Using Twitter to Assess Attitudes in the US

Christina Daquino, Verrazano Honors Class of 2018, was one of CSI's first graduates in Information Systems and Informatics

My capstone experience has offered me more than I had ever anticipated. When I was first hit with the term capstone, I had no idea what I was going to do. My major had offered me such a wide range of specialties and I did not even think about what I really wanted to do. This capstone made me look into my major and see the career options. It made me really think about how I wanted to continue with my degree. Once I had a couple of ideas, the second hardest part was finding a mentor.

Christina presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

 My mentor showed me how working in the industry really is. She helped me develop my idea further into a research topic. After the topic was finalized she sent me on my way. It was my job to think about how I can accomplish this and what methods I need to use. It was not an easy semester I have to say, but again after college will not be easy after either.

          My idea for the capstone had changed multiple times after starting, but after two months of back and forth I had an official research topic. Using the language R, I wanted to find the sentiment of the USA. I used R to stream tweets from Twitter in real time to get an accurate measurement for a state’s sentiment. After finding these sentiments, I plotted them on a map and wanted to locate specific locations of tweets. This idea was influenced by marketing of businesses. How emotion and marketing relate to its target audience and area. Also incorporating a map of Census results to better see that target audience.

 Going further with my project, I would like to eventually get city sentiment. These sentiments can not only help businesses but even government officials to improve areas where people need it the most. I would like to plot specific tweets in an area based on highest sentiment. For example, if Staten Island has an overall negative sentiment it will show the most common negative topic everyone is talking about.

 I have learned valuable skills thought out my capstone project. This includes work related skills and life skills. This capstone gave me realistic expectations of project management and how working with others will be continuing my career. Also it gave me a better understanding of the developing ideas and the purpose for them. I hope to continue building these skills and using the new ones I just developed.

I Made a Home: CUNY Service Corps--Puerto Rico

Jacqueline Torralba, Verrazano Honors Class of 2021, is pursuing a Biology degree en route to medical school. She described her experience in CUNY Service Corps - Puerto Rico.



*BEEP BEEP* as my alarm clock continues to ring at six o’clock in the morning.  My eyes open, my body rises, and I begin to get dressed work shirt, check, pants, check, work boots, check.  Eleven months after Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico, and I am finally standing on Puerto Rican land.  A look in the mirror and off I go.  My heart begins to race at a pace faster than normal, one where I am both thrilled and afraid.  I am thrilled to finally take action, to get to work, to lift a tool.  I am however, afraid, for what my eyes are about to witness. During the drives to the worksite I always sit by the window.  Even though majority of the drives are through the same route, I constantly take in all the beauty that I possibly can.  I’m able to ignore  the view of the wrecked homes and the garbage on the streets because at the end, it’s all masked by something truly beautiful.  There is something about the people's smiles that always get to me.  Through the trauma and fight, people are still able to put on a smile.  It’s the hope and faith that keeps everyone united: The strength they all have has kept them together.  

Jacqueline and fellow CUNY students in Puerto Rico

The first homeowner I worked with, was Ramon.  He would cook everyday for my team and I. The food was delicious, very delicious.  I never thought that one day I would ever feel guilty for eating a plate of food, but I did.  I felt guilty for eating because Ramon had no home when he cooked for us.  Much less did he have a kitchen.  He had no home for a whole eleven months straight.  Ramon cooked in his neighbors house, everyday I was there.  I felt for Ramon, I felt for Jesus which was another homeowner.  I felt for every single person living in this struggle, I felt for the people of Puerto Rico.  Majority of the work that I performed in Puerto Rico was repairing roofs and mold removal.  I certainly sweated a ton, received a tan and most importantly grew a huge heart.  This experience did not only give the people of Puerto Rico an opportunity of a home, but also gave me an opportunity of becoming a better person.  By simply talking to someone and hearing their story, my question was answered: Why am I here?  Yes, organizations sent money, sent care packages, but what they failed to realize is that people were robbed.  They failed to understand that not everyone was even helped.  I came to understand that there are many locations that are not even on the map.  Therefore how can these people even be helped?  People don’t even know they exist.  From observing different areas of Puerto Rico, I learned that if no one will help these people, its okay, because these people will help each other — something that I fail to see in New York.  The people of Puerto Rico united, and still remain together for the well being of each other.  These people would greet everyone who would walk by, they would smile, they would acknowledge the presence of someone else, myself included.  A smile can and will change someone's day.  Within a smile comes a thousand words.  These people worked together.  Instead of causing another battle, they choose to unite.  Neighbors treated each other as neighbors.  They are friendly, they share, and they all smile.  Their smile is what I miss about Puerto Rico.  As I reflect on these two weeks, to where people live in conditions no one should ever live in, I vow to not complain again.  How can I complain when I have a roof over my head?  I do not live in fear, I sleep in the comfort of my own home. Knowing that I was able to fix a total of four homes, I did not just fix a roof, stop a leak, or remove mold, I made a home.  A home to which someone can go to everyday.  A place where they can feel comfort just as anyone else can.  I will forever be grateful for this experience. 

What Parents Think About When They Think About Immunizations

Nico Baylosis, Verrazano Honors Class of 2018, completed a degree in Nursing

As I found myself on the last laps of nursing school, I felt that I wanted to become more involved in Pediatric Nursing. The subject of my capstone research project revolved around the thought process of parents when it came to the administration of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. This vaccine is usually given to children at 1- and 4-years old, with the permission of parents. Medical research has shown that if 95% of the population receives the vaccine then the disease would be considered eradicated in the community. Despite this there is still controversy and reluctance regarding the MMR vaccine and some parents decide not to vaccinate their children. Because of this, those in the population who are unable to receive this vaccine, such as immunocompromised or those allergic to the vaccine, are at risk for any of these diseases. I had spent my college summers working at a non-profit organization that established a summer camp that was meant for children with cancer and their siblings. As one of the medical staff, I had the privilege of getting to know these kids for nearly three years and have seen them grow. I thought of them as inspiration for this project. As oncology was not an area that I felt I could make progress in, in terms of pediatrics I saw the promotion of vaccine adherence in healthier children as indirectly providing protection against diseases for children with cancer.



I had initially intended to conduct an experiment for this project, however, I learned that the approval and creation process would have required me starting 2-3 years prior.  Instead I focused my attention towards understanding the refusal to a vaccine that seems necessary for a healthy community.  I felt that before I would be able to implement any intervention in a clinical setting, I would have to explore all the details of the basics. My research project led me to find more than 18 sources of studies that focused on the decisions and thought processes of parents when they refuse or accept the vaccines. My project took the form of an extensive literature review and comprised nearly all relevant research on parents and the MMR, including the original study published by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that virtually gave life to the belief of “vaccines causing autism.” I had also included studies of populations all over Europe, which looked for any correlation between receiving the vaccine and occurrence of autism. The results for these studies was that there was no correlation. 


Despite all this, there is still a significant amount of people who refuse this vaccine. A surprising find is that the majority of people who refuse the vaccine are not solely affected by the past idea of “the MMR vaccine causes autism.” While there were many factors affecting parents, the most common ones were vaccine safety, social media, lack of trust in health care professionals, and perceived risks of the diseases. While the overall end goal of this project is to increase awareness and promote the uptake of the vaccine, I went back to the basics so that we would better understand what goes through a parent’s mind when making these decisions. By acknowledging that these parents have concerns and addressing them individually, then there may be a better chance of improving the community vaccination rate. My results in this study only identified the main factors among parents. This capstone is only an introduction as I hope to take this study further myself and one day conduct my own experiment to improve community health in the future.

Research (and Yogurt!) have Unexpected Benefits

Nicole Dushkin, Class of 2018, earned a BS with a major in Biology, with a Health Science concentration


When I first started the College of Staten Island, and became a member of the Verrazano school, I had no idea where the exciting journey would take me. The one thing I never believed I would be able to accomplish is being successful in the sciences, especially in laboratory research. Fast forward four years, and here I am completing my Bachelors in Biology and am an active member doing research in a Molecular Biology Laboratory. Aspiring to become a physician one day, being a member in this research strongly influences the impact I hope to have on the community one day. Research in any lab, as well as working with patients, requires a great amount of patience. Sometimes, things do not go as planned, or the end results are the complete opposite of what was originally expected. Starting the pre-medical track seemed like a long, and excruciating process, but through the help of the biology department, getting involved never seemed so easy. I am so thankful for the opportunity that Dr. Shen gave me by allowing me to be part of his lab. Little did I know, that I would gain such a strong passion for working in the lab and conducting this research. 

Nicole in the lab

Our goal was to test two strains of bacteria that are commonly found as starter cultures in yogurt, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, and measuring the way they are absorbed. This is beneficial because the proposed thought was that small amounts of alcohol, combined with probiotics, can have very positive health benefits. During the fermentation process of producing yogurt from the starter cultures, ethanol is formed. We would like to see how the strains of yogurt will survive in different environments. When ingesting yogurt, there is a pathway that allows the yogurt to be broken down. Since absorption goes through the stomach and the small intestine, and both environments are in different pH levels, we are testing the growth of bacteria at pH levels of both places. We made specific media, that allows the specific bacteria to grow in, and then altered the pH to mimic the stomach and small intestine. This research is ongoing, and although we did obtain results for the growth of the bacteria, we will continue to research how it reacts under different conditions.  

Nicole presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

This process involved a lot of patience and repetition. It correlates back to what life as a physician will be like. Physicians don’t always have perfect and exact answers while seeing a patient. They have to perform several tests, over a period of time and sometimes their results are the opposite of what they would expect. Conducting this research provided me with a sense of passion to continue with the experiment regardless of the circumstances. By pursuing this part of my education, I learned about myself and how passionate I am about this subject.  After graduation, I plan to continue this research and gain even more knowledge through the tests we will perform. As I prepare to hopefully attend Medical School, research in Dr.Shen’s lab has provided me with a great foundation of what my future will hold.

A Capstone at the Intersection of Marketing and Psychology

Leeza Gillies, Class of 2018, completed a double major in Business Marketing and Psychology. 

I changed my mind on what I wanted to do my Capstone project on several times over the my college career. I wanted it to really reflect my education and compile the things I’ve learned into one component. While doing research for my project and collecting ideas I wanted to include I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do that. It’s very difficult to reflect 4 years of education into one presentation. So I decided to focus on one thing I learned that really stuck with me.

I started college as a Psychology major because I wanted to eventually go into therapy. A few semesters in, when it came time to declare a major, I took a different route and ended up a business major with a concentration in Marketing. I kept Psychology as a minor, and with each marketing class I took, I noticed just how much the two topics tied in together. They go hand and hand, so by my senior year I decided to double major. 

Leeza presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

Apart from noticing how marketing and psychology tie together, what I’ve learned has also shown me how marketing ties into everyday life. I started to notice just how big of an impact marketing has on our perception of everyday occurrences. The most subtle, unnoticeable things impact our decisions and the way we perceive things, and we may not be aware of them but marketers are. 

Reflecting on the work I produced from my research, I thought I was going to have to condense a lot of information. But after organizing it I realized I had to cut a lot of information out. As I mentioned earlier, there’s no way to reflect 4 years of education in one project. So many concepts are relevant and can significantly contribute to the message I was trying to send, but in the end all I could compile was a summary. A summary on how marketing effects every individual’s life every single day. Hopefully after viewing my project people will be able to detect the subtle exposure they have to marketing strategies every single day. 

Breaking the Pain: Implementing a “No-Lift Policy”

Kasey Reems, Verrazano Class of 2018, completed a degree in Nursing

I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing in May of 2018.  I knew what I wanted to do my Capstone Project on after my first day of nursing clinical.  I left the hospital that day feeling exhausted and in pain because of having to maneuver numerous patients.  Upon further research to this problem I encountered, I decided to do my Capstone on implementing a  “No-Lift Policy” for nurses and all over healthcare providers. 

A “No-Lift Policy” means there is no manually lifting, moving, turning, or positioning a patient.  Instead, using ergonomic and assistive devices to do so.  During my Capstone, I worked with Dr. Griffiths, who helped me immensely!  Dr. Griffiths provided me with a lot of information and recent studies that were done using a “No-Lift Policy”.  I was surprised while I was doing my research.  It turns out, the most common reason for healthcare workers, especially nurses, call out of work is injury due to physical interaction with a patient.  This includes, lifting or moving a patient without any devices.

I used a change model by Rosswurm and Larrabee (1999) to implement my new policy.  This model guides the transition from traditional-driven practice to evidence-based practice.  Following this change model truly made it feel like my new policy can be implemented.  I found really interesting studies performed to determine the effectiveness of a “No-Lift Policy”, which will definitely change the way I handle maneuvering patients as a nurse.  This Capstone was a great learning experience.  It was really nice to work with such an educated mentor who guided me along the way. 

Eric Yang Looks at Foreign Direct Investments

Eric Yang, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned a degree in Economics and a minor in Political Science.

My capstone experience about FDI (foreign direct investments)'s effects on developing nations enables me to improve my skills as a researcher and writer. One important practice I picked up during this project came directly from Professor Vachadze, who showed me how to use a rating scale to determine the impact factor of a journal. The impact factor of a journal demonstrates how influential a journal it is. As a result, I learned to determine the quality of an article simply by looking at the impact factor of the journal. In addition, my faculty advisor also showed me an example of a well-organized research paper. Understanding the structure of the research paper allows me to organize my thoughts into producing a great research paper.  

Eric presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

My capstone experience met my expectations in many ways. The creation of a twelve-page research paper with twelve sources required weeks to complete. Likewise, my paper had to be reviewed by a faculty advisor for approval. Meeting and discussing my faculty advisor was the final step for my capstone project. I was able to discuss ideas with my faculty advisor who offered me valuable suggestions and incredible feedback. Looking forward to the undergraduate conference, I picture it as an essential process that teaches me how to communicate my ideas and a practice in presenting through both PowerPoint and poster board. 

The completion of my capstone project encourages me to do future projects related to ending poverty. My research topic about FDI's effects on the developing world gives way to finding solutions to improve the lives of people in low-income nations. As an economics major and political science minor, I seek to understand the interaction between economics and politics in eradicating world suffering. The economic and political conditions within a nation can influence the amount of FDI inflows. The development of my research paper is essential in my personal and professional development into a better researcher and writer.  

Experience from the Eye of a Chemistry Major: One Molecule at a Time

Nicole Zubrich, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned a degree in Chemistry.

The field of science has a great variety of knowledge to offer whether it is biological sciences, the theory of gravity and the solar systems in physics, to explained phenomena by mathematical equations or the realm of microscopic atomical entities in chemistry. Oddly all these subjects work together to form some of the greatest discoveries in medicine and various other domains. The College of Staten Island is the starting ground for young scientists including me a transfer student from Hunter College who choose Chemistry as her major, and passion. The 6S building holds some of the most interesting laboratories with professors dedicated to their research guiding students curiosity everyday. My research in Dr. Krishnaswami Raja’s laboratory is on Chemical gardens that are created by seeding water-soluble salts of multivalent cations of many of the elements in the periodic table into a highly concentrated solution of sodium silicate. They can also be produced by injecting concentrated salt solutions into sodium silicate. 
The mechanism of formation of these constructs is driven by osmotic pressure and buoyancy. Structures that resemble chemical gardens exist in nature as seen in hydrothermal vent systems at the ocean floor in the form of mineral assemblies. These assembles closely resemble the scaffolds of natural sponges which are considered as the first animal life form. These constructs then are used to adhere mammalian cell lines, and test their viability in this new environment. The cells were able to adhere to the constructs, continuing to grow for over two weeks until testing was finished. This was an amazing breakthrough considering it can be further explored in tissue engineering creating coronary capillaries. I write this statement in almost every paper of mine because it holds a very important meaning. The fact that prehistoric sponge morphology found in deep-sea hydrothermal vents was used, and recreated in the lab to apply in the adhesion of cells, proliferating growth for something beneficial to the medical world. This research encompasses the old, the present, and the future, which is outstanding. 

Nicole in the lab

As an undergraduate student in college, studying chemistry, and being involved in research helped teach me important skills such as communication with my peers, and working together. Collaborating with a team of students, and professors instilled in me a sense of leadership, and how to incorporate different ideas into my research experiments.  My research on recreation of blood capillaries using laboratory grown tubules, and cancer cells, helped generate thoughts on different dental breakthroughs that I could address in the future, as an applicant to dental school currently.  Our laboratories breakthrough encouraged me to exam more about the study on semi-liquid bone grafts for jaw lines, sparking an interest in conducting future research involving tooth regeneration. Research has made me become conscious about pursuing a research career in dentistry as well as caring for patients as a practicing dentist.

My future is to pursue a medical career in Dentistry where the realm of chemistry is heavily applied for the upbringing of new research. This specific research is very detailed, and contains delicate application of samples such as mammalian cell adhesions. Accuracy in properly conducting complex research is an insight into future procedures in maxillofacial surgery completed as a dentist. Laboratory studies symbolize the foundation of problem solving necessary in any field of study especially science, and medicine.  The cultured sponge- mimetic tubules (SMTs) are relevant for future dental studies due to its significance to bone regeneration, and use as an implant from a dental perspective. My research under the supervision of Dr. Krishnaswami Raja, and Yan Pevtsov has shined light on a different realm of chemistry pertaining to studies of my future career. My undergraduate experience, was one of a kind, and highly beneficial. I am beyond grateful to have been a part of a team of scientists, and motivational scholars that always said, “the sky’s the limit”.

The Power of Positive Management on Employee Productivity

Nicholas Esposito, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned a degree in Accounting

I was given the opportunity to conduct research on a topic of my choice, with guidance from my mentor, Patricia Galletta. Since I was able to choose any topic, I decided to research the effects that management has on employee productivity, and how management can improve it. I was very interested in researching this idea because of how horrible the management is at my job. I have been working retail for my entire college career, and anyone who knows me knows I always complain about my job, especially the management, feeling like they impacting how productive I could be, so I felt that I could truly relate to my research topic. Thus, I decided that for my research, I would determine the primary causes of decreased productivity in the workplace, and the responses management can make for each situation in order to increase their workers’ productiveness.

Writing my paper and doing research

Through my research, I was able to find information on four prominent reasons for what hinders productivity for employees, those being: poor management, employee dissatisfaction, social media usage, and usage of outdated technology. Poor management stands out especially, due to a style of managing known as micromanaging. This is when managers look at every little detail and are right on top of their employees, and unfortunately, it has a massive negative impact on employees’ productiveness. One of the studies I researched displayed how under micromanaging, a large percentage of employees they surveyed actually felt that being micromanaged interfered with their job performance, while an even larger percent felt their morale was negatively impacted. I realized that this is an issue occurring in my workplace, and I have actually felt the same way as the respondents on multiple occasions.

Using my phone while on the clock, not being productive

In regards to how management can improve productivity, I was able to determine through my research, that there were four ways management can increase it, those being: keeping a positive atmosphere in the workplace, keeping employees proactive and encouraging communication, installing policies for social media usage, and updating technology systems. Positivity especially correlates with productivity. One study I researched focused on the effects of positive to negative encounters in the workplace, and discovered that when positive encounters outweigh negative encounters by a ratio of 3:1 or more, productivity increased exponentially. This increase capped out at 12:1, as too much positivity can also do more harm than good. Thus, I learned it’s best for management to keep a positive work atmosphere for its employees to allow them to be more productive.

I felt accomplished when I completed this project. The primary reason why I wanted to explore this topic was to have a better understanding of what has been occurring all these years at my job, and what routes management can take to make the workplace more productive, not just for my job, but in any field of work. I feel this topic is vital for management to acknowledge, since it will allow for not just their overall productivity to grow, but also their profitability, allowing their business to expand and stay competitive. Overall, I enjoyed doing research on this issue, and I would like to be able to share my findings, as it would allow more companies to understand how they can prosper under good management.