concern and asked survey respondents in a series of randomized match-ups which one of two paired issues was more important to them. Again, we found that economic concerns were viewed as more prominent. Inflation, healthcare, housing, and jobs won most match-ups regardless of what they were paired against.

The table below shows the percentage of the time an issue was rated as more important than the issue it was matched against.

The only issue time that inflation did not win its individual match-up was when it was paired with women's reproductive rights. Women's reproductive rights was considered the more important issue, 57% to 43%. A link to the chart of individual match-ups is here .

Young Americans do not support gender-based stereotypes; political ideology more than gender, race, or education, is most predictive of attitudes on this subject.

With increasing attention on culture war issues in media and politics, our students designed a new series of questions to benchmark youth opinions on gender norms, stereotypes, and prejudices.

Overall, we found that the overwhelming majority of youth do not subscribe to these gender-based stereotypes. Still, nevertheless, there are striking differences between how young Democrats, Republicans, and independents view the role of men and women in society.

• Large numbers of Republicans distance themselves from their peers, believing that their generation (69%), and men in particular (61%), are too soft these days. 
• Between a quarter and roughly half of young Republicans also subscribe to beliefs such as women should prioritize children over joining the workforce (26% Republicans, 7% Democrats agree), women's emotions make it more challenging to lead (33% Republicans, 6% Democrats agree), and women are too promiscuous these days (46% Republicans, 14% Democrats agree).

We find that political ideology, more than gender, education, race and ethnicity is more predictive of views related to gender norms in society today.

When we isolate political party and gender we find:

• Nearly identical numbers of young Republican men (46% agree, 21% disagree) and young Republican women (47% agree, 18% disagree) agree that "women are too promiscuous these days;" and
• Most Democratic young men (18% agree, 57% disagree) and women (11% agree, 70% disagree) reject the stereotype.

While young men are turning away from the Democratic party, they remain supportive of basic party tenets such as health insurance being a right and the role the government should play in safeguarding the vulnerable.

For 2024 likely voters, Joe Biden leads among both men (+6) and women (+33). Compared with this stage in the 2020 campaign, Biden's lead among women is nearly identical (was +35 in 2020), but his lead among likely male voters has been dramatically reduced from +26 in 2020 to +6 today. While Democrats still hold a party ID advantage with younger males and females, as the chart below illustrates, Democrats have lost significant ground with young men in the last five years.

• Only five years ago, in 2020, 42% of young men in our poll identified as Democrats and 20% were Republicans (+22 Democratic advantage); in this wave, 32% are Democrats and 29% are Republicans (+3 Democratic advantage). The percentage of independents has remained unchanged at 37% during this period.
• Over the same period, the Democratic advantage among women expanded by six points. In 2020, 43% of young women in our poll identified as Democrats, and 23% were Republicans (+20 Democratic advantage); in this wave, 44% are Democrats, and 18% are Republicans (+26 Democratic advantage).

While party ID and self-identified ideology show younger men shifting from Democrat to Republican and from liberal to conservative—their views on the role of government have not changed as dramatically.

• Today, 60% of young men agree that "basic health insurance is a right for all people, and if someone has no means of paying for it, the government should provide it;" and 64% agreed in 2020.
• Fifty-four percent (54%) agree that "the government should spend more to reduce poverty;" and 56% agreed in 2020.

Over the last five years, we have noted however an attitudinal shift on climate policy. In 2020, 60% of young men agreed that "government should do more to curb climate change, even at the expense of economic growth," while today, agreement is down to 47%.

At the same time, young female opinion grew in favor of more government intervention in two of the three policy areas.

Confidence in public institutions continues to decline. While still the most trusted institution in the survey, faith in the military dropped 10 points last year.

This wave of the youth poll shows the lowest levels of confidence in most public institutions since the survey began. In the last twelve months alone, trust in the U.S. military and the Supreme Court to do the right thing "all" or "most of the time" has fallen by 10 and nine percentage points, respectively.

Only one (the United Nations) of the eight institutions in our survey is more trusted today than in 2015. The level of trust for the UN has increased by 17% over the decade. The remaining institutions saw steep declines:

• Trust in the President has declined by 60% since 2015 (it now stands at 20%);
• Trust in the Supreme Court declined 55% (now at 24%);
• Trust among Wall Street is down 43% (now at 9%);
• Trust in the U.S. military (now at 36%) and the federal government (now at 17%) both declined 38%;
• Trust in Congress is down 34% (now at 12%);
• Trust in the media is down 18% (now at 10%).

One-third of college students are uncomfortable sharing their political views on campus; young Democrats are more comfortable and more likely to be politically engaged.

While students are more comfortable than uncomfortable sharing their political opinions at their college, we still find that one-third (33%) of students are concerned about censorship or negative repercussions if they do. During the transition between the Obama and Trump presidencies, we charted a significant increase in students feeling uncomfortable sharing their political views. In the last seven years, however, this trend has stabilized.

While college students who are Democrats say they are more comfortable than Republicans and independents sharing their views on campus, young Democrats also appear more politically engaged than Republicans. Among young Americans under 30, Democrats are more likely than Republicans in the last year to say they are politically engaged (34% Democrat, 25% Republican). Additionally, they are more likely to have:

• Shared or posted online advocating for a political position or opinion (32% Democrat, 14% Republican)
• Attended a political rally or demonstration (22% Democrat, 10% Republican)
• Donated money to a political campaign or cause (21% Democrat, 10% Republican)
• Participated in a government, political, or issue-related organization (10% Democrat, 6% Republican)
• Volunteered on a political campaign for a candidate or an issue (10% Democrat, 5% Republican).

As the election draws closer, young Americans can more clearly see the difference political engagement can make.

Among the strongest predictors of whether or not a young American is likely to vote in 2024 are attitudes related to the efficacy of the process, the system, and perceived differences between the parties. For example:

• 57% of likely voters strongly disagree with the statement that "it really doesn't matter to me who the President is." In comparison, only 25% of less likely voters strongly disagree with the statement.
• 45% of likely voters strongly disagree that they "don’t see a difference between the Democratic and Republican parties" compared to 21% of less likely voters.
• 32% of likely voters strongly disagree that "politics is not relevant to my life right now," while 9% of those less likely to vote strongly disagree.

As the number of young people likely to vote has increased in the last two waves of this poll, so too have positive attitudes about the efficacy of engagement.

Nearly half of young Americans are regularly bothered by feelings of depression or hopelessness. Mental health remains challenging for millions of young Americans, but there are early signs that things could be improving.

Forty-four (44%) of young Americans report feelings of depression or hopelessness at least several days in the last two weeks. Nearly as many say they had feelings of loneliness (40%), and feeling afraid as if something awful might happen (38%). Importantly, 17% tell us that they have had thoughts of self harm at least several days in the last two weeks—three percent of youth between 18 and 29 have these thoughts nearly every day.

Thoughts of self harm at least several days in the last two weeks are more prevalent among:

• Young women (19%);
• Hispanic-Americans (24%);
• Those not in college and without a degree (19%); and
• Young people living in small towns (27%).

Despite this, we see some evidence that the mental health of young Americans may be improving relative to 2021. While the number of young people suffering from depression, anxiety, loneliness, and thoughts of self-harm remains alarmingly high—across the board, the trend since 2021 appears to be heading in the right direction.

• News Coverage
• Methodology

This poll of 2,010 18-to-29-year-olds was organized with undergraduate students from the Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) and supervised by John Della Volpe, Director of Polling. Data were collected by Ipsos Public Affairs using the KnowledgePanel. KnowledgePanel provides probability-based samples with an "organic" representation of the study population for measurement of public opinions, attitudes, and behaviors. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish between March 14 and 21, 2024. The target population for this survey is U.S. residents between the ages of 18 and 29. Data are weighted to reflect population estimates based on age, race/Hispanic ethnicity, education, household income, census region by metropolitan area, and primary language within Hispanics. The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 3.02%.

Jump to Section

• Video Summary

Transportation Capstone 2024 Team #4

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The objective of this project was to recommend a transportation route to complete the Eastern Inner Loop Project in State College, PA.

Sponsored by: Civil Engineering

Team Members

Gerik Urban    Michael Hirowski Jr    Schyler Rose Keller    Anmoal Singh                  

Instructor: Brian St. John, Prakash Poudel

Project Poster

Click on any image to enlarge.

Project Video

Project Summary

Our design team has been tasked with finishing the East Inner Loop Project located in State College, PA and giving a final route recommendation. The purpose of this task is to increase the mobility within the State College area. In order to give an accurate recommendation, several different alternatives were to be analyzed and considered with the best alternative being recommended.

· Develop several different potential alternatives for the East Inner Loop Connection.

· Consider the Environmental Impact, Safety Evaluation, Operational Evaluation, and the Benefit-Cost Analysis of each alternative to determine the best recommendation.

· Create and in-depth design recommendation for the chosen alternative consisting of a final plan, traffic signal warrants, pavement design, roadside design, superelevation profiles, and a final construction cost estimate.

· LOS of each alternative was determined through the use of HCS software.

· Design Controls and Criteria were determined by comparing nearby and connecting roads as well as predicted road usage.

· Environmental Ranking was determined through referencing of the U.S. DOT FHWA Environmental Review Toolkit, focusing on the Impacts of different land usage zones.

· Safety was Evaluated using crash prediction analysis and design consistency analysis.

· Cost Benefit was Evaluated through the use of travel time savings and cost estimates for each alternative.

· Each result for the criteria evaluated was compared for each alternative with a score of 3 for the best result, 2 for the middle result, and 1 for the worst result. These were added and considered in the final recommendation.

· Civil 3D CAD software was used to draw out and create profiles and cross sections of the recommended alternative.

· The chosen alternative when compared to the other alternative provided the best LOS, and the highest Travel time savings.

· Driver will save 5 minutes going from University Drive to the Giant Food Stores located on Blue Course Drive, and will save 8.5 minutes going from University Drive to the Vairo Development.

· This route results in a Total User Benefit of $ 301,923,332 over the test span of 20 years.

· Safety of this route was higher with only around 15 predicted crashes over 10 years when using our recommended alternative compared to 80 predicted crashes over 10 years using the existing roads.

• Victor Mukhin

Victor M. Mukhin was born in 1946 in the town of Orsk, Russia. In 1970 he graduated the Technological Institute in Leningrad. Victor M. Mukhin was directed to work to the scientific-industrial organization "Neorganika" (Elektrostal, Moscow region) where he is working during 47 years, at present as the head of the laboratory of carbon sorbents.     Victor M. Mukhin defended a Ph. D. thesis and a doctoral thesis at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (in 1979 and 1997 accordingly). Professor of Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. Scientific interests: production, investigation and application of active carbons, technological and ecological carbon-adsorptive processes, environmental protection, production of ecologically clean food.   

Title : Active carbons as nanoporous materials for solving of environmental problems

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