Enhancing Academic Excellence with real-world projects

Spring 2025 Capstones included computing, history, Statistics, and criminal justice

A wide array of capstone opportunities across Franklin College – ranging from data-driven projects in statistics and data science to history students curating a Special Collections exhibition – produced outstanding work and provided many opportunities for student learning and career readiness this spring. 

As part of the Academic Innovation Initiative of the college with a focus on Student Success, capstone projects provide an opportunity for students to augment classroom learning with expanded, hands-on challenges working with organizations, agencies, businesses, or other partners on campus or in the community. The Student Success pillar – encompassing career preparation and student experience – empowers students and faculty across multiple disciplines to embrace creativity, collaboration, entrepreneurship, research and leadership as integral parts of their journey toward academic excellence.

The Department of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies offered CMLT 4020: Senior Seminar in Comparative Literature, a capstone course for the CLIS undergraduate majors. Spring 2025 research projects, for the 13 students, covered a variety of global literary and cultural subjects.

"Getting to develop a digital magazine alongside my classmates for our Capstone Project was an exciting experience,” said Isa Davis, a double A.B. ’25 graduate in English and Comparative Literature from Atlanta. “As students we had full control over the magazine, designing something that explored everyone's thoughts on time, as for many of us, our time at UGA was coming to an end. The magazine, “Minute Details” is a lasting piece of art that encompasses our connections with each other, friends, and family. It was extremely impactful to have one of my final projects at UGA be so sentimental.”

The School of Computing capstone highlights included a digital tread measuring process for Delta Air Lines, interactive training modules with a reporting dashboard for Warner Robins Air Force Base, 3D modeling for Gulfstream, traffic sensor monitoring for STEGO USA, public information tools for NASA’s Psyche mission, and farm sensor technology for Capgemini. 

“This capstone for Robins Air Force Base provided us with an opportunity to transform a client need from a classroom pencil-and-paper training model to an engaging, interactive, self-serve, on-demand, asynchronous, web gaming experience,” said Emily Sperring, a double B.S. graduate in computer science and mathematics.

The Department of History Museum Studies certificate capstone course (FCID 5020) developed an exhibition hosted by the Special Collections Library on April 29. Students worked in teams to curate the signature gallery cases in the Hargrett and Russell Libraries. The student exhibits included the following: 

• Civil War (Johnson Lin, Rainer Barfield)
• Colonial Georgia (Catherine Edwardson, Cammie Hedley)
• The Native American Experience (CJ Johnson, Kate Gottsman)
• Natural History (Lexie Beeman, Emma Fass)
• History of the Book (Brynn Atkins, Isa Davis)
• Performing Arts (Mary Beth Smith, Meg Sheets)
• Public Good (Avery Lowhorn, Nicolette Booker)
• Peace & War (Ange Gladwin, Maz Speas)
• Social Relations (Lyn Hemmingway, Sage Berg)
• Spotlight Anniversary Case (Isabel Saunders, Tallulah Sanders)

 "Over the course of the semester students worked with Special Collections archivists Jan Hebbard and Kaylynn Washnock Stooksbury to develop exhibits showcasing the libraries’ key collecting areas," said Akela Reason associate professor of history and capstone program director. The final class session was devoted to installing the exhibits, with an opening reception held on Reading Day, with friends and family in attendance. Exhibits will remain on view until spring 2026. "This annual project is a great opportunity for museum studies students to get some hands-on experience working directly with UGA's extraordinary collections," she said.

Franklin College majors in statistics and data science participated in senior capstone courses, producing outstanding work on a wide variety of data-driven projects. In CSCI (STAT) 4990, Data Science Capstone Course, students worked on projects with applications ranging from logistics to wildfires and coffee production. The Statistical Capstone Course sequence, STAT 5010W-5020W, featured similarly diverse projects with themes such as modeling stroke severity, predicting weaning age of gelada monkeys, and modeling participant outcomes in Georgia State Adult Drug Courts. 

"These courses allow students to see the incredibly broad applicability of the methods they learn during their undergraduate training and to extend their knowledge to new techniques needed to solve the unique challenges of a particular problem," said Dan Hall, professor and head of the department of statistics. "Students find these experiences rewarding – both intellectually and practically. Not only do they gain a better appreciation of their discipline and its immense utility for solving interesting, diverse problems, but their capstone projects often provide them with the key experience to land them their first job or graduate school admission after finishing their undergraduate education."

Additional Franklin College departments and programs offer capstone courses across the five divisions of the college. The opportunities speak to how today's students design their curricular pathways, seeking to combine different areas of study to gain applied, transferable skills and competencies that translate to career success.

“I interned in the Western Judicial Circuit’s Treatment and Accountability Court this past semester and was able to learn so much about the post adjudication side of the criminal justice system,” said Brooke Paxson, a 2025 cognitive science and criminal justice studies graduate from Johns Creek, GA. “I was hands on with all the staff and participants, as well as participating in staffing, court proceedings, screenings at the jail, and more. My supervisor created a welcoming learning environment and connected me to resources and people in order to get a job post-graduation. Overall, my experience was very successful in preparing me for a job by forming connections, honing skills for my field, and getting used to full time hours.”

The Franklin capstone experience – preparing students for career leadership, helping students build professional skills that connect to their classroom learning so they leave UGA empowered to create careers for purpose and impact.

Image: Photo from the Museum Studies certificate program capstone course exhibition, hosted by the Special Collections Library on April 29. Students worked in teams to curate the signature gallery cases in the Hargrett and Russell Libraries. Photo courtesy of Akela Reason.