Cars, novels & swords: Seniors talk capstone projects
Left-handed people are 1.85 times more likely to get injured while driving than right-handed people.
Rachel Ivany, a psychology major, is investigating this phenomenon in her capstone — a year-long opportunity for seniors to explore an academic interest, often the four-year culmination of their major.
“I’m a lefty, so I was like, ‘Why?’ And [my adviser Philip] Kortum is a lefty too,” Ivany, a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “I love the freedom that we get. Kortum pretty much let me design this whole study from scratch and get all the equipment that I needed.”
Across Rice’s schools of study, seniors are embarking upon similar long-term projects, some research-based, others experimental.
Justin Lebeau’s material sciences and nanoengineering group, for example, is creating a sword. This is the second consecutive year that MSNE students have forged a sword — an entry requirement for a bladesmithing competition hosted by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.
“It’s an art and a science,” Lebeau, a senior at Sid Richardson said. “It has to be under 20 centimeters and cannot be sharpened. Other than that, we really have this freedom to decide our own materials and design.”
Zach Woodley, a mechanical engineering major, says his capstone — a customizable car for the city’s annual art car parade — similarly explores an intersection between art and science.
“We’re going to customize and modify the car, and we have until the end of the school year to produce something that has electronic components and kinetic sculptures,” Woodley, a McMurtry College senior, said. “It will feature audio-controlled lighting and visuals that synchronize with musical playbacks to create an immersive media piece of experience.”
English major Kyra McKauffley, a Martel College senior, is similarly incorporating creativity into her capstone. For her project, she is working on a full-length gothic horror novel. McKauffley said she appreciates connecting with other English students working on similar projects.
Hannah Kim, a psychology major, said she similarly appreciates the support network found among her advisor and graduate students assisting with her project.
“It’s been nice to have a community to fall back on and get support from, and to make my ideas broader by talking with people who have more knowledge in certain areas,” Kim, a Hanszen College senior, said.
For her thesis, Kim is studying Asian American workers and their experiences disclosing mental health in the workplace.
“Disclosure has always been something that’s been interesting to me, and lately, even on campus, I feel like more people are open to disclose, ‘Oh yeah, I have depression or I’m going through something,’” Kim said. “I noticed that a lot of people that were saying [this] weren’t my Asian friends.”
After noticing these differences, Kim had the idea to combine this with her background in industrial organizational psychology to study how the workplace affects disclosure.
Sowmya Viswanathan, a social policy analysis major, is working with law firm Wren Collective for her capstone. The project, she said, analyzes whether Harris County’s bail system effectively considers a defendant’s socioeconomic status when setting bail.
Social policy analysis projects are unique in that, instead of proposing and working on students’ original ideas, students collaborate with community partners’ existing work, Viswanathan said.
“I like that we work with a community partner, an organization that’s actually already worked in this issue’s space and knows most about it,” Viswanathan said. “I feel like we should be doing research to help real problems.”
McKauffley said she enjoys that other English majors are working on similar projects, giving her the opportunity to workshop her ideas with like minded individuals.
“I think that’s really helpful because if you’re stuck for a year on a project you don’t really care about, that wouldn't be fun,” McKauffley said. “But everyone gets to work on their own passion project and you can tell that everyone cares a lot about it.”
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