Researching Political Influence and Fame

Mehdi Mesbahi, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Accounting and minor in Legal Studies

I had a lot of fun writing out my capstone project and formulating everything together to connect it all. It had some low parts though. When I first began, my original plan was to mainly focus on politicians. I thought this would be more beneficial, as it would show how those who are supposed to oversee us are often the ones doing the most wrong but still manage to slip away. Eventually after some thought I decided to put politics on the backburner and try to research financial crimes. I thought this would have the best correlation because I am an accounting major, and I was fortunate enough to be exposed to some great people over the summer.

While interning at Stout, I met some great people working in the Disputes, Claims, and Investigations department. One person I spoke is a renowned financial crimes expert, specifically working with banks analyzing data and determining whether someone’s transactions are illicit enough to warrant an investigation. The other person I spoke with has an interesting career in the FBI where he investigates the finances of terrorist groups, trying to connect the dots to who funds these organizations.

I continued to speak with others who worked more on the legal side of things before I realized how difficult it would be to garner information about rich people who got away with financial crimes. I was put in touch with a few attorneys who all told me the same thing. The best person to talk to would be a district attorney who handled cases like this, but no district attorney would be caught on record saying that someone got off easy because of their status. After that, I moved onto the next idea which was fame and political influence.

While writing my essay an awful lot of research went into it and I was trying to make myself appear as little biased as possible, which was difficult to do as I had some personal opinions about what I was writing. Once I made it past that, the hardest part was figuring out the right way to present it all. Slowly but surely the pieces started to click, and I was left with what I think is a great informative poster. The skills with that will definitely carry over for the future.

Creating an AI Powered Color Matching Wardrobe

Steven Ceron, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Engineering Science

As I reflect on my senior engineering design project, which centered on creating an innovative clothing matching and coordination solution, I am imbued with a sense of achievement and enriched learning. The goal of my project was to design an AI-powered Color Matching Wardrobe, addressing the common frustration of not knowing what to wear in the morning.

The culmination of my four years of undergraduate education enabled me to apply the technical knowledge I had acquired. This project, which integrated my understanding of electrical engineering and computer science, was rewarding as I saw the skills and knowledge I had gained materialize in a functioning prototype. In terms of electrical engineering, ensuring that the circuit operated without mishaps was crucial. Potential risks included short circuits or component damage, although these were unlikely due to the low voltage used. To prevent such issues, it was imperative to select the correct components, requiring calculations with specific formulas, and to adhere to strict engineering safety measures. On the computer science front, the ability to create and modify code to function precisely as desired was key. Employing machine learning was essential to my project since it formed the backbone of the design. The AI needed to accurately detect objects, which, in my case, were clothes and their colors. This was much easier said than done.

The most challenging aspect of this project was undoubtedly the software component, more so than the hardware. Throughout the project, I encountered numerous problems that halted my progress for days until I found a solution. Tasks I initially considered straightforward, like installing certain programs, turned out to be the most troublesome and time-consuming. Moreover, there were issues with the coding itself. Minor changes made to improve user-friendliness often caused the program to malfunction. For instance, increasing the resolution of the live feed resulted in label boxes misaligning with the objects.

This experience has taught me that, even as I near the end of my undergraduate education, there is still much for me to learn and improve upon. However, these struggles have been enlightening. I have learned various methods to solve these issues and the importance of broadening my thought process. Often, I was overly fixated on a single solution, overlooking simpler fixes that didn't initially occur to me. The project also taught me the value of patience; rushing through certain tasks, which needed slow and precise development, led to starting over from scratch after a rushed error, a completely demoralizing experience. Yet, this has made me more cautious and attentive to ensure proper execution, helping me avoid similar setbacks in the future.

I can confidently say that, despite its stressful nature, this project has been the most enjoyable and rewarding experience of my student life. I am grateful for all the support I received, especially from my mentor Professor Changmin Kim, whose pressure was instrumental in ensuring the project's timely completion.

When a Door Closes, There’s Still a Window

Alessia George, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Psychology and minor in Business Marketing

Hello! My name is Alessia George and my capstone is titled “Hippocampal Development and Depression” and was developed under the supervision of Professor Rotondo.

Originally, I was in a research lab and I was going to use the work I’ve done there as my capstone. However, as time in the lab progressed, I began to realize where my interest in research was and that the lab was not a good fit for me and my ambitions. This realization was extremely upsetting at first. I did not view this as an incompatibility, but as an inadequacy on my end. Looking back, I understand that sometimes something isn’t for you and that it is okay to walk away and close that door of opportunity. When you’re surrounded by so many brilliant minds and interact with peers who seem so much more aware of what they’re doing, it is hard to realize that you’re still figuring things out. You have this expectation that you need to take this opportunity and stick to it, that it will make you better, yet sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s ok.

This isn’t to say that you should not do research within the labs on campus, I advise that you do, as soon as possible in your undergraduate career. Explore your options on research within the campus. There is so much knowledge and experience to gain from so many brilliant minds that will inspire you to be and do better.

Even so, when you do explore an option please remember that you can always try something else. For me, I did not enjoy the research that I was doing as much as I thought/hoped I would. Thus, when I left the lab I didn’t really have enough time to explore my other options, so I looked back on my undergraduate career and tried to remember what I did enjoy. This reflection reminded me of a previous topic that I really enjoyed learning about, which was the relationship between depression and the hippocampus, which opened a new window of opportunity.

My enjoyment and love for this topic inspired me to use it for my capstone, which I developed under the supervision of Professor Rotondo (I highly recommend him, an absolutely stellar teacher and mentor). I developed a meta-analysis of different peer-reviewed studies on this topic and cultivated cognitive and biological functions of the hippocampus, which is a brain structure responsible for memory and learning, and how they are affected by depression.

This topic is very multi-dimensional and has a lot of topics that relate and can be studied further which is exciting to even consider. It would be nice to further develop this research by looking at other details of this relation, such as a more neurological approach where there is an evaluation of cell production in memory and neurological pathways formed in the gray matter of the brain, or how antidepressant medication affects the hippocampus and how this relation can address other disorders/diseases that affect cognitive functioning, etc. There is so much to explore and it's extremely interesting.

This entire experience of doing research was refreshing since it was a very in-depth look at a topic I truly enjoyed. It was such a wonderful opportunity I am very fortunate to have experienced and stuck with and has made me a much better participant in academia. It has opened my eyes to how if a door of an opportunity closes you still have a window to go through.

Health Promotion for Adolescents at Risk for Homelessness

Navya Nibu, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Nursing 

From the moment the idea of the capstone project entered my mind, I knew I wanted to research a meaningful topic. I had many ideas but none of them touched my heart as much as youth homelessness. My mentor, Dr. Brillhart, is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, who has seen and cared for such patients throughout the course of her nursing career.  My research involved reading through current research on the risk factors and health promotion strategies for homeless adolescents. I was especially interested in health promotion because as a nurse, one of the many aspects of patient care is encouraging patients to have control over their health and improve their health.

Working on my capstone was an eye-opening experience. I am working-full time as a nurse, in school finishing my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and also working on my capstone. It was a collection of factors that helped me finish my capstone – my family, friends, my mentor, my advisors, and sheer determination and perseverance. Time management was a key personal skill that I learned to get better at since I had many responsibilities. Planning, writing out schedules, checking off what I had to get done so that I could visualize my progress throughout the day were great strategies that kept me on track.

When working on my capstone, I wanted to further my knowledge about the topic and bring more awareness to the issue of youth homelessness, as well as find out health promotion strategies that nurses have implemented in their practice for this population. I am grateful for this opportunity to research, educate myself, work with my mentor, and disseminate knowledge. At the end of the day, I am pleased with my efforts in completing my capstone.

Experimental Synthesis and Characterization of Perylenetetracarboxyl Diimide Derivatives

Fan Hu, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in Molecular, Cellular & Development Biology  

I started this research in October of 2022, the semester where in-person lectures were back in session and pandemic quarantine policies had loosened up but the effects and lasting impacts still loomed.
This was also around the same time of the global chip shortage (I also bought a Desktop during this shortage in December of 2021 where prices were inflated). When Dr. Jin invited me for an independent study I was intrigued, as he works on organic semiconductors. He mentioned that his research entailed the potential use of Perylene as a replacement for silicon in chips, which may be a more cost-effective alternative.
During this time, I was also shadowing my mentor in Northwell Staten Island University Hospital’s Emergency Department. I heard that the hospital has plans to upgrade their medical software system and it would cost them in the billions to do so! Their computer’s hardware was also getting slow, so if they needed to replace and update all those computers as well then wouldn’t the cost be far greater? Of course, the actual applications of Dr. Jin’s research may be well into the future, but it was a wonderful opportunity that fascinated me. That’s just a tie into healthcare as someone interested in going into medicine.
Going into chemistry research as a biology major was, admittedly, daunting. But once I did begin, the research itself made a lot of sense. It followed the basic cornerstone of chemistry knowledge that was taught in general chemistry and organic chemistry and merely built upon it, layer by layer.
What surprised me was how simple the physical procedures themselves were. Syntheses involved measuring compounds and transferring them into a vial with a stirring bar. Then they were left on a hot plate and heated. But the theory behind this simple procedure, the mechanisms, and the interpretation of results required a thorough understanding of chemistry principles. Thus, I believe this experience in undergraduate research provided me an opportunity to work on my critical thinking skills; something that will no doubt be held in high regard with the advance of artificial intelligence.
More optimizations can be made to the synthesis procedures if given more time; testing it in a lower temperature, conducting the chromatography in one single sitting, or perhaps testing the effects of different length alkanes. These attempts may increase the product’s yield from the current 20%—allowing greater versatility and equally advantageous yields. I also had the opportunity to visit a biology laboratory and from what I’ve seen, the inherent principles of research in a laboratory are similar. I believe this undergraduate research experience has prepared me well, no matter the type of laboratory or research I may participate in.