How Do Our Brains Use Our Experiences to Evolve/Create Information?

 Jonathan Falcone, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minor in History 

Doing this capstone was truthfully much more work than I had anticipated it to be, but I was happy to do it and I learned a lot from it.

In my research I read article after article, journal after journal, gaining information in for my topic, which is about our memory. I already had an idea about some of the information, which certainly helped, but not knowing a lot of it was difficult. 

Certain forms of memory I wasn’t even aware existed. I carefully considered every word I wrote to try my best to make sure anything I said was not incorrect, as I did not want to spread any misinformation.  And still, my first draft was… ugly LOL! Thankfully, my mentor was an expert in the field and was able to point me in the direction of better and more accurate information.

Throughout my capstone, and the many, many edits I had to make, I also learned how to find better materials for research. I found out how to find more trustworthy resources and sift through journal articles and scientific papers for the best and most accurate information.

I have learned how to construct a cohesive APA formatted research article and how to gain valuable and accurate information, as well as deciding which articles I am able to find as trustworthy.  

Peace in the Middle East? The Role of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plans in the Ongoing Conflict

Sandra Abdella, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed majors in Economics and Political Science and minor in Legal Studies 

Writing my thesis has summed up the majority of my final semester at the College of Staten Island. I started out with little to no knowledge about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. I can now confidently say that I learned an immense amount of information on the conflict, the peace plans, and some reasons as to why peace has not yet been achieved.

My paper was about the conflict between the two territories, and the obstacles that contributed to the failure of reaching a viable solution up to today. It delved into three main roadblocks that I think had the most significant roles in the conflict. The United States Involvement, the Oslo Accords, and the domestic infighting within Israel and Palestine were analyzed and discussed throughout the paper.

My main takeaway from this thesis is that research is time consuming and difficult, but not impossible. The 25 pages took me about two months to finish writing. The research component started 3 months before that. To simply start the process, I bought a book and read through it once. I became confident in my topic and went back to annotate the same book again. It became easier after that because I chose a specific section of the conflict that I wanted to focus on and dived deeper into it. I read some articles to familiarize myself with broad concepts, and then found more scholarly articles and books that taught me more about peace plans and the road to peace.

To write the paper, I began by creating an outline for myself and started to write directly on the outline. By adding in bits and pieces all over the outline wherever I knew what I wanted to say without a specific sequence, I was able to gather my thoughts collectively and then organize them at a later time.

In my opinion, the most difficult part of the process was gathering research. Many sources were apparently biased from the start and others were opinion pieces instead of objective statements. It was challenging to read through the biases and collect the facts in order to analyze the events on my own. All in all, it was a fun experience and I am proud to say that I was able to finish it all with the help of my mentor, Professor Peter Kabachnik, PhD, Geography.

Researching Process of The Harlem Nine and School Integration

 Aurora Haxhari, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in History (7-12) 

Working on this research project was definitely a process that took long hours of preparation before even getting into the work itself. Picking a topic was a process because with history, the options are endless. However, with my passion for education and activism, it was not hard for me to wind up with my decision. Researching the Harlem Nine and school integration in the ‘50s and ‘60s in New York City was really exciting for me. When my faculty mentor Professor John Dixon told me about the Harlem Nine, I did some research on them and was hooked.

This project took many days of reading, reading, and more reading. Since the Harlem Nine was a small group and case, it was pretty difficult to find many primary and even secondary sources. However, with help from Professor Dixon, I was able to find enough sources to help me build my research. Throughout this process, I learned that I could get help from others. I even have a friend in law school who was able to gain access to the actual court case because she had free access to old cases through her school. This was of great help because I was able to read the detailed case which helped me improve my understanding and argument.

I learned that the process of completing research varies for many people. For me, I found it most effective to outline the headings and subheadings of my research and then divide the sources I would use within each section. Then, I worked on one section at a time. In order to avoid feeling overwhelmed, which could happen often, I broke down my work and due dates with Professor Dixon. Knowing that my first draft would be due in early April, I broke down each section of the paper, placing due dates on myself, and working on it over a few weeks.

During the semester, I was balancing student teaching at Port Richmond High School, working at my part-time job every day after student teaching, and being a part of two cheerleading teams (a non-profit team and CSI cheerleading). This was definitely trying at times, but I knew I could get it done. Researching something I was passionate about made it much more exciting and less stressful. I learned that despite being challenging while juggling so much in life, learning outshines that and is worth it all. The beauty in knowledge and education outweighs the troubles.

The Inside Coming Out: The History of Psychology Through Art Movements

 Lorianna Fernandez, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Art and minor in Psychology 

 

The time creating my capstone was filled with long days, long nights, self-doubt, short bursts where I felt confident in my work, and a very hard lesson in the utilization of proper ventilation using oil paints and solvents.

This process really made it pertinent that I had to get into the mindset of an artist of a certain movement. It had to go a step beyond simply imitating, to get the structure and elements across. It helped me as an artist figure out my own personal style and see my commonalities among the paintings, as well as things I felt uncomfortable with or would not do in my own work. I also gained an even deeper understanding of how psychology affects art and how the two are so similar.

In my psychology and art classes, I am always shocked at the polarizing amount of people who are involved in studying both avenues, some in hopes to combine them as a career, so it was charming to see that they have always been closely tied to each other.

If this topic was going to be further researched, there could definitely be more art movements incorporated. There are thousands of niche art movements dating from the Renaissance to now, and a lot of significant events in the realm of psychology that could be discussed. There could be a much lengthier introspection of artists in each movement and investigating their own personal lives and how their art movement reflects that as well as the significant trends in psychology at their time. I feel like this would be a very interesting look into the artists that we are familiar with but also ones we have not heard of yet. This was overall a really interesting and personally stimulating project and I am happy about everything I could take away from it.

 

Creating an Emissions Free Drive System for Cars

 Thomas McCullough, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Electrical Engineering 

For my capstone project, under the mentorship of Professor Alfred Levine my group and I developed the Dual Flywheel Propulsion system for Cars, an innovative research design to create an emissions free drive system.

Modern energy storage methods such as lithium-ion batteries are inefficient and untenable, demanding rare earth metals and becoming obsolete in a short period. Technological enhancements we've developed will produce hybrid energy storage and recovery systems that are sustainable and cohesive with the environment.

Our goal for the project was to create a microscale energy storage system that could be scaled up to a passenger vehicle. The development predicated the design for a dual flywheel system. While a single flywheel system allowed for kinetic storage, it is prone to fall victim to gyroscopic effects occurring during any change in direction. Instead, with the double flywheels on the same axis, spinning at the same speed in opposite directions completely offsets the gyroscopic effects, allowing for freedom of motion in any direction.

This project has been the most immense engineering learning experience thus far for my undergraduate career. It involved an intense design process from start to finish, beginning with just a simple physics concept and ending with a full working physical model. Under current conditions the design works well, though for our full ambitions to be realized there is still work to be done. By taking advantage of the strength of Carbon fiber composite and the quadratic nature of stored energy a massively large amount of energy can be stored. My team and I hope to continue working on this project even past graduation.

I’m thankful to the Verrazzano Honors program for allowing me the opportunity to grow and succeed as a student during my time here at CSI.  

Groupvie: A Movie Matchmaker

Joseph DeMario, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Computer Science and minor in Cinema Studies

My initial idea for my capstone project was to combine my computer science major with my cinema studies minor in the form of an iOS mobile application, where I would implement both the back-end and front-end functionality. The purpose of the app would serve as a bridge between Tinder and Fandango, where users could create an account and match with other users according to their movie interests and preferences. 

In order to display a number of films, I turned to The Movie Database API (TMDB) to grab data for movie and TV posters, release dates, and summaries. Even with these ideas in mind, I found it difficult to come up with a name for the application. It was not until the end of the development that I came up with a name: Groupvie (combining the words “group” and “movie” together). The name fully encapsulates the overall objective of the app which is to connect users based on movies. 

In regard to front-end implementation, I achieved just that through the use of Xcode and its ability to design the user interface of the app. In terms of my intended UI design for the app, there are still some things I would like to work on. I originally wanted the main home screen to follow that of Tinder’s; the only difference is that users would swipe left or right on movies rather than people. After a number of swipes, users would match with each other based on their movie preferences. The final product has users add a movie to their favorites list which other people on the platform can see to determine if they want to interact with them. The Tinder algorithm matches users automatically, whereas Groupvie needs the user to essentially do the matching for it. 

For the back-end implementation I utilized Firebase, a database that stores user accounts and messages. Additionally, future plans and improvements for the app include extending the capability of the chat screen to group chats rather than just a single user and finishing development on an events screen so users can view scheduled watch parties and movie nights with each other.

Overall, I believe I achieved everything I wanted with this project and I will look to continue to improve it in the future.  

Researching How Co-Sleeping Affects Infant Sleep

Rehab Sobhi, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology with minors in Photography and Spanish 

Joining the Research Child Development Lab in the Fall Semester of 2020 was a strange yet memorable experience in my college years. It was strange because it was in the middle of the pandemic and everything was switched to online, and the whole purpose of this lab is to interact with infants and toddlers depending on the specific research.

Throughout my research semesters, I participated in assisting on a project called Sleep States – 5 Nights. The research study was conducted to monitor infants’ sleep onset, wake time, nightly wake episodes, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency. Before crawling, infants wore a monitor called an actigraph around their left ankle until they were able to walk independently. Moreover, a Nanit Home Baby Monitor recorded activity during the night, and daily parent dairies were used to keep track of any skills that developed over time and any nightly wake periods. Data collected from three nights per month, videos before, on, and after milestone acquisition were coded for REM and non-REM intervals.

As an assistant, there were several tasks required that allowed me to gain knowledge in the research field and make sense of specific scientific terminologies. For instance, I completed subject payments, which is a PDF booklet summarizing the baby’s results and thanking them for engaging, follow up on emails with parents in attempt to have their baby to participate, read literature as well look at my mentors’ papers including their dissertation, and so much more. This became a challenge at times as I have no particular interest in the science field and I tend to get distracted once the terms get too difficult for me to understand. However, I am thankful that I chose a research lab with great mentors that took the time to patiently explain things more than once if needed and did not allow for me to complete a task without understanding the major points even if I am not necessarily partaking in the study. I became more eager to comprehend the material and decided to participate in this specific research lab because the main subjects were babies. I always wanted to learn more about their development and why they may act a certain way, whether it was because of a milestone or because they learn from human interaction, mainly their parents.

Reading previous papers my mentor had written gave me the opportunity to discover what was already researched and what topics may have been vaguely mentioned and could be expanded on. As I was reading one paper, there was a sentence including co-sleeping and bed sharing that led me to the topic and question of my Capstone, “How Does Co-Sleeping Affect Infant Sleep?”. I presented my research at the the virtual Undergraduate Research Conference in the Spring 2021. As difficult as it was to navigate certain steps in completing the “poster” virtually, it was an unforgettable experience and thankfully a smooth process altogether. From there, I continued from my mini study to completing my Capstone paper in the last two semesters. Some obstacles I came across that prevented me from completing tasks in a timely manner included miscommunication, late responses from both the professor and I, personal matters such as moving, and many more. All in all, this research journey emphasized that starting off with bumps across the road will eventually lead you to the final destination of success.

Researching Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Treatments

 Egor Volcotrub, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in General Biology 

I worked under the mentorship and supervision of Grozdena Yilmaz to complete my capstone project. The focus of my project was to collect data and show the effectiveness of technologies in treating Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Being a Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus patient myself and having work experience in endocrinology, I found that a wide population of patients suffering from those conditions are unaware or mistrust new technologies that help to improve their health.

Although sticking to traditional treatment methods (such as multiple daily insulin injections and  fingerstick testing) helps to treat diabetes, they are not as effective and comfortable as insulin pumps  and continuous glucose monitoring devices (CGMs). The initial goal of the capstone project was to  raise awareness among people who might be struggling with those conditions and could potentially  benefit from the available technologies.

For data collection, I used PubMed to find appropriate peer-reviewed articles and clinical data. Considering that the project was focused on the FDA-approved devices, all of them had clinical trial information available. Due to the fact that those devices are manufactured by unrelated pharmaceutical companies, the clinical trials were different in recruited patient’s population.

Although it initially created obstacles in combining data, all of them had a common comparison value used to indicate diabetic control. Another obstacle came from collecting data, specifically on the population suffering from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Those patients may or may not require insulin injection, depending on the severity of their condition. Therefore, it is harder to recruit patients for those study groups, and not all companies have research data available for T2DM.

Overall, I felt like preparing the project and presenting it was a difficult task but having support from my advisor and peers I was able to overcome this obstacle. Not only I have collected valuable data to spread awareness on technologies that help treat diabetes, but I also found additional information that in the future will help me to manage the condition I am struggling with. As I have focused only on the most popular pharmaceutical devices, in the future, collecting information on other brands available can help to enhance the outcomes of this research project.

Developing a Prototype to Collect Ocean Waste

Khuyen Vo, Verrazzano Class of  2022, completed major in Electrical Engineering and minor in Mathematics 

 

My capstone project developed a water-based robot prototype that would spot the waste and collect it on its own, aided by modern technologies of machine learning and computer vision.

In modern society, there is a lot of waste flowing within and beneath the water's surface. For many years, this waste has been damaging the marine life in these areas and has accelerated climate change. Because of the increasing amount of pollution in the water, the quality of the water has been deteriorating. The goal of this project is to help remove garbage contaminating the water surrounding numerous sites in the environment.

The boat structure water sweeper prototype was designed using software such as Canva and Solidworks. PVC pipes and connectors were used to make the base of the sweeper. The brushless thrusters connecting with Electric Speed Controls (ESCs) were used to move the boat properly. Lead acid batteries supplied power to the boat. The transmitter and receiver circuits of the controller were built in the lab by soldering the circuit components on the Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). C++ and machine learning codes were developed and compiled onto the Arduino IDE to develop the two types of operations for the sweeper. A Husky Lens camera was installed on the boat and trained to spot trashes by inserting a waste data library. For the waterproof purpose, an acrylic box was developed to cover the micro-controller as well as the transmitter circuit. The boat could be operated by itself or remotely controlled by a user.

This project allowed me to pursue my interests, to learn something new, to hone my problem-solving skills and to challenge myself in new ways. Working on this project gave me the opportunity to work closely with a mentor, and learned a lot from her.

If I continued to develop this project further in the future, I would include more features that could help to perfect this sweeper. The first feature would develop sensors for water quality to let the operator know the quality of the water before and after they collect the trash. I also want to add an underwater camera and app for the robot, and use data analytics to understand the patterns within the trash collected. Currently the sweeper uses batteries to operate so in the future I would add solar panels to charge the sweeper and interconnecting drones for the sweeper, and develop a route planning to make the boat travel the least amount of distance to the trash.

Remote control for sweeper

Connection between motor thruster and receiver

 

Base of sweeper

Receiver of sweeper

                 

                                           

Patriarchal Society in 1900's China and It's Effects on Women

 Stephanie Lui, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in SLS (1-6)

When I took a humanities course about modern culture in China it became clear to me what my capstone project would be about. What fascinated me and made me want to further my research was that I got to learn more about my culture.

The texts that we read and analyzed revolved around the major themes of gender and sexuality. Growing up in a female dominated household, my grandma told me stories about how women were supposed to dress and act a certain way because of their gender. One traditional custom that took place in China was feet binding for females. My grandma had friends whose feet were bound, and she saw how difficult it was for them to walk. It was shocking to see images of what foot binding looked like and how women would walk when their toes were broken. It made me wonder why women had to undergo painful changes while men did not have to endure the same thing. 

One of the many captivating texts I read was Regrets for the Past by Lu Xun. Tze-chun was an orphan who was disowned by her guardian because she decided to be in a cohabitation relationship, meaning she lived with her boyfriend without first getting married. It may be more common in this generation to live with someone without getting married, but back in the 1900s it was unconventional. It portrayed how society viewed Tze-chun because she went against society's cultural norms and through her action, she was disowned by her only family member. 

Lu Xun described how women were portrayed in society in different circumstances using two perspectives, one from a male and the other from a female. This showed how males and females were portrayed under a patriarchy system and the outcomes from it. Understanding the historical background of the text allowed me to grasp a full understanding of why the author wrote it in a certain way and how it led to other events. 

If I were to develop this research further, I would envision the project to go in more depth about how women's liberation in China could connect to America today. Since China went through the May Fourth Movement and the New Cultural Movement during the early 1900s, the westernized ideas gave women the push to fight for their rights.

It would also be interesting to look into other westernized ideas besides the “walk away” movement that was introduced by the play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. The walking away movement gave Chinese contemporaries the courage to walk out of the house and out of the patriarchy system to gain personal freedom.

Comparing how these westernized ideas came to China and the influence it had can also be seen the other way around. The impact of China’s version of the women's liberation movement may have some influence on America today and it could explore progression between the two countries.

Learning About Gender Roles in 1800's Fairytales

 Mehnoor Khan, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in English Literature 

When I first began my capstone project I was excited to see where it would lead me. I had taken so many Science and English classes, but I didn't learn much about historic Pre-1800 Literature. This capstone helped me learn about a new world of literature that encompasses fairytales. 

My journey began reading the textbook From Instruction to Delight: An Anthology of Children's Literature to 1850, by Patricia Demers. After reading several stories in the book, I wanted to learn more about Charles Perrault's fairytales. I started to research the various fairytales he had written and noticed a gender bias in many of them, leading to the overall topic I wanted to pursue. 

“Discovering a Woman's Role in Pre-1800 Children's Literature” was the topic I chose to learn more about. It was pretty overwhelming at first! I didn't know how I would manage to write a 14–20-page paper on this topic using fairytales. I started to create mini drafts, the first one being three pages, and would send them to my professor, who would guide me in our monthly meetings on what to improve.

In each draft, I saw my writing improving. It was fascinating to see how far I had come, and I finally got up to my benchmark of around 15-16 pages. I learned about culture through Charles Perrault's writing and the gender roles women had at that time. The stories he had written were timeless and simply engaging. 

I had many struggles along the way with the most prominent one being a struggle to find my voice in my writing. I followed all the “textbook rules” of annotating the various fairytales and summarized them in my writing, but my thoughts and voice were slowly disappearing from my writing. I overcame this obstacle by doing several rewrites, picking apart the paragraphs I had written and by the end even I was surprised by the analysis I had written. 

This capstone was a fantastic project where not only did I learn about myself and my writing style, but discovered what it takes to become a great writer. 

Charles Perrault

Little Red Riding Hood 

Researching the Effects of Working Full Time While in College

 Herman Low, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minors in Biochemistry and French 

Three out of every four students work, and 20% of them at a full-time job. For my capstone project, I explored the negative effects of working while attending college. As a full-time student who also possesses a full-time job, I have felt overwhelmed and stressed from time to time. I have always accepted that I needed to work to pay my bills and also needed my degree. Before doing this project, the only reasonable thing for me to do was to suck it up and deal with it.

From my capstone project titled “The Efficiency of Financial Aid”, I learned that many other students share the same experience as me; some of them have it even worse. I learned that many of these stresses are caused by an inter-role conflict called work-school conflict (WSC). It is when an individual deems work as interfering with their education. If left unattended, WSC can cause detrimental effects on an individual's mental health.

As common as it is, the negative effects of work on college students are often overlooked, and there has been limited research done on this topic. I wish to learn more about WSC, its effect, and ways to tackle it. I also hope that my research can be used to bring importance to WSC so there will be more help available for students who experience WSC.

Last but not least, I envision that one day my research can be used to support campaigns that fight for affordable college tuition, higher education funding, or financial aid so that students will no longer have to worry about working full-time just to afford college.

Researching for Capstone and Becoming an Animal Rights Advocate

Heather Mancino, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in English Literature (7-12) 

One of the biggest achievements during my college career was completing my capstone project. When I first heard about this project during my freshman year, I instantly became stressed. I thought to myself “what kind of project needs 4 years' notice?” But as Cheryl and Cynthia warned, time flew by and before I knew it, it was time to start preparing.

At first, I didn’t know which direction I wanted to go in with my project. I didn’t feel like I had any passions or interests that I could research further and write about in twelve pages. Then one day I came across a video on social media that scared me enough to start taking some action.

The stop motion video was titled “Save Ralph”, which featured a bunny detailing what happens during animal experiments and what it has done to his body. Although animated, the video was heart-rendering; it hit me where it hurt. To this day I cannot say that I ever finished watching it. However, the few seconds that I did see was enough for me to change my life and become an advocate for animal rights.

This was the push I needed to really begin my capstone. I decided to tie in my English major to pose the question of whether or not literature could be used to raise awareness towards animal cruelty, including fiction. After all, my awareness was raised through a video, not a book.

I wondered why I never read stories or articles about animal abuse but there was always a plethora of texts on other social justice topics. I did a little more research and found that there are tons of texts that can be used to raise awareness about all different types of animal abuse, ranging from what happens in the meat-packing industry, to animal testing, to animal captivity. These texts are out there, but we as a society need to shine the light on them that they deserve. These texts matter in our society even if they are fiction.

As I worked on finding research for my capstone, I became a long-term volunteer at AMA, Animal Rescue in Brooklyn. I have been surrounded by other animal lovers daily who remind me that I am not alone in my advocacy. From my freshman year to now, I believe that I have truly found myself and my passions, and the capstone has given me the perfect outlet to share what I know and what I’ve learned.

 

Studying the Issues of Mental Health in College Students and Mental Health Accessibility

 Alexandra Agosta, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Social Work 

In my research, I learned about and explored the barriers in college counseling services for current college students, from the students’ perspectives.
Through interviews it was found that many students were unaware of the counseling services provided to them on their campus, and participants shared their experiences on the issue. I was able to receive many recommendations on behalf of the students on how they believe the issue needs to be addressed and what needs to be done to prevent mental health issues.
As a result, I gained an understanding of what causes the barriers and became aware of how they might impact individuals in college.
To overcome these barriers, colleges need to first address the issue, then provide better advocacy and programs, advertise available services in a more effective way, and eliminate stigmas or change the mindset of ideas surrounding mental health issues on their campuses. The study proved that there is a need that has to be accounted for in order for mental health awareness to be present on college campuses, as well as college counseling services to be more effective for the well-being of the students.
Researchers may want to further explore the gaps in mental health awareness on college campuses or explore what are the best ways to receive input from students to help colleges address the issue of mental health awareness on campuses. This may lead to further research on how to decrease the number of students experiencing mental health issues and how to make a positive change in the community.
Lastly, researchers may consider using random methods when selecting their sample group to avoid any biases from occurring during the research process.

Lessons Learned from Conducting Research

 Andreo Alonzo Puno, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Biology 

For my capstone in my senior year I was able to conduct research with Dr. Esposito of the Biology Department. My topic was about concussions in football, which I found to be very insightful and interesting. I was able to select a topic of my own to research online and I learned a lot from my research.
Reading through various articles continued to draw me in and made me more interested in the topic I was researching. My mentor specifically suggested a sports related topic for me because she knew that I have an interest in sports and that would help me focus on the topic.
Through this capstone I was also able to experience doing research on my own, not because it was assigned to me for a class. In conducting my own research, I felt like I cared more about how I displayed and explained my topic.
Using a PowerPoint slide to make a poster board presentation was a new skill I learned when completing my capstone. Although creating the poster board itself was a difficult task, I am sure it will come in handy in the future.
I presented my research at the Undergraduate Research Conference. Even though it was nerve wracking to present in front of people, I think it was a helpful and good experience for me. Being able to present and share something I worked hard on was an accomplishment to me, and showcasing my project allowed people to see how much passion I put into the research.
Completing my capstone was a learning experience for me. Through producing a capstone topic, performing research, creating a poster board on PowerPoint and PowerPoint slides, and finally presenting my work at the Undergraduate Research Conference was a great way for me to put an exclamation point on my senior year in CSI. I am grateful for my mentor Dr. Esposito for giving me the opportunity to work with her and for all her guidance throughout my capstone project and research.

Conducting Sleep Study with Infants

 Michellle Saad, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minor in Biology 

I was a research assistant in the Child Development lab since the Spring 2020 and further developed my research skills through the various projects I was involved in including: Nanit, Heatmaps, and Sleep Movements (my main project).

Sleep Movements is a project that questions how infants developing new motor milestones experience fragmented sleep. We studied infants’ movements during their sleep utilizing a Nanit camera the day before, of, and after a milestone. We then watched nightly videos in order to code for different postural shifts, whole body movements, and overall transitions that created significant wake episodes. This allowed us to understand how an infant's body movements connect with the way an infant learns information that they obtained throughout the day even while sleeping, such as crawling or walking.

I learned how to code data and analyses using different software such as datavyu, databrary, SPSS. To further our knowledge on child development, we consistently kept up to date on current literature relevant to our research. By reading such articles we were continuously informing ourselves on new information and learning how to advance our research. I also contributed my efforts to further enhance the coding manual which was utilized as the core of our project. It helped to provide evidence and supporting data for the work that we did by coding different movements for infants and what that meant overall for the development.

As a part of the Child Development Lab, in 2020 I co-created and co-presented a poster with a lab partner at the Undergraduate Research Conference called “How is Infant Sleep Disrupted Around Crawling Onset?” which aimed to examine the change in number of movements and wake episodes (WEPs) during infants’ sleep surrounding crawling onset. In 2022, I co-presented another poster at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference titled “Infants’ Movements at Night Reflect Crawling and Walking Onset”,  that further examined sleep by looking at both crawling and walking milestones. This finally led to my Capstone and honors thesis that examined “How does movement during sleep change from crawling to walking?”.

The sub-sample of infants involved in this research study were a part of a larger study examining sleep around milestone acquisition. We recruited infants who had not mastered crawling or walking, by contacting the parents of infants around the age that they typically would be expected to crawl or walk. My study looked at crawling and walking-relevant movements during wake episodes (WEPs) that could explain the transition between the two milestones and how sleep was affected overall.

A small portion of my study examined how sleep sacks restricted movement. All in all, I feel that my study was conducted in a strong manner because I had great supportive members of my lab team/readers that gave me insightful feedback on my paper for it to all come together. 

What is Tau?

Mehnoor Khan, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in English Literature

 

BIO 594 was my first time taking an independent study, and I was a bit nervous but mostly excited! This class established an understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies.

Let's discuss tauopathies, especially Tau. What is Tau? Tau is a phosphoprotein, and the degree of phosphorylation is significant. Under normal circumstances, Tau contains 2-3 moles of phosphate. However, when Tau gets hyperphosphorylated, it has more than seven moles of phosphate per mole of protein, eventually losing the ability to perform its critical function. Furthermore, it can attach to normal Tau and sequester it from microtubules.

Tau is the primary biological function that promotes microtubule self-assembly by tubulin. It's not surprising that Tau's post-translational modifications have been categorized for toxic functionality. This is important because Tau has shown wonders in cognitive processes, yet it could give rise to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's if it's not properly regulated.

In my Independent Study, I had the opportunity to see the lab images firsthand. Almost every week I would meet with my professor and learn a new lab technique needed to interpret the lab data sent to me. Many processes were involved, and I had to be detail-oriented. After mastering one lab technique, I would move on to the following images to perform another technique. Every image was different from the other, and overall it was a captivating experience. To see all the lab images, I needed to use Image J, a software that would help me see the images clearer. After performing the techniques, I would plot the data on an excel spreadsheet. This helped me analyze my data and showed what the vision meant for progression in research.

I'm proud of all I have accomplished. Throughout this journey of becoming a better researcher, I learned about different microscopes, like the confocal or the life imager. I learned the critical skill of transforming qualitative data into quantitative data. I truly enjoyed this independent study class, and I am forever grateful for all that I have learned.

The Circadian Rhythm of Naked Mole Rats

Ashraqat Mahmoud, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology 

During the process of developing and completing my capstone project, I learned many things. My project summarized my research on the circadian rhythm cycles of two types of mole-rats, African naked mole-rats and Damaraland mole-rats. We worked to determine the role of colony members, specifically the colony queen, in relation to the colony as a whole.

In the lab, we used RFID-based tracking of the movements of animals in two colonies of African naked mole-rats and three colonies of Damaraland mole-rats. Through doing this, I learned how to properly use radio identification (RFID) to track and record the movements of animals. By using a program called R-studio, I was able to save the recordings of the animals’ movements, and used a package known as Lomb to convert the recordings into a periodogram. This taught me several coding skills, which I was able to enhance the more I practiced recording the animal movements and saving them.

In conducting this research, we found that colony differences in activity patterns have not been previously reported, and we plan on following up by observing whether social factors play a role.

We observed differences in the concentration of colony nests. In the naked mole-rat colonies, for example, we saw that the Teddy colony tends to have a densely occupied single nest, while the Layla-Felix colony has a nest that is spread over a few chambers. By measuring the frequency of behaviors specific to the nest environment, we could determine how social behaviors influence daily activity patterns.

My experience conducting research has improved my communication and collaboration skills. Although our lab consisted of several students working on different things, we always worked together and shared ideas with one another. Collaborating with my fellow lab members allowed me to enhance my problem-solving skills, as well as make new friends and new connections. This made my research experience much more enjoyable. 

Researching the Economics of Crime

Michael Zakaria, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Economics and minor in Philosophy

In writing my paper “The Economics of Crime”, I learned quite a lot about the economic nature of crime and its factors, and I had to throw out quite a few ideas I thought I knew about. I was especially surprised to discover that crime rates were essentially unaffected by harsher prison sentences. The supposition that criminals aren’t typically aware of the law could account for that, but it would be interesting to see more research on that topic. 

As research in this field continues, I imagine studies will continue to focus on the efficacy of various remedies for crime. This is mostly because while understanding the motives behind crime is important, applying that knowledge via legislation, changes in policing, etc. are more direct and easier to observe. I think the focus will be on the execution rather than the more theoretical side. 

To further develop the project, I would continue exploring other alleged variables that weren’t covered in the paper, such as race and culture. I would also consider revisiting some variables whose relationships with crime weren’t entirely clear, such as GDP. In these instances, there was a potential relationship that would be worth studying further, but the relationship wasn’t particularly consistent or straightforward, and it may have been a bit too technical for the purposes of this paper.

I think the paper covered a lot of ground and was pretty thorough, and I would be interested in expanding on it.

Researching Singlet Oxygen for the Field of Dentistry

 Samuel Krichavets, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Biology Neuroscience 

 

In my research project, I was able to work on a very interesting field that is being widely explored and has a promising future. I studied photodynamic application in singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen has the capability to inactivate bacteria, delivering highly localized singlet oxygen which can be revolutionary to the field of dentistry. As a future dentist, this was invaluable to me because I got a first-hand glimpse into what may be possible in my future profession.

I learned about data science and proper laboratory procedures in research, and I obtained a great mentorship from Dr. Alan Lyons and Dr. Xu, as well as get hands-on experience in the lab. I was able to physically partake in crafting the plastic optical fiber which we made to model a future dental tool. I shaved down the edge of it to create a nice tip for the placement of the PDMS post and photosensitizer particles.  I learned how to operate a laser and placed the plastic optical fibers in the laser with the PDMS posts in a trapping solution, as well as make the trapping solution and dissect the formula for making it. I studied the chemistry and how it worked in actually trapping our singlet oxygen.  I learned how to maneuver a spectrophotometer and used it to quantify how much singlet oxygen was trapped in my experiments.

I became versed in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint because all the data from our experiments had to be extrapolated and organized into charts and more sensible data. I then used this data to create presentations which I shared with my group weekly.  Aside from all of this, I was also able to partake in the undergraduate research conference for two years in a row and present the research that my peers and I worked so hard on. 

Overall my experience was something I will never forget, and it has impacted me in more ways than one. I am forever grateful for having the opportunity and will apply the skills I developed in my dental school research. 

Impact of Covid-19 Shelter In Place on Infant Sleep

Daniel Palmieri, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minor in ASL

If somebody were to tell me in high school about my research during the COVID-19, I would have a hard time believing them. When I joined Verrazzano Honors in 2018, I was both thrilled and nervous. In the fall of 2019, I narrowed down what professor I wanted to psychological research with, and I did an independent study with the CSI Child Development lab (CDL).
In February 2020, I heard that the CSI CDL was going to host a summer research internship and I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to start working on my capstone, and to improve my skillset. I made it a top priority of landing the internship. At the same time, the first wave of COVID-19 began. Despite the virus being declared a global pandemic and remote learning going into effect, I accepted an offer as an intern for the CSI CDL virtual summer internship.
During my internship, my goals were to gather advice for graduate school, and gain research skills. Additionally, I wanted my internship to help me with my independent study, increase my networking and presenting skills, and to have my work published.
I was assigned to be a research assistant on projects with two different graduate students. On one project I was able to learn how a research survey was made and how researchers can use it. The graduate student taught me a lot about how research was conducted, how to expand my horizons, networking and technical skills, and she was very straightforward and clear from the start. For my project I was able to push myself to new limits, learn how to video, pay more attention to detail, and how to work through difficult situations.
Going into my independent study remotely, I worked on how sheltering-in-place during the pandemic affected infant sleep patterns, and elaborated on my goals. I assumed there would be more responses for the survey, but this did not happen and I was discouraged that we got little responses.
I decided to write an honors thesis for departmental honors, have my research project get accepted into the 2021 Virtual NCUR undergraduate Research Conference, work on my areas of improvement, and learn more about developmental research.
Spring 2021 was arguably my hardest semester and the honors thesis was perhaps the most challenging assignment I have ever worked on. I spent hours in my room studying, writing my honors thesis, and managing my other obligations. While writing the intro, I wanted to make it an easy read and set up the tone for the whole paper. I encountered massive writing blocks and self-discussions about what should and should not be in the paper.
I attended various virtual tutoring sessions to help outline my ideas, work on the grammar/structure, and address my readers and mentor(s) comments. It helped ease my tensions and I got a better perception on how to paint the picture properly.
When April 2021 arrived, my challenges were all completed but one. I needed to make sure that my claims matched up with my methods and findings to avoid any red flags, wrap everything up, and find sources that backed my claims. I asked people in the CDL for assistance, and after numerous trials and errors, I was able to complete my honors thesis. I was motivated to try to get my work published in a psychological research journal.

The vast amount of time I worked to finish my honors thesis was worth all the pain and agony. As a result, I was able to achieve most of my goals, reach new heights, and acquire skills that I thought weren’t even possible. I realized my strong work ethic, commitment, and the state of mind that I want in life. Furthermore, I have used the experience to help get through times in the past year and for the future.

 

Conducting Research Online During Covid-19

Mohamed Beyruti, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed majors in Accounting and Business Management, and minor in Business Finance

 

During my semester taking ACC 414, I experienced the comeback of the traditional world from the virtual world and it was insane to see how many students wanted to come back from isolation. I learned that different parts of my research (especially the video) need to be prepared and thorough for all students to understand the interview process for my research. Creating a step-by-step process made the process smoother, and when writing the results of the paper I learned what went right, what went wrong, and A LOT has changed.

Originally the research for my capstone was going to completely different. I wanted to work on how COVID-19 impacted people’s work-life balance, but then my professor took it a step further, and the goal was to understand how people/students were impacted by the virtual world with COVID-19.

Developing my research paper helped me strengthen my writing skills, taught me different methods of writing for a specific topic, and increased my research skills. The research on this paper was insane; the number of articles about COVID-19, work-life balance, working from home, there was just so much to talk about.

In the beginning I was adding to much information and not drawing the reader into my research, so that’s where my professor came in. Luckily, he slowed me down and helped me with bits and pieces of research to add for my essay. This helped me understand not to hone in on every single detail, and I learned that they were many different methods about making my research paper both intriguing and convincing to my audience. The main idea of my topic is something that is familiar, considering that almost everyone stayed home during COVID.

I did not want my paper to seem informative to the point where it would not keep the audience’s attention (hence the graphs), and although I didn’t use a lot of vocabulary, I attempted to keep my ideas relatable and easy to follow. When writing my research paper, I used both similarities and differences from the main topic, so my audience would understand the difference between the virtual and traditional workplace. The tone of my essay is also very generalized, so the audience reading it will be able to form their own opinion from my paper.

There were many stages writing this paper, from the professor being a guide, the staff keeping me on the right track, to making sure I followed the steps needed to complete the paper, and I learned so much from each stage. I’ve got to say that everyone pulled through till the end to help make this thesis my masterpiece.