Creation of Pokémon World Champion Edition

Michael Aurilia, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Computer Science

This project has been a journey filled with challenges, creativity, and growth. As I reflect on the development process, I am inspired by the amount of work I was able to complete in a short time span. While there were portions of the project that had to be omitted due to time constraints, I am satisfied with the current version of the project.

At the outset, my vision was clear: to develop a Java-based application that would replicate the experience of 6V6 Pokémon battles. However, as I worked on the project, I realized the intricacies involved in translating the rich mechanics of Pokémon games into a digital simulation. From designing the battle engine to implementing move sets, each aspect demanded careful consideration and attention to detail.

One of the most significant challenges I faced was finding a balance between authenticity and accessibility. While I wanted to stay true to the core mechanics of the Pokémon games, I also recognized the need to streamline certain aspects, such as accuracy and status effects that make the player lose a turn to ensure a smooth and enjoyable user experience. Another challenge I experienced during the creation of this project was translating the code for Java to C# for Unity integration. As I attempted to make this change, I realized that it would be too complex for the time I had remaining, so I made the choice to leave it out of this version of the project. Finishing this translation would have meant better visuals for the project such as a background scene, music, animations, etc. so while it would have been nice to have, the project is still functional on its own.

I plan to evolve and improve this platform to provide the best possible experience for the users. In the future, I would like to add in the previously mentioned scrapped features so that it more closely resembles the mainline Pokémon games that the code simulates. I would also like to add more Pokémon for the user to choose from to provide a different gameplay experience for each user.

In closing, the creation of the Pokémon World Champion Edition project taught me a great deal about the creation of object-oriented projects. I learned time management skills that will also help me in future coding endeavors. While the project didn’t turn out perfectly, over all I am still pleased with how I was able to create this program for others to enjoy.

 

Research Journey Exploring Cow Emotion

Arianna Brillante, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Biology (Ecology, Evolution, & Behavioral)

Completing an independent research project under the guidance of a mentor has been a fulfilling and exciting experience, and I am so grateful for the connection that I made with my mentor Dr. Ann Etsey.

However, it was also daunting at times due to the overwhelming amount of information and resources to choose from. This work pushed me out of my comfort zone and got me acquainted with putting myself out there and having my ideas challenged. I spent a majority of days reading countless papers and journals, trying to piece together information in a cohesive manner. Receiving feedback on my work was beyond helpful and made me aware of small details and crucial formatting choices that I would not have thought of myself.

Exploring cow emotion deepened my understanding of animal behavior and cognition, which is a topic that has always interested me and will guide me into my journey of veterinary school. Through this process, I learned so much that I never would have made the effort to read about if it weren’t for the capstone project. Creating a scientific review and browsing existing literature provided me with foundational knowledge on the subject, but also brought gaps in knowledge to light.

I found that there are a lack of studies done on animal emotion and that regulating their treatment on farms are scarily absent. I knew that understanding cow emotion is crucial from a scientific perspective, but I realized its importance from an ethical standpoint. This research increased my awareness of animal cognition and made me more conscious of the choices I make when purchasing and consuming meat products. I started off my capstone with the broad subject of animal emotion and ended up in an interconnected web of the emotional lives of cows and their welfare and treatment in the food industry.

Overall, this research project has been an amazing experience and learning opportunity and I hope that my work can help in making a difference towards a better future for animals in agriculture.

 

The Health of AI in the Medical Field

Robert Wetz, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Computer Science

My thesis concerned the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the medical field. I decided to choose writing a thesis for my capstone as it is something I had never done before, and I believed that I would be able to cover my topic in depth.

Upon starting my thesis, I was completely lost on where to begin. I knew what I wanted to write about and had done some research already, but starting it had proven to be the most difficult part. It was not until I met with my mentor that I was steered in the right direction and had a path to follow.

With that guidance, I began my thesis and made some headway. However, having never written a thesis before, I was unaware of all the different aspects there were in comparison to that of a college paper, something that I was very familiar with at that point in my college career. The most notable difference was how references were handled and how much they were emphasized in a thesis. Although it slowed my progress down a bit, it added a level of professionality that I had never considered outside of the references that I used to in college papers.

During this process, I also learned about the resources available through the CSI database and how expansive it is, encompassing a large number of topics. The final and most important part that I discovered when working on my capstone was simply the dedication it takes to complete. When starting out, I felt overwhelmed by the amount of content I would have to write about and I had no idea if I would even be able to complete something of this size. However, along with my mentor’s assistance, I was able to keep at it and took it piece by piece and soon enough the end was in sight. 

Something I was unprepared for in this process was how rewarding it would feel to complete it. Being able to go from nothing at all to something tangible and be a part of that process left me feeling accomplished in what I have done. Although my thesis is completed, there is room for future developments.

My thesis discusses various aspects of AI in healthcare, including its work in the field of cancer, radiology, and drug discovery. However, that only scratches the surface that AI has made within such a vast field. If I were to continue this research, different applications of AI in the medical field could be discussed or even new innovations that have come out since completing my thesis. 

Overall, I am grateful to have completed this capstone because I learned not only about AI’s impact in the field of medicine, but I also learned a lot about myself in the process.

Writing Skills in Motion in the Classroom

Kai White, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in English Writing and minor in Studio Art

It is the dream of every author to write a book they can proudly stand behind. I got to engage with the writing of unfamiliar authors and my talented peers and was inspired by the craft and creativity of both.

This project covered styles of writing, tones, and perspectives that were completely out of my comfort zone. While writing this story and going to school, I was constantly gaining new ideas and my own writing style kept shifting with every new literary influence.

There were many times, even towards the end of the project, where the stories became creatures I didn’t know how to interact with anymore. I’d become a different writer, and what I’d written only months before became wholly unrecognizable, the work of a stranger. This was especially the case with “The Lockbox,” being the bigger monster of the two pieces. From its inception, “The Lockbox” was already unlike anything I’d ever written before. In the class where the idea sprung, we were reading authors that I was exploring for the first time.

There was this constant fear that I was too inexperienced as a writer, with too limited a world view, to be attempting to tackle the serious themes I was handling. But throughout my final semester, I got to listen to lectures from professional writers, and their words greatly encouraged me. One writer in particular, Robert Jones Jr., mentioned that part of being a writer is accepting that you’re a better writer today than you were yesterday, and you’ll be an even better writer tomorrow than you are today.

Suffice it to say, I’m a completely different writer now than I was when I wrote these stories a year ago. So long as I’m alive, learning and writing, the stories I create will never truly end within the pages they’re contained. But that collection of pages represents the place I was in at that time, the concepts I wanted to explore, and how I may have interpreted and challenged various facets of the world around me.

Audio Signal Generator to Alter Tomato Plant Behavior

Bryan Rudshteyn, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Electrical Engineering

I found this capstone project to be a very interesting experience. When I started the beginning phases of it, I never imagined that I would be doing something like this, especially since going into it I had no idea of what I was getting into or even how I would be able to contribute anything to it. Because I am an electrical engineering major, my capstone was based on my senior design project which was about audio signal generator to alter plant behavior.

Due to the nature of my project relying on proving and recreating the scenario in which a published experiment claimed that sound helps tomatoes grow better, I needed to create a sound generator and grow tomatoes with it and then compare it to the results of tomatoes growing without it. This experimental research, while not initially seeming as something difficult or interesting, required very accurate measurements and data capturing techniques to be used, that were not used or taken in previous engineering courses.

There was a lot that I took away from this experience, which yielded interesting results. It was in doing this experiment and research that I was able to truly understand that a real experiment is when you genuinely don’t know what results to expect. With the aid and support of my professor who mentored my team and I through this research, we were able to understand the unique approaches that engineers have and the effectiveness of working as a group instead of just individualized assignments. Additionally, it was with his expertise that I learned how to conduct a proper experiment and how engineers should collaborate effectively to be as efficient as possible.

Furthermore, the completion of this research taught me to believe half of what you measure and a tenth of what you read. Overall, this project provided a unique experience as I was not expecting to grow plants and do a lot of biology research as an electrical engineering student. This, however, would open my eyes as to how diversified an engineer’s skills can be used in various areas of study, regardless of their knowledgeability on the subject matter.