capstone project in hr

18+ Stunning  MBA HR Project Topics For Students In 2023

In the world of Human Resources, an MBA HR project is your bridge from theory to real-world practice. This blog discusses what MBA HR projects are and why they matter for students looking to enter the HR field.

Selecting the right MBA HR project topic is crucial, as it shapes your learning experience and future HR career. We will emphasize the importance of this choice and offer helpful tips for making the right decision.

We’re excited to provide you with a list of 18+ engaging MBA HR project topics suitable for 2023 students. In addition, we will point out common mistakes to avoid in your HR projects, ensuring your career in Human Resources is as smooth as possible. 

So, stay tuned with us to know the MBA HR project topics. 

What Is An MBA HR Project?

Table of Contents

An MBA HR project is a special task or assignment that students pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree with specialization in Human Resources (HR) management are required to complete. It serves as a crucial component of their academic curriculum.

In this project, students typically select a specific HR-related topic, issue, or problem within an organization and conduct research to analyze and address it. They gather data, evaluate HR strategies, and propose solutions to improve HR practices. These projects help students apply their classroom learning to real-world HR challenges, developing their problem-solving skills and enhancing their understanding of HR management. This practical experience is valuable in preparing students for careers in human resources.

Importance Of Choosing The Right MBA HR Project Topic

Here are some importance ways to choose the right MBA HR project topic: 

1. Relevance to Career Goals

Selecting the right MBA HR project topic is essential because it should align with your future career aspirations. When you choose a project related to your intended HR field, it provides practical experience and knowledge that directly benefits your career prospects. For instance, if you want to work in HR recruitment, focusing on a project about talent acquisition strategies would be more beneficial than one on employee benefits.

2. Real-World Application

Picking a relevant project topic ensures that you work on real HR challenges faced by organizations. This practical experience allows you to apply your classroom learning in a meaningful way. It prepares you to handle similar HR issues in your future job and demonstrates your problem-solving skills to potential employers.

3. Interest and Motivation

A well-suited project topic should spark your interest and motivation. When you’re passionate about the subject, you are more likely to invest time and effort into the project, leading to better results. If you’re genuinely engaged with your project, it can also make the learning experience more enjoyable.

4. Contribution to Knowledge

Choosing the right project topic can also contribute to the overall knowledge base in the HR field. A well-researched project can provide insights and solutions to HR problems, benefiting both academia and industry. It can be an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the HR community.

5. Networking and Collaboration

The choice of your MBA HR project topic can also influence your networking opportunities. If you select a topic that is relevant and interesting to professionals in the HR field, it can open doors for collaboration, mentorship, and potential job offers. Getting in touch with experts in the field you’re interested in can be very helpful for your future job.

Tips For Choosing A Good MBA HR Project Topic

Here we will provide some of the best tips for choosing a good MBA HR project topic:

Tip 1: Consider Your Interests

When selecting a topic for your MBA Human Resources capstone project, give some thought to what actually interests you. Choosing a subject for which you have a strong interest will help you stay motivated and involved throughout the duration of the project. Your work will be enhanced by the energy that you put into it.

Tip 2: Relevance to Your Career Goals

Ensure that the project topic aligns with your career aspirations in HR. It should provide skills and knowledge that are directly applicable to the job you want. For example, if you aim to work in HR recruitment, select a topic related to talent acquisition or hiring strategies.

Tip 3: Industry and Organization Focus

Think about the specific industry or type of organization you want to work in after your MBA. Your project should reflect the HR challenges and trends in that sector. For instance, if you plan to enter the healthcare industry, focus on HR issues in healthcare organizations.

Tip 4: Feasibility and Resources

Consider the resources available to you for your project. Make sure your chosen topic is feasible within the constraints of your program and available data. It’s important to select a topic that you can research effectively and within the given timeframe.

Tip 5: Seek Guidance

Don’t hesitate to seek guidance from professors, mentors, or industry professionals. They can give you useful information and ideas for project themes. Their expertise can help you identify a topic that’s not only interesting but also relevant and researchable.

18+ Stunning  MBA HR Project Topics For Students In 2023

We are going to discuss 18+ Stunning  MBA HR Project Topics For Students In 2023:

I. HR Strategy and Planning

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on HR Strategy and Planning: 

Project 1: Strategic Workforce Planning for Organizational Growth

This project entails an in-depth analysis of the existing workforce, including skills, experience, and future potential. It aims to identify potential gaps in talent and create a strategic plan to ensure the organization has the right people in place to meet its growth targets. The plan includes workforce segmentation to understand skill needs, succession planning to groom future leaders, and scenario analysis to be prepared for various organizational trajectories.

Project 2: Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Implementation

This initiative centers around developing and executing a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy within the organization. It involves setting clear diversity goals, creating an inclusive culture, and measuring progress over time. The project encompasses targeted recruitment practices to diversify the workforce, the establishment of employee resource groups, and ongoing diversity training to foster a more inclusive workplace.

Project 3: HR Technology Roadmap

This project is focused on evaluating and optimizing the organization’s HR technology stack. It begins with a thorough assessment of the current systems, identifies gaps in functionality, and opportunities for automation. After that, a technology roadmap is made, which includes choosing and putting in place new HR tools to make HR work easier, more efficient, and better for employees overall.

II. Talent Management

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on Talent Management: 

Project 4: High-Potential Development Program

This project identifies promising employees and provides them with a structured developmental path to prepare them for leadership roles. It includes mentorship, challenging assignments, and feedback mechanisms to nurture future leaders within the organization. The program is designed to fast-track the growth and capabilities of these high-potential individuals.

Project 5: Performance Management Redesign

The Performance Management Redesign project aims to overhaul the organization’s performance appraisal system. It involves setting clear performance expectations, introducing regular feedback mechanisms, and creating development plans for employees. This new approach is designed to balance the focus on employee growth and organizational performance, moving away from traditional annual reviews.

Project 6: Succession Planning and Leadership Pipeline

This project is dedicated to identifying and grooming potential successors for key leadership positions. It involves creating a leadership pipeline, implementing mentoring and training programs, and ensuring a smooth transition in the event of leadership changes. The goal is to build a robust and well-prepared leadership team.

III. Learning and Development

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on Learning and Development: 

Project  7: Digital Learning Transformation

This project focuses on transitioning from traditional, classroom-based training to digital learning platforms. It encompasses the development of e-learning content, the deployment of interactive e-learning tools, and the creation of personalized learning paths to offer employees more flexible and engaging learning opportunities.

Project 8: Skills Assessment and Gap Analysis

The Skills Assessment and Gap Analysis project involves evaluating the current skill set of the workforce more often than not using a skill assessment software , identifying skill gaps, and developing a tailored learning and development plan. It includes the creation of individual development plans for employees, offering relevant training programs, and implementing systems to track and measure progress.

Project 9: Managerial Training and Development Program

This project focuses on enhancing the leadership and managerial skills of employees across various levels. It includes designing and delivering training programs, implementing coaching and feedback mechanisms, and creating a comprehensive approach to build a strong and effective leadership team.

IV. Compensation and Benefits

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on Compensation and Benefits: 

Project 10: Total Rewards Redesign

The Total Rewards Redesign project involves a thorough reevaluation of the organization’s compensation and benefits structure to attract and retain top talent. It encompasses salary benchmarking to ensure competitiveness, the implementation of variable pay structures to reward performance, and the introduction of flexible benefits packages tailored to meet the diverse needs and preferences of employees.

Project 11: Equity and Inclusion in Compensation

The goal of this project is to deal with problems of pay equity and make sure that pay practices are fair. It includes conducting pay equity audits to identify and rectify disparities, revising compensation policies to enhance transparency, and implementing practices to ensure equitable compensation adjustments and promotions.

Project 12: Wellness and Well-being Programs

The Wellness and Well-being Programs project focuses on enhancing employee well-being through various initiatives. To help workers keep their physical and mental health in good shape, companies should create and run wellness programs, offer mental health support, and set rules for work-life balance. This will lead to a healthier and more engaged workforce.

V. HR Operations

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on HR Operations: 

Project 13: HR Process Automation

This project aims to streamline HR operations by automating routine and time-consuming tasks such as payroll processing, leave management, and employee onboarding. The project leverages technology solutions to enhance operational efficiency, reduce manual workload, and improve accuracy in HR processes.

Project 14: Employee Self-Service Portal Implementation

The Employee Self-Service Portal Implementation project focuses on empowering employees by providing a user-friendly portal for self-management of HR-related tasks. This includes accessing pay stubs, updating personal information, and requesting time off, which not only increases employee autonomy but also decreases administrative workload for HR staff.

Project 15: Data Analytics and HR Metrics Dashboard

This project centers on harnessing HR data for informed decision-making. It involves the implementation of HR analytics tools, data visualization, and the creation of a metrics dashboard that provides real-time insights into workforce trends. This enables HR professionals and leadership to make data-driven decisions and improve organizational performance.

VI. Emerging Trends in HR

In this section, we provide some of the best projects on Emerging Trends in HR: 

Project 16: Remote Work Policy Development

This project addresses the growing trend of remote work by developing clear policies and guidelines. It includes making clear what is expected of workers who work from home, setting rules for communication, and giving them the tools and technology they need to do their jobs well from home.

Project 17: AI and Machine Learning Integration in HR

This initiative explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in HR functions. It involves the integration of AI-powered tools for tasks like resume screening, predictive analytics for workforce planning, and chatbots for handling routine employee inquiries, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in HR operations.

Project 18: Agile HR Transformation

The Agile HR Transformation project, with the integration of Agile Poker for Jira, focuses on adopting agile methodologies within the HR department. It promotes cross-functional collaboration, continuous improvement, and adaptability to changing organizational needs. This approach allows HR to respond more quickly and effectively to evolving trends and challenges in the workplace, creating a more dynamic and responsive HR function.

Project 19: Workforce Mental Health and Well-being Initiatives

This project addresses the increasing awareness of mental health and well-being in the workplace. It means putting in place programs to help employees’ mental health, like stress management classes and easy access to mental health tools, and making a workplace culture that supports a balance between work and life and emotional health. With the changing landscape of work, this project helps organizations prioritize the mental health of their employees, leading to a more resilient and productive workforce.

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Common Mistakes To Avoid In MBA HR Projects

These are some common mistakes that students must avoid in MBA HR projects:

1. Lack of Clear Objectives

A common mistake in MBA HR projects is not defining clear objectives. Without specific goals, your project can become unfocused and ineffective. To avoid this, set clear, achievable objectives from the start. For example, if your project aims to improve employee engagement , specify what you want to measure and how you plan to do it.

2. Neglecting Research

Some students skip thorough research when working on HR projects. This can lead to incomplete or inaccurate information, undermining the project’s quality. It’s crucial to gather relevant data, study HR best practices, and review existing research to make informed decisions.

3. Ignoring Practicality

Another mistake is proposing HR solutions that sound good in theory but are impractical in real-world settings. Consider the practicality of your recommendations within the context of the organization where your project is based. Your solutions should be feasible and adaptable.

4. Overcomplicating Language

Using overly technical or complicated language can hinder project understanding. Keep your project’s language simple and straightforward to ensure your audience, including professors and potential employers, can easily grasp your ideas.

5. Neglecting Feedback

A common error is failing to seek peer, mentor, or colleague feedback. Constructive feedback can help improve your project by identifying blind spots and potential improvements. Embrace feedback to refine your work and enhance your learning experience.

Understanding the significance of MBA HR project topics is essential. An MBA HR project isn’t just about meeting academic requirements; it’s a valuable opportunity to gain practical insights into human resources. Choosing the right topic is like setting the course for your future in HR. We have provided tips to help you navigate this decision-making process, ensuring your project aligns with your interests and career aspirations. 

Moreover, we have presented an exciting array of 18+ MBA HR project topics tailor-made for students in 2023. To excel in your MBA HR project, it’s equally crucial to be aware of and avoid common pitfalls. So, confidently embark on your HR journey, armed with the knowledge of MBA HR project topics, and make the most of this educational experience.

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Capstone Projects

Students in the Master of Science in Human Resource Management are required to take HR 689 Capstone & Applied Research Project course. Students develop and present a project plan or research proposal, allowing each student to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained through the program in real-world practical applications. Below are some examples of projects that students have completed.

Silver Hill Hospital

Talent lifecycle.

To improve all aspects of the talent life cycle, a complete review and update of all position descriptions is required. The process will require interactions with all the Hospital Directors. A complete review and update of all position descriptions.

Understand best practices and compliance issues for effective position descriptions. Development of accurate, complete and actionable position descriptions for all employee functions.

Project Deliverables

• Best practices for the development and proper use of effective position descriptions. 
• Development, recommendation and approval for position description template.
• Development of Protocol for interviewing Directors/Managers/Employees. 
• Conduct required interviews (in person or Phone/Video). 
• Draft position descriptions for all employee functions.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

New hire onboarding program.

Develop a comprehensive Three Month New Hire Onboarding Program that provides employees with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to become effective and engaged contributor to the museum.

Conduct Best Practices review to determine and identify best practices for onboarding programs including length of program. Assess current processes. Align program created with our mission, culture and strategic plan 

• Recommend an onboarding process based on research of best practices. 
• Determine how to best roll out program. 
• Recommend strategies to obtain buy in from Senior Management. 
• Identify ways management can assist with onboarding. 
• Recommendations on training managers. 
• Develop a guide or checklist for Human Resources to track progress.

Timex Group

Training and learning initiative.

Training and Learning globally has been identified as a void across all business units at Timex in 2016, based on a global engagement survey. The HR team at Timex took on the initiative of building training and learning capability in 2017. A new cloud based LMS system, Bridge-Instructure, was launched in December, 2017 to 756 global users in 13 countries. It took a year to develop, with an excess of 165 specific courses in the LMS Library.

Increase buy-in and employee usage to at least 50%.

• Strategy to promote and culturally change learning for Timex Group employees while at the same time, increase usage of LMS globally. 
• High level implementation plan with recommendations and kept success factors.

City of Stamford Human Resources Reorganization Project

The Mayor of Stamford sought an organizational redesign of the Human Resource function for the City of Stamford that would facilitate desired changes in the Human Resources function 3 to 5 years from now.

Questions that were addressed include: Is the human resources function in the City of Stamford current in its size, approach and structure? Is the Human Resource Department managed properly? Where should the Human Resources Department be within the overall City structure?

The desire was to makes changes to the culture and structure of the Human Resource Department as a first step toward making changes to the culture of City Government in Stamford. The focus was on reinventing the structure, resources, services, and culture of human resources as a first step toward reinventing the structure, resources, services, and culture of Government functions Citywide. The Mayor saw the Human Resource Department as leading the cultural shift.

A number of critical issues were addressed, first in the Human Resource Department and then, eventually, in Government Services Citywide. These included the management of labor relations, managing the value city workers provide the city, proper training and development for all city workers but especially management level workers, and a focus on cutting edge talent management and performance management. 

The human resource function in the City of Stamford was dealing with a prospective transition that many not-for-profit and for-profit organizations deal with...namely a shift from a human resource function that is a cost center or a “cost of doing business” to a human resource function that is a strategic business partner within the organization. Strategic business partner can be viewed in two ways:  one, executing human resource functions more strategic, in line with the overall strategy of the organization, and, two, driving strategy formation and execution throughout the organization.  

Sacred Heart University, the Welch College of Business & Technology and Master of Science in Human Resource Management program:

• Benchmarked Human Resource functions of other comparably sized city governments, not-for-profit organizations, and for-profit organizations. 
• Developed a human resource strategy that moves the human resource function from a transactional, reactive model to a strategic, proactive model.
• Highlighted a performance management system and culture, developed a talent management system including a robust training and development function, and recommended cutting edge labor relations strategy.

LifeBridge Health Benefits Program Redesign Project

LifeBridge Community Services partnered with the Sacred Heart University, Masters of Science in Human Resource Management Capstone Research Class to address the dilemma many employers are facing relative to employer-sponsored health insurance. This project involved the development of a strategy to determine how to optimally offer medical insurance in the post Affordable Care Act (ACA) environment.

The MS-HRM Capstone team considered various options for offering medical insurance given the regulations in the ACA:

• Fully Insured – the employer pays a premium to a health insurance carrier to accept liability up to the limits defined within the plan and to administer claims payment.
• Self-Insured – the employer pays 100% of all medical claims. This option, when combined with a wellness component, is expected to perform well. However, the employer has to have the funds to support payment of all employee claims.
• Public Exchange – sole use of the public exchange, i.e., getting out of the business of offering health insurance to employees. However, the employer will pay a $2,000.00 federally mandated penalty for each employee enrolled in the public exchange.
• Private exchanges – use of a private exchange sponsored by a health insurance carrier, insurance broker, or other third party. Employees would choose from several options taking into consideration their medical needs and financial risk relative to deductible and co-pay options.
• Combination of self-insurance plus a consumer-driven private exchange – the employer may choose to pay medical claims (self-insure) up to a pre-determined threshold. Thereafter, the responsibility for claims payment belongs to the exchange.

The team also reviewed the entire ACA and noted additional consideration that Lifebridge needed to consider with regards to its health insurance redesign. The major additional consideration involved the “Cadillac tax” which will be implemented in 2018 for plans considered “benefit rich,” i.e., a 40% tax on premiums in excess of $10,200 for a single annual premium, and $27,500 for a family annual premium.

Fairfield County's Community Foundation

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation is in a period of change, moving from a traditional community foundation model to become more strategic and focused on community leadership work. As a small organization, we are limited in our ability to promote people, which could create a top-heavy organization. We also have limited funds for pay increases. We constantly seek ways to motivate and reward employees to ensure maximum engagement and productivity.

Sacred Heart University, the Welch College of Business & Technology & the MS-HRM Program:

Designed, develop, and implemented an employee engagement survey. The aim was to perform an initial survey, analyze the results, develop action plans to address any issues and establish a cycle for future surveys to measure progress.

The MS-HRM Capstone was chosen for the project so that the survey was administered by an outside group ensuring confidentiality, and that individual survey results were not shared with the Community Foundation.

The Capstone Team successfully:

• Gain an understanding of the Foundations mission, vision, values, strategic direction and human capital objectives.
• Researched best practices in performing employee engagement surveys.
• Developed survey questions to assess level of engagement.
• Administered the survey, collected and analyzed the results.
• Presented results to the Community Foundation’s Leadership Team and made recommendations to address areas in need of improvement.

Wakeman Boys & Girls Club

Wakeman Boys & Girls Club is a non-profit organization serving nearly 4000 youth in 1st-12th grade annually through 100 programs, leagues, camps, events, and drop in activities. Wakeman does not have a Human Resources Director or any policies/procedures for processes of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, evaluating, retaining, disciplining, and terminating employees.

The MS-HRM Capstone Team at Sacred Heart’s Welch College of Business & Technology:

• Developed and recommended guidelines of policies and procedures for the core HR processes. These guidelines were based on best practices for non-profit organizations, particular youth serving organizations, in accordance with State and Federal law.

The team researched and developed recommendations of policies and procedures for:

• A single employment application to replace three current applications used by the organization
• An interviewing guide for supervisors responsible for hiring personnel working in positions of youth development and positions of management
• A conducing references checklist
• An at-will employee agreement for new employees
• An employee performance management process
• A drug testing policy and procedure
• A discipline/termination procedure for employees in supervisory roles
• An identification of areas requiring variances for staff who are minors
• A review of volunteer management procures related to relevant HR area

The Affinion Group

Affinion, a global leader in loyalty and engagement solutions, designs, administers and fulfills loyalty and engagement programs that strengthen and expand the value of relationships for our leading clients around the globe.

The Affinion Group asked the MS-HRM Capstone Team to complete best practice review and determine appropriate framework to use when conducting and revamping all Affinion Global HR Policies and Practices. Once the appropriate framework was approved by Affinion, the Team matched current Global HR Policies and Practices into the framework and determined actions needed to align current state to future state. The aim was to develop a number of simple, clear and comprehensive new HR policies and practices as identified.

Child & Family Guidance Center

The Child & Family Guidance Center, is a child-centered, family-focused, and community-based agency that offers high-quality mental health care and behavioral supports to children under the age of 18 and their families.

The Center asked the MS-HRM Capstone Team to conducted extensive research on Performance Management Frameworks and Performance Appraisal formats and Systems. In order to provide recommendations and supporting material to support the implementation of a new Performance Management System to include the new Performance Appraisal. The implemented Performance Management System supported the alignment of organizational values and goals to the desired organizational and employee performance.

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Human Resources Management Capstone: HR for People Managers

About this course.

This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management, with a focus on understanding managerial choices and constraints, acquiring and onboarding talent, managing employee performance, and rewarding employees. The capstone project provides learners with the opportunity to apply these key principles and practices to a real-world workplace (including a learner's own workplace if desired). Specifically, the capstone project will involve identifying the key human resources challenges for a workplace--including the most pressing motivational, selection, performance evaluation, and reward issues. And for each of these areas, learners will devise a multi-step action plan for addressing the challenges identified.

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Human Resources Management Capstone: HR for People Managers

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About this course: This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management, with a focus on understanding managerial choices and constraints, acquiring and onboarding talent, managing employee performance, and rewarding employees. The capstone project provides learners with the opportunity to apply these key principles and practices to a real-world workplace (including a learner's own workplace if desired). Specifically, the capstone project will involve identifying the key human resources challenges for a workplace--including the most pressing motivational, selection, performance evaluation, and reward issues. And f…

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Didn't find what you were looking for? See also: Human Resource Management (HRM) , Human Resource (HR) Controlling , Personnel Management , Strategic HR , and Recruitment & Selection .

About this course: This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management, with a focus on understanding managerial choices and constraints, acquiring and onboarding talent, managing employee performance, and rewarding employees. The capstone project provides learners with the opportunity to apply these key principles and practices to a real-world workplace (including a learner's own workplace if desired). Specifically, the capstone project will involve identifying the key human resources challenges for a workplace--including the most pressing motivational, selection, performance evaluation, and reward issues. And for each of these areas, learners will devise a multi-step action plan for addressing the challenges identified.

Taught by:   John W. Budd, Professor and Director

Taught by:   Larry Bourgerie, Senior Lecturer

Taught by:   Amy Falink, Senior Lecturer

Taught by:   Alan Benson, Assistant Professor

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.

• Video: Welcome to the HRM Capstone
• Reading: Overview of the HRM Capstone
• Discussion Prompt: Learner Background and Objectives
• Reading: Instructions
• Discussion Prompt: Brainstorming Work Units to Analyze
• Peer Review: Identifying a Work Unit to Analyze
• Reading: Introduction
• Video: External Influences on HR Strategies
• Video: The Importance of Organizational Strategy for HR Strategy
• Video: Why Worry about Why Employees Work?
• Video: The Many Meanings of Work
• Video: Work is Complex, So Managing is Complex
• Video: The Goals of Every People Manager
• Video: You Can't Always Do What You Want
• Discussion Prompt: Learner-to-Learner Guidance on Milestone 1
• Peer Review: Identifying the Internal and External Context
• Reading: Selection Assessment Methods
• Video: Internal vs. External Hires
• Video: Job Descriptions
• Video: Recruiting with Mobile Technology
• Video: Selection Process Overview
• Video: Selection Tools
• Video: Interviews Part One
• Video: Interviews Part Two
• Video: Candidate Evaluation
• Video: Biases and Rater Errors
• Discussion Prompt: Learner-to-Learner Guidance on Milestone 2
• Peer Review: Recruitment and Selection
• Reading: Job Description Template- use for part one of the activity
• Video: 1.3.1 Strategic Performance Management Model
• Video: 1.3.3 Role of Training in Performance Management Strategy
• Video: 2.2.4 Developing Performance Standards
• Video: 2.2.3 Characteristics of Good Performance Objectives
• Video: 3.2.2 What is Multi Rater Feedback?
• Video: 4.1.3 Fundamentals of Civility - The 3 R's
• Discussion Prompt: Learner-to-Learner Guidance on Milestone 3
• Peer Review: 1st Draft of Milestone 3: Performance Management
• Video: 1.1.2 From a Business Strategy to a Pay Strategy
• Video: 1.1.3 From a Pay Strategy to a Pay Mix
• Video: 1.2.1 Producing a Job Description
• Video: 1.2.2 Benchmarking Pay
• Video: 1.2.3 Surveys and the Labor Market
• Video: 2.2.1 To Incent or Not to Incent
• Video: 2.2.2 Designing Incentives
• Video: 2.2.3 Common Mistakes
• Video: Base Pay: 1.3.1 Connecting Structure to Strategy
• Video: Base Pay: 1.3.2 Job Families and Levels
• Video: Base Pay: 1.3.3 Assigning Grades and Ranges
• Video: Short Term Incentives: 2.2.1 To Incent or Not to Incent
• Video: Short Term Incentives: 2.2.2 Designing Incentives
• Video: Long Term Incentives: 2.3.1 Varieties of Long Term Incentives
• Video: Benefits: 3.3.1 Shopping for Health Insurance Providers
• Video: Benefits: 3.3.3 Shopping for Pension Providers
• Video: Non-Monetary Rewards: 4.1.2 Value to Employees
• Video: Non-Monetary Rewards: 4.1.3 Value to Employers
• Discussion Prompt: Learner-to-Learner Guidance on Milestone 4
• Peer Review: Milestone 4: Compensation Management
• Discussion Prompt: One important thing you learned in this specialization
• Reading: Reflection Exercise: Create a Mad Lib (optional, quick, and hopefully funny)
• Reading: Developing an Individual Development Plan (Optional)
• Video: Developing an Development Individual Plan (Optional)
• Video: Congratulations Video from the Instructors
• Reading: Staying in contact with each other
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Master of Science

Human Resource Strategic Management Degree

A flexible program designed for emerging leaders who want to impact workplaces with the latest human capital management strategy.

Fully aligned with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) HR Curriculum Guidebook and Templates.

Learn On Campus Or 100% Online

The strategic human resources tools you need to support people in the workplace.

At Bellevue University, earning your master’s in human resource management will prepare you to add value to your organization and become a strong, strategic business partner. Whether you’re looking to gain new skills to maximize your leadership opportunities, or you’re ready to enter a new career or HR specialization, this degree prepares you to be an expert in human capital management.

Apply your learning in real-world HR scenarios.

The master’s in HR degree culminates with a Capstone Project in which you will develop a strategic plan for a real human resources department. You will analyze an organization, conduct in-depth research of the field, and prepare materials you will use in your career.

Take one course at a time in your HR management master’s.

As a cohort program, the online master’s in human resources allows you to simplify your study experience with a course load that’s manageable for busy students. You’ll register for classes once at the beginning of the program and take one course at a time without creating a new class schedule each term.

Simplified entry—no GRE or GMAT required.

Begin your career-focused degree program without the cost and hassle of admissions tests. Our admissions team is here to help you apply and enroll so you can get started quickly on the education you want.

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What You’ll Learn

• Apply employment law and "best practices" to human resource related activities.
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• Develop Human Resource policies and practices that align with business objectives.
• Construct a Professional Development Plan.
• Demonstrate proficiency in oral and written communication.

Human Resource Strategic Management Degree Courses

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Requirements (36 credit hours)

(Click a course name below to view course details)

Focus for this course is on identifying the various functional areas within the Human Resource field as well as an introduction to employment law. This will include an overview of the following areas: Employee/Labor Relations, Recruitment and Selection, Health and Safety, Training and Development and Compensation and Benefits. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Employment law will be the focus for this course as well as employment law history and emerging/recent legislation. Topics covered include: discrimination and related laws, Fair Labor Standards Act, OSHA, unfair labor practices, FMLA and healthcare reform legislation. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Analysis of the dynamics of workplace behavior, communication and culture. Interpersonal behavior and communication theories will be applied to individual and group situations from a strategic human resource perspective to maximize the overall effectiveness of human capital management. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Identify and evaluate the unique issues and challenges involved with managing a global workforce. Topics include multi-cultural communication, legal and regulatory issues, compensation and benefit issues and organizational structure issues. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Identify and analyze the impact of current topics and issues for the HR profession, including but not limited to: Data Analysis, Technology Utilization/Human Resource Information Systems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Media, Diversity and Inclusion, and Health and Safety related issues. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Apply fundamentals of core recruitment functions, such as job analysis, sourcing, selection and evaluation to identify and evaluate “best practices” as well as potential sources of competitive advantage for organizations. Current issues related to recruitment and selection will also be explored in this course. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Apply fundamentals of core performance management functions, such as workforce planning, training and development, performance evaluation and succession planning to identify and evaluate Human Resources “best practices” and opportunities for gaining competitive advantages for organizations. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Evaluate core compensation related issues, such as motivational theories, compensation components, and compensation design to identify “best practices”. Focus is placed on aligning compensation practices with organizational goals and strategies. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Evaluate core benefit issues, such as benefit components, changing workforce demographics and needs, benefits design and healthcare legislation and implications to identify “best practices”. Focus is placed on aligning benefit practices with organizational goals and strategies. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Focus is placed on identifying the importance of using both quantitative and qualitative data for business decisions as well as how to conduct various types of data analysis. The use of effective presentation skills and audience sensitivity are other topics for this course. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

Focus is placed on the application of in-depth knowledge of each functional area within the HR field from a strategic business partner perspective. This course will also incorporate effective communication skills with analytical and evaluation skills. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

All aspects of Human Resource Management functions will be comprised into a strategic plan for a Human Resource Department. Students will choose an organization to develop the plan for and analyze the organization from the various functional areas within HR. Students will also conduct in-depth research of the Human Resource field as well as prepare material designed to aid them in their careers. Prereq: Admission to the MSHR Program

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Students applying for professional license or certification should verify the University’s offerings meet the requirements with the professional organization.

*Consult with an admissions counselor to determine your eligible credits, as well as to verify minimum graduation requirements for this degree. Transfer credits must be from a regionally accredited college or university. Bellevue University makes no promises to prospective students regarding the acceptance of credit awarded by examination, credit for prior learning, or credit for transfer until an evaluation has been conducted.

Put your knowledge to work – and go further with a master’s in HR.

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Our flexible online courses are designed to bring quality learning into a format that fits your schedule, without sacrificing meaningful faculty feedback and collaboration with peers across the country. Stay on track with the help of your Student Coach — with you from day one to graduation.

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On-campus classes offered on a convenient schedule.

If you prefer an in-person learning experience, our Omaha-area campus offers classes that accommodate the working professional’s schedule.

Graduate with a stronger professional network.

Get to know a consistent group of peers as you earn your master’s degree in human resources. As a master’s cohort program, you’ll move through courses one at a time on the same schedule as your classmates—making it possible to develop a stronger network and enjoy a collaborative learning experience along the way.

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Emerge as a stand-out leader of people, with a master’s in human resources program offered online or in-person.

Tuition & Financial Aid

Graduate degrees can be more affordable than you think..

Earning a degree is an investment in yourself. We want to help you make sure it’s a wise one.

2023 / 2024 Academic Year

Master's Degree

$649 In-Class or Online Cost Per Credit

(Additional fees may apply to individual courses within your major requirements)

2024 / 2025 Academic Year

$660 In-Class or Online Cost Per Credit

Curious about financial aid? We’ve got the answers.

As a graduate student, you may be eligible for up to $20,500 per year in unsubsidized Direct Student Loans.

And, students often apply for graduate program scholarships through Bellevue University or tuition reimbursement through their employers. Talk to us and we’ll help you explore your options.

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For admission to Bellevue University, applicants must:

• Possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, or a U.S. equivalent degree from a nationally or internationally accredited college or university.
• Have maintained a GPA of 2.5 or better from the most recent 60 credits of coursework earned toward the bachelor’s degree or have maintained a GPA of 3.0 or better in previous graduate level coursework earned toward the graduate degree.

If you haven’t already, take a moment to request information about your masters program and get in touch with our admissions team. We’ll help make sure you have what you need and answer your questions.

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• What is an MBA Capstone Project?

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An MBA capstone project is the final step in many MBA programs. It’s here that MBA students put all that they’ve learned into practice by analyzing a meaningful and strategic business question. Often, this involves hands-on work within an existing company, but not always: MBA capstone projects can take the form of startup business plans and business simulations, too.

No matter their format or focus, each capstone project will likely be the most intensive and rewarding feature of an MBA candidate’s journey.

A capstone project is not the same as a thesis project, although they do share some qualities. Thesis projects are focused on theory and research and are based on the situations one would face in academia. Often taking the form of a large research paper, thesis projects can last the entire final year of an academic program, and some students may even begin before that, with the ultimate goal of contributing new knowledge to the canon of business research.

MBA capstone projects, by contrast, are more practical and similar to situations one would face in the business world. Here, students work in teams to answer strategic business questions. MBA capstones are hands-on immersions with real-world consequences, and they can have a major impact on an MBA graduate’s program experience and career.

Read on to see some examples of MBA capstone projects and get a walkthrough of the general process.

Stages of an MBA Capstone Project

Most MBA capstone projects occur during a program’s final year and can last anywhere from four weeks to a full semester. They often include some form of instruction (whether through prerequisite courses or scheduled advising) and practical application.

While MBA capstone programs will vary in format from program to program, they generally include the following stages:

• Topic Selection
• Preliminary Research
• Project Execution
• Written Report
• Final Presentation

It’s not necessarily over after the final presentation, either: some capstone projects carry over beyond the MBA program, leading to successful startup businesses, offers of employment, or investment opportunities.

Choosing a Capstone Topic

Many MBA programs provide some structured options for choosing a capstone topic. This can mean students are allowed to select from a list of possible partnership opportunities; it can also mean that faculty advisors will work with students to find a topic that meets the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and goals. But in other programs, MBA students are more free to choose their topic and their partner organization.

In their capstone project, MBA students should select a topic where they can answer a meaningful and strategic business question: one that’s complex enough to warrant significant time and energy, but also realistic enough to be achievable. These are not theoretical questions; each is tailored to a specific real-world business.

Some examples of MBA capstone topics include:

• What are the short-term outcomes of a mutual fund’s impact-investing initiative?
• How do multinational companies’ diversity and inclusion efforts adapt to non-Western office environments?
• What is the market feasibility of a startup’s application in target demographics?
• How can a recently downsized organization recover employee morale while balancing the budget?

The capstone topic must be specifically relevant to the partner company or organization. To this end, MBA students should heavily research the company’s strengths, weaknesses, and objectives before selecting their topic.

Similarly, MBA students should also turn that lens on themselves: what problems do they want to explore in their business careers, what causes do they find interesting, and how can their unique skill set be best put to use?

How an MBA Capstone is Graded

Some programs provide MBA candidates with a rubric for how their capstone will be graded, while others do not. Most capstones are graded through their ability to demonstrate key business skills (theoretical, practical, applied, and reflective) across functional areas (finance, human resources, marketing, and operations).

The final presentation is also a factor, as this is where the candidate demonstrates what they learned, or didn’t, through the course of the capstone.

An MBA candidate will rarely fail their capstone project. After all, they’ve made it through practically an entire MBA program up until then. Even if the project is a failure from a business point of view, an MBA candidate will likely still be able to effectively analyze where and why the project failed, and what lessons can be learned from that failure going forward.

Examples of MBA Capstone Projects

Ucla anderson school of management capstone project.

The MBA program at UCLA Anderson School of Management offers three capstone options: the Global Access Program (GAP), the Business Creation Project (BCP), and Anderson Student Asset Management (ASAM).

In the GAP, students partner with high-growth global companies in a market-entry consulting project. Working in five- to six-person teams, students bid on partnership opportunities, perform five to six months of research, then travel internationally to the partner organization. Combining interviews, meetings, and research, the students develop effective strategic business plans to advance the organization’s growth and present it to the organization’s executives, potential investors, and industry professionals.

Along the way, students are advised by faculty members who have directed, invested in, and provided consulting services to leading companies worldwide. In the last 20 years, over 3,000 students have completed the GAP, impacting 738 companies across 23 countries.

For students with an entrepreneurship focus, the BCP offers them the chance to launch a company. Students will work in teams across two academic quarters after taking two prerequisite courses to prepare their business plans. Through extensive research, development, and implementation, students will put strategies for every aspect of their business into practice. In three years, the BCO has had 47 teams and launched 24 companies.

The ASAM program is for current and aspiring quants who want experience as successful long-term portfolio managers. Guided by a faculty advisor and oversight committee, students in the ASAM program will select an optimal mix of equity, fixed income, and cash investments. Each four-member team manages approximately $200,000. Students will rotate work roles between that of an executive board member, strategy lead, risk manager, and programmer.

Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business Capstone Project

The MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business offers students two different forms of capstone program: Strategic Management of the Enterprise and Management Game.

The Strategic Management of the Enterprise capstone is an experiential learning course where students are matched with one of several consulting projects to solve business problems partner companies face. This is a more traditional capstone program, focused on the practical application of business skills learned through the MBA curriculum. Past clients have included Walmart, P&G, and Ameriprise.

Tepper’s Management Game capstone is an applied management experience. Student teams run a computer-simulated multinational manufacturing company for three years, acting as its executive committee. Taking place at the end of the MBA program’s curriculum, the Management Game capstone focuses on the unstructured nature of business problems and prods students to use all the functional skills they’ve learned so far. External-facing exercises include interaction with industry partners and are related to each student’s career choices.

Uniquely, the Management Game capstone is graded by external professionals on the merit of the results students deliver; students can receive direct feedback from corporate partners throughout the process.

University of Dallas Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business Capstone Consulting Experience

The capstone consulting experience in the MBA program at the University of Dallas allows students to solve a strategic problem an organization faces. Since it was launched in 1973 as one of the first student consulting and research programs in the U.S., this capstone consulting experience has prepared graduates to consult with business leaders. MBA students in this capstone consulting experience have completed over 900 projects for over 500 companies including Fortune 1000 firms, entrepreneurial ventures, and nonprofit organizations.

Under the guidance of faculty members, students participate on a team assigned to work with a real organization on a 12-week comprehensive project. Every team will work together to provide actionable recommendations, including a proposal, industry/market research, a presentation, and recommendations in the form of a report.

Matt Zbrog is a writer and researcher from Southern California. Since 2018, he’s written extensively about how new and aspiring business school students can best plan their education and careers. In the Two Views series, he conducts detailed interviews with recent business school alumni, with a particular focus on the choice between in-person, online, and hybrid learning models. His Femme-BA series highlights business schools that not only excel academically but also take unique and robust steps to support a diverse and inclusive learning environment for women.

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Best MBA Capstone Project Ideas

Top mba capstone project ideas for theses and dissertations.

Given that this is your first time completing this kind of project, it might be challenging for you to think of a catchy and original title. It is advised that you look for a MBA project writers that can assist with fresh and original research topic ideas for an MBA thesis so that you can develop a distinct and researchable MBA project. Your goal should be to gather MBA capstone project ideas that can be of assistance in producing a suitable case study in accordance with your area of specialization, whether you specialize in economics, human resource management, accounting, marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, business management, finance, e-commerce, or any other field.

Marketing: MBA Capstone Project Ideas For Beginners

Many MBA in Marketing courses includes various projects to improve your educational experience. Here are a few interesting and excellent business capstone project ideas you can choose from for your MBA marketing program. You can request our MBA project help service to assist you turn any topic into a viable project.

1.   Examining consumer behavior and developing user engagement and retention strategies for a platform that streams documentaries

One of the most important steps in developing effective marketing strategies to engage & retain users, especially for brands with digitally based platforms, is understanding consumer behavior.

2.   Review and analysis of consumer delight with online shopping portals for e-commerce

The world has seen a boom in e-commerce over the past six to seven years, but ask yourself this question; are customers happy with their online shopping experience, or are there still some issues that need to be resolved?

3.   Customer service’s impact on customers in the telecom industry over the last ten years

Customer service is a significant component of after-sales care that can improve the client’s overall experience and delight them to keep them coming back for more. What effect would such a strategy have in the competitive telecom sector?

4.   Strategies for acquiring online customers for a new-age furniture and appliance rental startup.

For furniture and rental startups to reach their potential customers on Fb, Twitter, Google, Instagram, and other platforms and gain clients at a reasonable cost, they would need to implement the proper messaging and targeting strategies along with the proper optimization strategies.

5.   Research on packaging for different product types and its application as a brand-building tool

Consumers remember brands based on the color schemes and packaging used for different products, and packaging has long been utilized as a tool for branding promotions.

6.   Increasing brand awareness among the target section through innovative & creative social media strategies for a young travel company

Social media strategies can greatly increase brand awareness and customer engagement when used properly.

7.   Analysis of the brand positioning of Coca-Cola, one of the most recognizable brands in the world, from its inception to the present

After studying consumer behavior and the psychology of the target market, Coca-Cola’s marketing team used a variety of creative strategies to transform a beverage drink into one of the world’s most beloved brands.

8.   Analysis of how the global auto industry is developing, including top brands, consumer trends, market share, and marketing strategies and campaigns

The automobile industry is one of the most fiercely competitive, with many domestic and international players. Sales are challenging, and consumer behavior patterns are distinctive. Because of all these factors, brands must work arduously on their marketing plans to stand out.

MBA Capstone Project Ideas for IT

IT projects have grown more complex as the topics for MBA projects have advanced. Information technology must be more flexible and user-friendly as users demand, making competition more important. Students pursuing MBA capstone project topics in IT must complete a project to demonstrate their knowledge of the material. They must develop an IT project that will demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout the MBA program.

Students should exercise extreme caution when selecting topics for their IT-related MBA projects. While common topics will give a poor impression of your competence, well-prepared and researched topics will make a positive impression. Students must therefore conduct adequate research before beginning any IT project.

Picking the best subject for their projects is a common challenge for students. They frequently choose very simple subjects for their projects or pick the hardest ones to make an impression. But they frequently fall short of getting good exposure from them. They might not be putting much thought or effort into the project topics. However, these minor project failures will harm their career as a whole. Therefore, each student must take these MBA capstone project ideas in Information Technology seriously.

Here are the trendiest IT capstone project ideas for MBA students.

• A review of the performance of the current payroll system and the creation of a brand-new, comprehensive payroll system.
• Creation of a web-based airline reservation system.
• Designing a server for a multiplayer chess game.
• To develop a job search engine for both candidates and employers.
• Online shopping portal design and development.
• Secure online survey system design and development.
• An organization’s transition to voice over internet communication protocol is due to advanced technology.
• An investigation into how well teams can monitor mobile network tower signals.

MBA Capstone Project Ideas That Have Not Received Much Research

It takes a lot of research into your field of study to identify areas that prior studies seemed to have overlooked to come up with MBA capstone project ideas that will make your dissertation stand out and earn you a Master’s Degree. However, this can be quite simple if you have clearly defined your areas of research interest. Here are a few examples of MBA capstone topic ideas in fields that haven’t been thoroughly investigated:

• The effects of automation on the supply chain industry.
• The contribution of workplace diversity promotion to enhancing corporate culture.
• An analysis of the effects of unconscious bias in hiring decisions.
• The importance of product personalization and customization in digital relationship marketing in times of pandemic.
• The advantages of emotional branding and its effects on customer loyalty.
• The significance of the virtual supply chain in facilitating transient business partnerships.
• Consumer purchase decisions and animated online advertising.
• An analysis of how effective margin financing is for financial performance.
• AI’s effects on businesses and how they affect market research.

MBA Capstone Project Ideas for Business Analytics

Due to technological advances, in recent years, the amount of data available has grown exponentially. This has created new opportunities for companies to utilize the data to make informed decision. Business schools have introduced programs that teach prospective professionals on deriving insights from structured and unstructured data. MBA in business analytics curriculum tailors to produce graduates with strong understanding and skills in descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics to make data-driven decisions.

The culmination of the program is completion of a capstone project. Students are required to utilize analytics to solve a real world business problem. The capstone project requires a student to define the business problem, collect and analyze data and model and develop actionable solution. In case a student does not have a sponsoring organization for his project, he will be required to scout for a topic to work on. Here are a few MBA capstone project ideas for business analytics that business analytics students can use:

• Predicting employee attrition and performance
• Conducting market basket analysis between soft drinks and pastry
• Predicting real estate prices
• Predicting commodities prices such as gold, avocado, oil and coffee
• Estimating customer churning rate
• Predicting load capacity of an airline
• Predicting store sales for footwear companies like Nike
• Modelling for predicting customer purchases  in Walmart
• Credit scoring and modelling: predicting default rates

MBA Capstone Topic Ideas in Human Resource Management

1.   Employee Training Requirements in the Banking Sector

Every year, the banking industry changes, and bankers deal with millions of customers, many of whom have little to no knowledge of banking services. This also implies that regular training for all staff is necessary to cater to the needs of all of these customers.

2.   Examining Performance Evaluations and Bonuses

Is the appraisal system designed to fairly reward the top performers, or are there flaws that make it impossible to do so? What is the bonus payment structure? Is a fair bonus system in place at the company during successful financial years?

3.   The Effects of Career Planning and Progression on Workers in Quick Food Chains

The possibility of career advancement motivates workers to put in extra effort and increase productivity. Advancement in one’s career is frequently accompanied by better pay, a better job, and more respect. How are career development and planning handled in the fast food industry from the ground up while considering the impact on employee morale and motivation?

4.   Employee Retention Techniques

An organization should have the lowest employee churn in the sector, and its employee retention programs should be quite successful. Additionally, it should provide various employee reward programs to maintain staff motivation. How should these strategies be put into practice to ensure their success?

5.   Investigation of Employee Satisfaction in the Telecom Sector

Tens of thousands of people are employed in the crucial telecom sector. Some of the most well-known businesses, including Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone, are executed in this sector. One of the industries with the most intense competition is this one. The work is monotonous, and workplaces are notoriously stressful. What level of employee happiness do you think this sector has?

6.   Employer Branding Techniques in Challenging Businesses

Employer branding enables a business to promote itself to students and potential employees as the best workplace. How will you convince employees to join struggling businesses using various employer branding strategies?

7.   An Investigation into the Various Employee Welfare Programs at Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

Many high-end and recognizable brands exist in the quickly evolving consumer goods industry. They have a huge workforce and provide lots of employee-friendly benefits. How have these programs enabled them to maintain a low attrition rate while keeping staff on board for extended periods?

Tips on How to Develop Better MBA Capstone Project Ideas

The ability to select your topic is advantageous. Take advantage of the chance to choose one that will enable you to produce a solid MBA capstone project. The most effective capstone projects have a distinct aim and strategy. They are focused and show a logical progression. So, how do you generate good MBA capstone project ideas ? Here are five suggestions to assist you:

●    Make sure it’s relevant to your area of expertise

Ensure your MBA capstone project topic is pertinent to your field of study and aligned with your area of expertise. For instance, writing a capstone project on the “influence of workplace diversity on corporate culture” won’t help if you’re a marketing student.

●    Think about your professional objectives

It’s best to research a subject that aligns with your professional objectives. In this manner, you will be somewhat familiar with the work environment when you actually perform it in the future. Consider that you are a finance student hoping to work in the corporate investment industry. Instead of choosing a research topic about tax preparation or insurance, you should prefer to focus on corporate or investment banking.

●    Identify the project’s scope

You cannot choose a topic that is too broad because that would make your project question too diffuse. This will hinder the outcome and prevent you from focusing on a particular issue or area. In addition, since there won’t be much background data on which to base your research, too narrow topics are constricting. Therefore, determining the scope of the work is essential before you decide to conduct additional research.

●    Determine a business core problem

This is not just any project work; it is an MBA project, so you must be able to recognize a business challenge, opportunity, or situation on which to base your research. You can practice your problem-solving skills, which is another crucial trait to possess in the corporate world, when you state a specific business problem, do some research, and then develop a solution based on that.

●    Speak with your professor

Lastly, be sure to speak with your professor before you begin your project. It’s always a good idea to bring your professors along because they are there to help you. They’ll be able to offer you insight that will help you narrow down your project question or take into account details you might have overlooked.

What is an MBA final project?

This is the last stage of many MBA programs . Here, MBA students apply everything they have learned to solve a core business problem.

How do I find a good MBA capstone project topic?

Review your course readings, or perhaps read up on some of your favorites. You can also pay for business capstone project help from experts capstone writers who will provide you with hottest capstone topics.

How do you select a project title?

You should select a topic depending on your career aims and ambitions. For instance, if you intend to start your own company, MBA project offers you an opportunity to compile a feasible business plan. Selecting an organization based assignment will provide you an opportunity to establish relationship with potential employers.

Considering everything at stake, picking an MBA project topic can be challenging. You don’t want to pick the incorrect subject and realize it’s too late to change. To ensure that you select a top-notch topic that lays a solid foundation for a fantastic MBA project, take your time, pay attention to these suggestions, and consider the suggested MBA capstone project ideas

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Capstone Projects

What is a Capstone Project, and how does it work?

A Capstone Project is the final project for our Certificate Programs. You need a passing grade on this in order to receive your Certificate.

With the capstone project, you will apply your learnings to complete a series of assignments. The project covers a wide range of topics included in the Certificate Programs, so that you can confidently initiate and participate in related projects in your daily work.

These will be made of multiple parts:

• Templates & Guides that you will be able to utilize in your work right away. 
• Interactive Case Studies: where you apply the skills that you have gained, as well as benchmark yourself/organization with others in the industry.
• Exam: The exam portion of this project will be multiple choice and rated as Pass/Fail.

Each Capstone Project is unique to the program that you are participating in.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I need a live organization in order to complete the projects?

No! Information required to complete the Capstone Projects will be included, and we highly recommend thinking back to organizations that you have worked with to think of how you could have applied these learnings in your daily work. For the Technical aspects of the Projects, Datasets will be provided.

What happens if I fail the exam?

In case you do not pass the Capstone Exam the first time around, you will be able to use the feedback to retake the exam.

Where can I claim my Certificate?

You will be able to claim your certificate immediately upon passing the exam, no need to wait! 

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5 Great Master’s in Human Resources Project Topics

• By Jamie B.
• Published July 23, 2019
• Last Updated December 8, 2022
• Corporate Importance of HR
• Employee Retention Strategies
• Diversity in the Workplace
• Worker Evaluation and Feedback Cycle
• Common HR Challenges

Before fulfilling all of the requirements needed to graduate, most students seeking a master’s degree in human resources will need to complete a capstone project. These are fairly complex and lengthy engagements that require in-depth research, analysis, and reporting on a specific, pre-approved topic. So, what are some of the best topics that could be explored?

1. Corporate Importance of HR

Looking into the importance of the human resource department to the company’s overall standing or performance is a great idea for a capstone project. This is because it has all the necessary criteria needed to make an outstanding report. First, it allows the student to conduct a large amount of research since this question is fairly common in the market. Then, it makes it easy to obtain first-hand insight from current HR operatives who can comment on the matter. Finally, it is easy to quantify as it can be depicted via productivity or even salary figures.

2. Employee Retention Strategies

According to Forbes , employee retention issues could lead to a long-term lack of talented workforce and higher hiring competitiveness in the market. For the unfamiliar, the retention of workers is defined as the firm’s ability to keep the same employees around for as long as possible. A lot of workplaces often fail to do so and see high employee turnover. A capstone project focused on this area could dissect the reasons why people leave their jobs and how such issues can be prevented. After all, most high-level HR leaders will have to answer similar questions as a part of their job.

3. Diversity in the Workplace

With the rise of globalization, one of the trends that has infiltrated into practically every industry on the planet is diversity. Just consider, for instance, the number of individuals who might be working somewhere far from home. The upbringing has fallen to the very bottom of the list of things that employees can consider when hiring someone. Instead, they are legally mandated to simply focus on the applicant’s skills and experiences. So, someone finishing their master’s degree in human resources with a capstone project on this topic could analyze assimilation strategies and intercultural communication.

4. Worker Evaluation and Feedback Cycle

One of the leading reasons for employees’ lack of abilities that are needed to do basic job duties in the absence of formal training and evaluation. Usually, the evaluation part of the process is missing as companies often do not have formal guidelines requiring everyone to be reviewed and given feedback. Fortunately, this gives HR students a great topic that could explore issues such as lack of guidance that facilitates high burnout rates. Burnout causes employees to quit. After all, both of those could cause a significant drop in the company’s success.

5. Common HR Challenges

Finally, one could always look into some of the most common challenges that are faced by the HR workers. These can include an overview of problems such as:

• lack of internal controls
• high employee turnover
• sky-rocketing dissatisfaction rates

Thus, the overall length of the project will not be too troublesome. The student can break down the engagement into a few different sub-sections with varying goals. Not to mention that doing research and first-hand interviews on these issues could be very interesting.

Related Resource: 20 Most Affordable Online Bachelor’s in Foreign Language

Of course, the list of great ideas goes on as the HR field is extremely broad and accounts for dozens of different job duties. Nonetheless, those finishing up a master’s degree in human resources and in need of a capstone project idea should look over the previously described five.

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19 years advising GAP

Phone: (310) 206-8086 / (310) 825-2505

Dr. Forman is the founder and director of the Management Communication Program at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. In this capacity, she teaches communication strategy and practices in the full-time and executive MBA programs and trains a staff who teach communications across the curriculum. She has taught corporate communication for the last decade as a faculty advisor for more than a hundred MBA "Living Cases," which are extended international strategic studies for multi-national companies, such as Microsoft, Hughes, Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Disney, and for start-up firms in Austria, Australia, Chile, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand, and the United States. The Fully-Employed MBA Program and the Global Access Program (GAP) in which she teaches business planning and investor communications were ranked first in the United States by Business Week in 2008. She was a founding faculty member of the GAP program.

She was named the outstanding researcher in 1995 by the Association for Business Communication. The award is based on her entire publication record and its pivotal role in extending research in her discipline and in educating managers. She is the recipient of numerous awards for research, including fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Center for International Business Education and Research, the Council of Public Relations Firms, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Her book, The Power of Corporate Communication, written with Professor Paul Argenti of the Tuck School, won the Distinguished Publication Award for 2003 from the Association for Business Communication. Dr. Forman has published three other books, including The Random House Guide to Business Writing, and numerous articles in publications such as The Journal of Business Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, The Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Corporate Reputation Review, and Strategy & Business. She is a frequent presenter at international research and business forums and in on the editorial board of Business Communication Quarterly.

Dr. Forman is under contract with Stanford University Press for a book on storytelling and organizations, a project partially funded by the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Her current research focuses on storytelling ("When Stories Create an Organization's Future," Strategy & Business ; "Leaders as Storytellers: Finding Waldo," Business Communication Quarterly) as well as on the related subjects of the role of communication in the implementation of organizational strategy ("The Communication Advantage" in Hatch et al., The Expressive Organization, Oxford University Press, and featured as one of the outstanding articles in management in The Financial Times Book of Management) and the role of storytelling and translation in producing effective strategic communications ("More than Survival: The Discipline of Business Communication and the Uses of Translation," The Journal of Business Communication).

She is the faculty director for the Executive Education Program on Advanced Strategic Management for European-based corporate communication professionals and has consulted to a wide variety of organizations, including Cap Gemini/Ernst & Young, Invesco, Knapp Communications, Colony Capital, the MTA, and BBDO. She has been a visiting professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of California at San Diego's Rady School of Business, and the University of Lugano.

Ph.D. 1980, Rutgers College

Communications

Published Papers

Janis Forman. (Second Quarter 1999). When Stories Create an Organization's Future. Strategy & Business, Issue 15.

Janis Forman and Patricia Katsky. (Fall 1986). The Group Report: A Problem in Small Group or Writing Processes. The Journal of Business Communication

14 years advising GAP

Phone: (310) 825-3564 / Fax: (310) 267-2193

Since 1995, Eric has been a lecturer in accounting and real estate at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, where he has been voted Teacher of the Year thirteen times by Anderson�s MBA students, and has been awarded the Citibank Teaching Award (1998) and the Neidorf Decade Teaching Award (2008), both voted upon by a committee of faculty members. He has also received recognition by Businessweek as one of the Top Ten Most Popular Business School Professors in the country.

He teaches in the areas of cost/managerial accounting, financial accounting (beginning through advanced), financial statement analysis, equity valuation, corporate financial reporting, and real estate investment and finance to undergraduate, graduate, and Executive Education students. He created Insight FSA, an analytical software tool to automatically and critically measure, evaluate, and report upon the financial accounting and corporate reporting risk for all public companies via Edgar On-line.

In addition, he has advised numerous Full-time and Fully Employed MBA field study teams and consulted for large and small firms, nationally and globally, and is a frequent lecturer on varied financial, accounting, and corporate reporting topics. He has led student travel groups to Brazil, China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi. He has served as an expert witness and consultant for commercial litigation, involving matters of corporate financial reporting and disclosure, audit effectiveness, valuation, real estate due diligence and related practices, and overall damage analyses.

Outside of campus, Mr. Sussman is president of Amber Capital, Inc., Manager of Fountain Management, LLC and Clear Capital, LLC, and Managing Partner of Sequoia Real Estate Partners, and the Pacific Value Opportunities Funds, which have acquired, rehabilitated, developed, and managed over two million square feet of residential and commercial real estate in the past 20 years. The firms' portfolio presently consists of industrial, multi-family residential, single-family residential, and retail properties (approximately 2,200 residential units and some 500,000 square feet of commercial space).

He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Causeway Capital�s group of funds (International Value, Emerging Markets, Global Value, and Global Absolute Return Funds, which collectively have in excess of $5.0 billion in assets), sits on the Board of Directors of Pacific Charter School Development, Inc. and Bentley-Forbes, LLC; and was former Chairman of the Presidio Fund and former Audit Committee Chair of Atlantic Inertial Systems, Inc., a producer and manufacturer of electromagnetic sensors. He received his MBA from Stanford, with honors, in 1993, after graduating Summa cum Laude from UCLA in 1987. He is a licensed CPA in the State of California.

Teaching Focus

Issues in Corporate Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation, Complex Deals, Cost Measurement and Evaluation, Real Estate Investment and Finance

MBA 1993, Stanford University B.A. Business and Economics, 1987, UCLA

Auditing, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Detection, Personal Finance, Real Estate, Asset Valuation, Shareholder Litigation, Cost Evaluation and Measurement

Recognition

Neidorf �Decade� Award

11 years advising GAP

Jonathan G. Lasch, Ph.D., is the Executive Director for the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California (AMI-USC), where he brings more than 25 years of experience in science and technology development and evaluation in the fields of biomedical instruments and systems, biotechnology, chemistry, and materials science. He is a Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Viterbi School of Engineering and holds a courtesy appointment as a Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship in the Greif Center of the Marshall School of Business at USC.

Prior to joining AMI-USC he served as a Managing Director of Convergent Ventures (CV), an early stage life sciences venture investment and development company. He has served as chairman or member of the boards of directors and CEO of several CV portfolio companies. From 2002-2007, he was on the board of directors of Precision Dynamics Corporation, a privately held healthcare products company, and he currently serves on the board of directors of the Southern California Biomedical Council. Dr. Lasch has held leadership positions at Materia, a materials science company spun out of Caltech, where he served as founding President and CEO, and Cyrano Sciences, a Caltech spin- out based on chemical sensor technology. Previously, he served as vice president, technology development for The Scripps Research Institute, the largest not-for-profit biomedical research institute in the United States and was director of research, biotechnology, for PPG Industries.

He is entering his sixth year as a UCLA Anderson FEMBA GAP faculty advisor, and he served two years as the Director of the EMBA Field Study Program.

B.S. Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin

9 years advising GAP

[email protected]

UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1985, Peter Cowen has been a technology serial entrepreneur, angel investor, advisor to startups and an investment banker. Today, he is Managing Director at Sutton Capital Partners a middle market technology advisory firm. The focus is on enterprise and Saas software, digital technology and tech- enabled outsourced services. He is currently on the board of 4 venture-backed companies.

Previously, Mr. Cowen co-founded three companies that were sold to strategic investors—one in computer networks (DataVoice Solutions Inc.), another in biometric security (Biometric ID Inc) and the other in logistic fleet optimization (TransDecisions Inc.). After selling his first company he traveled around the world for a year, primarily in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and has visited over 40 countries.

Mr. Cowen has been an angel investor in over 50 early stage companies and VC funds, primarily in digital technology, including Cognition(sold to Nuance NSDQ: NUAN), StyleHaul (sold to Bertelsmann) , Mind Body, Inc. (NSDQ: MB), Pulse (NSDQ: PLSE) and ESalon. He is a foundingmember of Tech Coast Angels, Los Angeles, part of the largest angel network in the country. Before that, he worked in marketing at Unilever and Hewlett Packard, and then worked with the Israeli Export Institute to help Israeli technology companies into the U.S. Mr. Cowen also served on the board of directors of the UCLA Anderson Alumni for over 10 years, and created the “Recurring Revenue Conference” which is the largest conference in Southern California focused on the subscription economy. He has been a GAP advisor for 9 years.

MBA, Finance, UCLA Anderson School of Management

B.A., Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

6 years advising GAP

[email protected]

Daniel Nathanson has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, investor, consultant and educator, with accom- plishments in building businesses, creating financial value, and helping fellow entrepreneurs achieve success. He is a professor of Business Plan Development and New Venture Initiation at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a position he has held since 2008. In addition to teaching, Dr. Nathanson serves as a faculty advisor to student teams conducting capstone field study projects. In 2010, he became Managing Director of SJ Investment Company (SJIC), an investment fund providing capital, oversight, and direction to high potential, early stage companies that have demonstrated “proof of concept.” SJIC also finances proven operating companies to facilitate strategic growth opportunities.

Dr. Nathanson began his executive career as the EVP and Chief Corporate Planner in charge of Mergers and Acquisitions at Ver- nitron Corporation, a publicly traded medical equipment and diversified electronics firm. As the Executive Vice President, he was responsible for the overall direction and financial performance of the company. He founded and served as CEO of CRS, a nation- wide turnkey point-of-sale computer company. Developing this state-of-the-art technology company from its inception, he guided CRS to become the leading company in its field.

After selling CRS in 1993, Dr. Nathanson accepted a position as Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he taught entrepreneurship and business strategy. While at NYU, he founded S.M.A.R.T. Management Consulting, specializing in helping small to mid-size entrepreneurs successfully grow their businesses. He also served as Chairman of two groups of CEOs for Vistage, an international organization of CEOs with over 14,000 members.

Shortly after founding the Washington Square Capital Fund (WSCF), a formalized angel group that invests in early-stage compa- nies, Dr. Nathanson left the Stern School to focus on investing activities and to take active leadership roles in a number of early stage ventures, including the CEO at Tickmark Solutions. In less than 18 months under his leadership, revenues of this software company rose from $500,000 to almost $4 million. In 2002, he engineered the successful sale of Tickmark.

Dr. Nathanson served as CEO and President of a promotional products firm, followed by an asset management venture. He worked with company founders to develop strategies, build infrastructures, raise capital and establish important strategic relationships in order to achieve successful growth and build sustainable value.

Dr. Nathanson is the co-author of Strategy Implementation: The Role of Structure and Process and author of a number of published articles in the area of strategy implementation. He is also a member of the Tech Coast Angels investment organization. He has been a GAP advisor for 7 years.

Ph.D., Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, MBA, NYU’s Graduate School of Business

B.A., Washington University in St. Louis, MO

5 years advising GAP

Terry Kramer has a 30 year career in telecommunications and technology. For 18 of those 25 years, Mr. Kramer worked for Vodafone Group Plc/ AirTouch Communications in a variety of roles domestically and internationally, including Group Strategy and Business Improvement Officer, Regional President, Vodafone Americas which included oversight of Vodafone's 45% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone's venture capital activities, Group Human Resources Officer & Chief of Staff, President AirTouch Paging and Vice President/GM AirTouch Cellular-Southwest Market. In June 2012, Mr. Kramer received an appointment by President Obama to serve as Ambassador, Head of U.S. Delegation for the World Conference on International Telecommunications which was held in December 2012 in Dubai. In this role, he led a 100+ person delegation of U.S. government, industry, and civil society representatives negotiating a treaty on international telecommunications policy. This delegation formulated and communicated the U.S. policy regarding the criticality of a free and open internet, the criticality of inclusive, multi stakeholder governance, the need to proactively address cybersecurity threats and the need for liberalized, open markets which encourage accelerated broadband access in markets worldwide.

Mr. Kramer is currently a full time Adjunct Professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, teaching two courses--the foundational technology management course and a course on the evolution and innovation in the mobile communications industry. He is also a Faculty Advisor in the Global Access Program (GAP) and the Strategic Management Research Program (SMR), advising students working on client assignments involved in new market entry, product development and business strategy. Furthermore, he currently serves as Chair to Thiota. In 2017, he was awarded UCLA Anderson's teaching award from the Fully Employed Executive MBA's. From 2011 to 2013, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Kramer currently sits on the Boards/Advisory Boards of TeleSign, TangoCard, RapidSOS, Textpert, the Harvard Business School California Research Center, UCLA Economics Department Board of Visitors and is the Chairman of Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco.

MBA, Harvard University

3 years advising GAP

Jeffrey Lapin is the immediate past President of Tech Coast Angels in Los Angeles. He has made over 20 startup investments in the past five years, and serves on many company boards and advises several companies.

Mr. Lapin began his career as an attorney with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp in Los Angeles. He then served in various executive capacities with Starwood Hotels & Resorts and its predecessors (NYSE: HOT), from January 1995 to June 1996 as President and Chief Operating Officer, and from May 1991 to January 1995 as President and Chief Executive Officer.

In 1996, Mr. Lapin served as President of House of Blues Hospitality, Inc. and Executive Vice President of House of Blues Entertain-ment, Inc.

Two years later, he began serving as Vice Chairman of THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), a developer and publisher of interactive soft- ware. During his time with THQ, Mr. Lapin also served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of the company.

Mr. Lapin was the Director and Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software (sales of $1.2 billion).

From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Lapin served as the Chief Executive Officer of Atari, S.A., a French public company that develops and pub- lishes online and boxed video games and related applications. Prior, Mr. Lapin served as a Director and Chief Executive Officer and President of RazorGator Interactive Group, an ecommerce company which sells secondary event tickets and related services.

Mr. Lapin has served as a private consultant to several companies, including In-Fusio Group, Riverdeep, Ubisoft, Capcom, and Four Queens. He has served and continues to serve as Director of several for profit and nonprofit entities. He has been a GAP advisor for 4 years.

J.D., Loyola Law School B.A., Economics, University of California, Los Angeles

Todd Senturia is a partner based in Bain & Company’s Los Angeles office. Prior to moving to California, Mr. Senturia spent the first part of his Bain career in the Boston office, and three years working in the Asian and Australian practices. He has led projects ranging from corporate and business-unit strategy to the detailed design and implementation of large-scale transformational restructuring and turnaround programs. He has also supported buyer or seller in several merger & acquisition negotiations.

As one of the global leaders of Bain’s Results Delivery/Change Management capability area, Mr. Senturia has personally supported more than 18 large-scale, multi-year client change and transformation programs. He is also a core member of Bain’s performance improvement, organization, tech/telecom and industrial practices. Since 2010, he has also taken on responsibility for co-leading the firm’s internal Professional Development and Training Environment.

Over his career, Mr. Senturia has worked for Bain clients in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. He has significant depth of experience in the technology and telecom practices, including semiconductors and computers, wireline and wireless telecommunications, and cable television. Mr. Senturia has also served multiple aerospace and defense, industrial, and automotive clients on issues ranging from growth to cost reduction. His consumer products/retail clients have included branded packaged goods, consumer electronics, consumer imaging, and a wide variety of food categories.

Prior to joining Bain, Mr. Senturia spent almost nine years on the senior management team of a small high technology sensor and instrumentation company, where he served most recently as Vice President of Marketing and Sales, as well as Treasurer. He was also a founding board member of Polychromix, a VC-backed startup in the optical sensing sector that was recently purchased by Thermo-Electron.

Mr. Senturia joined UCLA Anderson as an Executive in Residence for Management Consulting in 2011, and became a GAP faculty advisor in 2012.

His Master’s thesis, “Globalizing the Emerging High Technology Company”, was subsequently published in Industrial Marketing Management. Todd Senturia has been a GAP advisor for 4 years.

M.S., Management, MIT Sloan School of Management B.A., East Asian Studies, Harvard College

Gary Hutchinson has over 30+ years of experience in business and entrepreneurship. He served as a panel judge for the Global Access Program (GAP) at The UCLA Anderson School of Management from 2003-2013. In 2014, he accepted a position as faculty advisor to the program.

Mr. Hutchinson currently serves as the President and CEO of Biothelium, a startup focused on the cardiology market with tech- nology developed in conjunction with the Alfred E. Mann Institute at the University of Southern California (AMI) and U.C. San Francisco. He also serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at AMI, which is a non-profit organization that supports research, develop- ment and commercialization of biomedical devices and other technologies. In addition, Mr. Hutchinson is Executive Chairman of Nelson-Miller Inc, a leading company in electronic human interface solutions serving the healthcare, defense and consumer industry markets.

Mr. Hutchinson began his career as the Chairman, President and CEO of Zymed, a privately held company focused on the research, development, production and marketing, and sales of Holter EKG Ambulatory Monitoring Systems, Event Monitoring, In Patient Telemetry Monitoring Systems and Trans-telephonic Systems. Through extensive technology development and strategic alliances, the company became the industry leader in Ambulatory Monitoring and Arrhythmia Detection Algorithms. The company grew to $25M in sales and $5M in EBITDA.

Following the acquisition of Zymed by Philips Medical Systems, Mr. Hutchinson assumed the VP/GM position of the Cardiology Division. The $200M business unit was responsible for manufacturing, research and development, sales and marketing world-wide for non-invasive cardiology products focused on EKG Carts, Holter / Event Monitoring, EKG Data Storage & Analysis Systems and Transtelephonic EKG monitoring. Offices were also maintained in Shanghai, China.

From 2002 to 2010, Mr. Hutchinson served as President and CEO of Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC), a privately held company is the leading manufacturer of healthcare and patron management identification solutions. In late 2010 he assumed a directorship and executive advisory role through the sale of the company to Brady Corporation in December 2012. The company grew from $43M to $170M in sales, and from $2M to $30M in EBITDA. It established European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, developed manufacturing operations in Tijuana, Mexico, and partnered with Water Street Healthcare Partners, a Chicago private equity firm. Furthermore, the company acquired the wristband product line from Hollister, Inc., (Libertyville, IL) and TimeMed Labeling Systems, Inc. (Burr Ridge, IL).

Mr. Hutchinson has served on ten boards of directors, and contributed as advisor and consultant to twelve assignments.

B.A. in History from Ohio State University, 1971

2 years advising GAP

Molly Schmid has specific expertise in guiding early stage companies and technology commercialization, stemming from her roles in scientific management, project leadership, and business development in four biotechnology companies. Her career has been about equally split between academia and industry. Currently, she serves primarily as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC and as a Senior Counselor for TriTechSBDC.

Dr. Schmid has held senior leadership positions in the biotech industry, where she served as Group Vice President, Life Science at ieCrowd (Riverside, CA), Senior Vice President of Preclinical Programs at Affinium Pharmaceuticals (Toronto, ON), Director of Genomics and Bioinformatics at Genencor International (Palo Alto CA), and Vice President of Research Alliances at Microcide Pharmaceuticals (Mountain View, CA).

In these companies, she was part of executive teams that raised over $200MM in funding through venture capital, corporate partnerships, public markets, and US and Canadian federal research grants. Her experiences with these companies included two IPO’s, two compounds that entered human clinical trials, international, multi-year, multi-million dollar corporate partnerships with a number of companies, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Daiichi Pharmaceuticals, and building and managing first-rate scientific teams, while satisfying the business needs of the organizations. She has nine issued U.S. patents, and several others pending.

She began her career in academia, where she has had a distinguished career. Most recently, she was Professor and Entrepreneur- in-Residence at Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences in Claremont, CA and formerly an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. In addition, she has held adjunct professor positions at the University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business), San Diego State University (Biology), and Claremont Graduate University (Drucker School of Management). Dr. Schmid has served on numerous NSF and NIH grant review panels, and served as chair of an NIH SBIR/STTR grant review panel for several years. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a Searle Scholar, and a Damon-Runyon Fellow.

She has embedded herself in the Southern California entrepreneurial community since moving here in 2005. She is a member and past president of the Inland SoCal Tech Coast Angels, a member of the TCA Board of Governors (2011-2014), and a Senior Counselor for TriTech Small Business Development Center. Molly Schmid has been a GAP advisor for 3 years.

Ph.D., Biology University of Utah B.S., Biology, University at Albany - SUNY

Business Creation Project

BCP Success Story: Bellanove (Class of 2017)

BellaNove offers a monthly rental service for modern, sophisticated, professional maternity clothing items, aiming to help all women stay sharp and stylish from boardrooms to doctor check-ups with less hassle and fuss.

BellaNove Founder and Wolfen Fellow, Jenny Leung (’17) launched the company October 2017.

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Subject to minimum liquidity requirements, the Fund may hold the stock of any publicly traded U.S. firm on an approved list of stocks. A portion of the long-term profits of the fund will be donated to the UCLA Anderson School of Management for support in student scholarships and for support of research in finance.

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The Learning Factory's end-of-semester showcase will take place in-person from 1 to 3:30 pm on Tuesday, April 23 at the Bryce Jordan Center. The virtual showcase will take place Wednesday, April 24 through Friday, May 3. Credit: Jeff Xu/Penn State

Learning Factory to host engineering showcase in person and virtually

April 5, 2024

By Sarah Small

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Engineering’s Learning Factory will host its end-of-semester showcase for senior engineering students to present their capstone design projects and first-year engineering students to present their cornerstone design projects with both in-person and virtual formats.   

The in-person showcase will take place from 1 to 3:30 pm on Tuesday, April 23 at the Bryce Jordan Center, and the virtual showcase will take place Wednesday, April 24 through Friday, May 3. Both versions are free and open to the public.  

The work of nearly 1,500 students will be represented at the showcase. The event provides engineering students from across the College of Engineering with an opportunity to share their projects, which are sponsored by entrepreneurs, industry partners, government agencies and nonprofits. A complete list of current projects and sponsors can be found here .  

Projects, posters and videos will be judged for awards, including both an online and in-person People's Choice Award voted on by attendees. Other award winners will be determined by a panel of experts composed of current and past sponsors, as well as members of the Learning Factory’s Industry Advisory Board. Winners will be announced at the end of the showcase and listed online here.  

“The showcase is for everyone,” said Matt Parkinson, director of the Learning Factory and professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering. “If you’re considering a STEM major, you can learn how those skills are used in the ‘real world.’ If you’re an engineering student wondering what awaits you in your final year, this is the place to catch that vision. If you are in industry and looking for ways to engage with Penn State, this will give you myriad ideas. Plus, there’s free Creamery ice cream.”  

Showcase visitors, including those with ADA parking needs, must purchase a parking permit from BJC Park Mobile using these instructions and park in Jordan East . Students, faculty and staff with on-campus parking permits should not use park mobile and may park in Jordan East, Stadium West and Porter North. Faculty and staff with parking permits may also park in Orange L East (Founders Lot/Guest Entrance) and Orange L South (Show Entrance). 

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Construction Sector Adds 39,000 Jobs Between February And March With Increases In Every Residential And Nonresidential Category

Monthly Pickup is the Largest Since January 2023, While the Industry’s 5.4 Percent Unemployment Rate  Is the Lowest March Rate in Five Years; However Record Job Openings Show Firms Need More Workers

The construction industry added 39,000 jobs in March—the most since January 2023—with gains among all five types of residential and nonresidential categories, according to an analysis of new government data the Associated General Contractors of America released today. Association officials cautioned, however, that firms are still coping with significant labor shortages that are undermining broader growth in the sector.

“All types of construction firms were hiring in March,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But the record number of construction job openings at the end of February indicates contractors would have hired even more workers if they were available to keep pace with demand.”  

Construction employment in March totaled 8,211,000, seasonally adjusted, a gain of 39,000 from the upwardly revised February total. The sector has added 270,000 jobs during the past 12 months, a 3.4 percent increase. Residential builders added 5,500 employees in March, while residential specialty trade contractors added 8,900. Employment rose as well among nonresidential construction firms, by 2,300 at building construction firms, 16,300 at specialty trade contractors, and 6,000 at heavy and civil engineering construction firms.

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction—covering most onsite craft workers as well as many office workers—climbed by 4.9 percent over the year to $35.42 per hour. Construction firms in March provided a wage “premium” of 18.9 percent compared to the average hourly earnings for all private-sector production employees.

One reason for the rapid wage gains is that the industry continues to struggle to find enough workers to hire. Simonson noted that a different federal report released earlier showed there were 414,000 job openings at the end of February, the highest number of open positions yet recorded for the month.

Association officials said those labor shortages were making it harder for firms to take on new projects and complete existing ones on schedule. They urged federal officials to narrow the substantial gap between what it invests in education and training programs for fields like construction and what it spends urging most students to go to college and work in an office environment. They also urged Congress and the Biden administration to explore ways to allow more people to lawfully enter the country who are qualified to work in construction.

“Based on funding levels and immigration policy, the federal government is discouraging American workers from pursuing construction careers while refusing to welcome those born elsewhere,” said Jeffrey Shoaf , the association’s chief executive officer . “ We need an all-of-the-above instead of a none-of-the-above approach when it comes to encouraging more people to pursue the many high-paying construction career opportunities that are available today.”

View the construction employment data .

The world is driven by liquid-vapor phase change

Uc engineering professor gets nsf career award to fund research on liquid films.

University of Cincinnati professor Kishan Bellur is captivated by evaporation — a phenomenon that is happening all the time, all around us, but few of us notice. Most liquid surfaces, for example, water in a test tube, are not flat. There is a slight curvature to it called the meniscus. As the liquid evaporates, it climbs up the side of the tube forming a very thin liquid film that is hard to see with the naked eye. Understanding the evaporation process and the behavior of these films are the focus of Bellur's latest research. 

Kishan Bellur. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing

Bellur, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the highly regarded National Science Foundation CAREER Award to fund his research on the behavior of thin evaporating liquid films for the next five years. 

Scientists are interested in studying these films because of their unique properties. Despite appearing to be stable, they actually dance around or oscillate, triggered by different factors, all of which result in a transfer of energy. This oscillation under the right conditions can move the meniscus, causing the liquid to shift up or down.

"The connection between the thin film and the rest of the meniscus is relatively unknown. That is the focus of the project," Bellur said. "We are running experiments and doing computer modeling to connect the currently unknown pieces of all length scales — from thin films to the bulk menisci." 

During his doctoral studies, Bellur became interested in thin films while studying storage and evaporation of liquid hydrogen (rocket fuel) at extremely low temperatures. He realized that as hydrogen evaporates inside spacecraft tanks, it wicks up the sides of the wall and forms a thin liquid film that can oscillate. By delving deeper into the properties of these films and the wicking behaviors, a realization dawned on him. 

"Digging deeper into why these films oscillate, it turns out the film stability is all about a mismatch between the evaporation and condensation process," Bellur said. 

Kishan Bellur became interested in thin films during his doctoral studies. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing

Evaporation is a very energy intensive process. To evaporate something, heat is applied, however, the temperature remains constant. This is one of those unique processes where heat transport does not require a temperature change. Additionally, the thin film, where much of this evaporation takes place, covers an extremely small area, making it a very efficient heat transfer mechanism in terms of square footage. Bellur and his team at the UC Lab for Interfacial Dynamics  are studying how they can leverage these behaviors to develop better, more efficient heat transfer devices and make make advancements in space technology, hydrogen energy, and advanced manufacturing. 

Paired with the research Bellur and his team are conducting, this NSF award also focuses on education and outreach. When Bellur was walking around a local farmers market, a realization struck him: phase change and fluid dynamics are key ingredients in cooking. 

Scientific principles are all around the kitchen. For instance, the bubbling dynamics of boiling water to cook pasta, the heat transfer processes when baking a cake, the reaction of baking powder when added to a recipe; these are all examples of seemingly simple cooking tasks that are grounded in science. In short, the kitchen is a laboratory that is used by almost everyone. 

Graduate students in Kishan Bellur's lab participate in meaningful research under his guidance. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing

Bellur and his engineering undergraduate students are partnering with the Hyde Park Farmers Market in Cincinnati to set up a booth with demonstrations to showcase the science happening in the kitchen with marketgoers. 

"I realized we could use the humble kitchen as an accessible personal laboratory to teach people about basic scientific principles," Bellur said. 

The goal of this outreach is to educate the public on scientific principles that are occurring in daily life and inspire them to think about science. 

In addition to the NSF CAREER project, Bellur is also involved with many facets of space research including that on the International Space Station. Currently through an NSF and Center for Advancement of Science in Space program, he is working on a unique sensor module to gather new data from a boiling and condensation experiment on the ISS. Bellur is also funded through the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics program wherein he and his team are extracting unique insights from data gathered in prior ISS experiments. 

Bellur advocates for undergraduate student research and fosters student development through various programs such as NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation . 

Featured image at top: Kishan Bellur received the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his research on thin liquid films. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing

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What computers tell us about synthetic biology.

March 3, 2022

Creating synthetic life could be easily within our grasp soon based on a comparison with the evolution of computer chips. Computer programming and gene synthesis appear to share little in common. But according to University of Cincinnati professor Andrew Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar, leaps forward in technology in the former make him optimistic that wide scale gene manufacture is achievable.

April 4, 2024

University of Cincinnati professor Kishan Bellur is captivated by evaporation - a phenomena that is happening all the time, all around us, but few of us notice. Most liquid surfaces, for example, water in a test tube, are not flat. There is a slight curvature to it called the meniscus. As the liquid evaporates, it climbs up the side of the tube forming a very thin liquid film that is hard to see with the naked eye. Understanding the evaporation process and the behavior of these films are the focus of Bellur's latest research.

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science nearly doubles research funding in two years

November 18, 2021

The University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science received $29.3 million in externally sponsored research funding during the 2021 fiscal year. This is nearly double the $15.4 million earned in FY 2019 and 23 percent more than the $22.3 million the college’s faculty were awarded during FY 2020.

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Farmingdale senior heads to high school powerlifting nationals as part of unique school project.

Austin Lizzotte is off to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to compete in USA Powerlifting event as part of his Capstone project.

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Austin Lizzotte found a creative way to work on his senior capstone project.

Lizzotte, a Hall-Dale High School student and track and field athlete, decided to focus his project on powerlifting, a sport his father, Christopher, has been involved in with since the early 1990s.

“The first meet I competed in was for my senior project, on a topic of our choice,” Lizzotte said. “I wanted to get into it, just for fun. I thought it would be a great opportunity to do it as my senior project, too.”

A year later, that school project not only has progressed, it’s taking Hall-Dale senior to the USA Powerlifting High School Nationals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Lizzotte is scheduled to lift in the 190-pound division on Saturday night at 7. The events runs from April 4-7.

“I’m so excited,” Lizzotte said. “But it’s a little nerve-racking. For one, I don’t like heights, and we’re flying (to Baton Rouge).”

To reach nationals, Lizzotte needed to hit a total weight of 1,060 pounds in three lifts: bench press, squat and deadlift. Lizzotte qualified for nationals in December when he hit a total of 1,079 pounds at the Carrie Boudreau Big Pullooza, a USA Powerlifting sanctioned-meet in Farmington. He hit 451 pounds on squat, 236 pounds on bench and 392 pounds on deadlift. Advertisement

“My squat has been the easiest. I feel like I’ve always had good squat form,” Lizzotte said. “It was easy to make smaller changes (in the lift). My deadlift was awful (at first), it was terrible. That was something I had to work on the most. My bench, too. That wasn’t as bad, but definitely my deadlift (was the worst).”

Hall-Dale senior Austin Lizzotte gets ready to squat during a recent powerlifting competition. Lizzotte is participating in the USA Powerlifting High School Nationals this weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Contributed photo by Austin Lizzotte

“He’s got a great squat, but like me, the deadlift is not his favorite,” Christopher Lizzotte added. “Even though he’s not impressed by his bench, I’m more impressed by his bench because that should be his weakest (lift).”

Lizzotte, who previously played football for Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale before suffering a torn labrum in his shoulder during his junior year, began dabbling in powerlifting after recovering from his injury.

“He was already lifting a little bit (after surgery), but after that he knew he wouldn’t be able to play football again,” Christopher Lizzotte said. “He started lifting heavier and got into (powerlifting) a little more that way.

“About two years ago, I helped another Hall-Dale student, because I had been a powerlifting coach and a regional ref for USAPL. I helped him with his capstone (project), which was a slightly different topic, but was about powerlifting. I think that kind of gave Austin the idea to go this way.”

In order to focus on competing at nationals, Lizzotte had to take a short break from the Hall-Dale track and field team. Hall-Dale head coach Jarod Richmond said he’s been impressed with Lizotte’s dedication to the sport. Advertisement

“It’s really cool (to see),” Richmond said. “To have a kid that’s dedicated himself to something that’s kind of off the beaten path, but that requires a tremendous amount of hard work and discipline, and then to get to go down to nationals, it’s just super cool to have a kid from our community do that.”

Lizzotte has been training with his coach, Shelby Downing, at Stand Strong Sports Performance in Farmington, roughly 40 miles from Lizotte’s home in Farmingdale. Lizotte said the payoff is well worth the drive.

“There’s a good family of people there, I love everyone that I lift with,” Lizzotte said. “None of them (tick) me off. All of them are super supportive. It’s super nice going out there and lifting with a bunch of friends.”

Hall-Dale senior Austin Lizzotte will compete at the USA Powerlifting High School Nationals this weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Christopher Lizzotte said he wants his son to discover his own path within the sport.

“We walk that fine line to the point that, I know that he will listen to another coach before me,” Christopher Lizzotte laughed. “That’s why I pointed him to Shelby to be his coach. She and I are like minds when it comes to powerlifting and technique, how you prepare. It’s always fun to watch a younger generation discover something.”

Austin Lizzotte said he plans to continue powerlifting in college. After nationals, he’ll take a break from the sport to focus on his track season at Hall-Dale. Lizzotte competes in the discus, shot put and the 4×100 relay with the Bulldogs. Lizzotte said his powerlifting has helped with his throws. Last spring, Lizotte finished third in the shot put at the Mountain Valley Conference championships with a throw of 40 feet, 7 inches.

“I’m super excited (for track),” Lizzotte said. “I’ve definitely seen a 4-foot improvement (on the shot put), which is crazy.”

“I think he had some breakthrough moments through the end of the season last year,” Richmond added. “Any time that one of our athletes can take something, outside of track, and translate that into success for track, I think that will inspire other athletes to look into some of those things… I think he comes in with the right attitude and the right focus and I think the sky’s the limit for him this season.”

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Experiential Learning: The Hill Concession Project

Posted in: Feliciano School of Business , Hospitality & Tourism

The Hill, a newly renovated concession area at the Yogi Berra Stadium, was part of a capstone project for the Hospitality and Tourism department senior seminar course. The name, the result of market research conducted by Feliciano students, makes the connection between Yogi Berra’s boyhood neighborhood in St. Louis and the elevated Red Hawks perch for the stadium and campus.

Under the guidance of Associate Professor Josh Lupinek (Department of Hospitality and Tourism), students will curate an enticing menu featuring a rotation of local businesses. The inaugural weekend showcased Montclair Brewery and Señor Tacos of Bridgewater, offering students hands-on experiences in community engagement, operations, and promoting partnerships through stadium concessions. This endeavor not only provides valuable practical experience but also strengthens our ties with the local community. We’re excited to see our students thrive in this collaborative and innovative project.