Class of 2023 deepen their knowledge through senior capstone projects

For many Yale-NUS College students, the capstone project is a landmark moment of their undergraduate days. In a previous article, we spoke to Yale-NUS seniors from the Class of 2023 whose capstone topics ranged from assistance dogs in Singapore, to star formations, and Peranakan heritage. In this second instalment, we learn about senior capstones that span from electromagnet design, South Korean poetry, and urban inequality in the Philippines.

For Physical Sciences major M. Zirdi Syukur (Class of 2023), his capstone project was a continuation of the ongoing academic collaboration between himself and his supervisor, Assistant Professor of Science (Physics) Ben Olsen. After completing an astronomy project with Assistant Professor of Science (Physics) Chelsea Sharon in his sophomore year, Zirdi connected with Asst Prof Olsen for more hands-on experience.

Zirdi then began working with and learning from Asst Prof Olsen’s research on building magnets for ultra-cold quantum gas experiments, performing simulations with programmes like Python, Mathematica, and Julia. This progressed naturally into Zirdi’s own capstone project, in which he continued these simulations but with a new computational language.

Zirdi Syukur, a Physical Sciences Major from the Yale-NUS Class of 2023. Image provided by M. Zirdi Syukur.

Zirdi decided to continue extending his research into senior year. His capstone project proposed a design of an electromagnet with a strong magnetic field that might help simulate different quantum experiments. He named this the “Bias-Curvature Electromagnet”.

He shared that a major difficulty in designing the electromagnet was that it involved computational simulation which required him to learn a whole new computational language, different from the ones he had used in previous years. Nevertheless, he rose to the challenge.

Zirdi said, “As I continued through the project, I would learn more and more from literature, or from experience, about how my project sat in the broader field of physics. I find this to be a re-occurring theme in my studies in physics—I always find new questions to be asked, no matter how many questions I find answers to.”

Finally, Zirdi is also looking forward to seeing what type of quantum systems his magnets may help simulate, and what analogues to modern technology or frontier physics they reveal.

Meanwhile, History major Carine Chan Sze Ching (Class of 2023) also embarked on a capstone project that was an accumulation of her prior experiences. A particularly memorable part of her College journey was her Summer School experience between her junior and senior years. During the semester break of 2022, Carine lived and studied in South Korea for seven weeks, and spent quite a bit of time visiting different cultural sites and museums. This experience sparked her interest to research South Korean history and literature more extensively.

Carine appreciating Korean cultural sites while attending Summer School there. Image provided by Carine Chan.

Carine’s capstone project was a study of South Korean poet and writer Yi Kwang-su’s works from 1939-1942. She examined his writings on Buddhism and existential questions, in particular how he applied these theories to his political stance towards the Japanese empire. Carine hypothesised that Yi’s favourable opinion of the Japanese empire was likely because they embodied a utopia of peace and harmony, which fulfilled Yi’s own existential desire. Carine concluded that since Yi was a Buddhist himself, this was one of the ways he used his religion to process the things happening around him.

Carine shared that her investigations produced surprising results. She said, “Yi Kwang-su has a reputation for being a pro-Japanese collaborator. What was surprising to me, however, is how his thoughts on Buddhism might have contributed to this decision to align with the Japanese.”

However, this was not Carine’s initial capstone topic. In the midst of the capstone project, Carine had to confront the fact that she would have to overhaul her topic because her sources did not align with her original argument.

Looking back on her experiences with the capstone project, Carine expressed that the project was ultimately a fulfilling one, and she described it as “a journey of many highs but also extreme lows”. She added, “[The process] has taught me just how much is possible for one to achieve when pushed to the physical, mental and intellectual limits.”

For Urban Studies major Joshua Vargas (Class of 2023), his capstone topic was also an interest discovered through his personal experiences.

Joshua in the process of creating the documentary for his capstone project. Image provided by Joshua.

Joshua shared that he was inspired by his uncle’s experience of working in an offshore customer service team in Cebu. Due to his migrant status, he at one point had to rent a bedspace in an informal settlement. His uncle’s story exemplified the struggles of workers in the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. BPO is a method businesses employ to cut cost by subcontracting various operations to third-party vendors.

Joshua explained the Philippine BPO industry has traditionally been concentrated in special economic zones called “IT parks,” which operate like cities within a city and are marketed as “live-work-play” environments. However, the people who work in them typically cannot afford the luxury condos built by their developers. Consequently, many workers of these companies, especially migrants, choose to rent “bedspace” in informal settlements near the IT Parks.

As a result, workers like Joshua’s uncle earn above-average wages in the formal economy but simultaneously interact with the informal economy and can experience housing precarity. Thus, though the BPO industry created much-needed employment opportunities in cities, the industry is also directly linked to issues of urban inequality.

Joshua was particularly interested in this plight of BPO workers, especially after COVID-19 forced many companies to explore work-from-home arrangements. Consequently, many workers decided to move away from city centres to be with their families or live in more comfortable living environments. Joshua’s project explored the factors that may explain why workers were no longer willing to make the sacrifices they used to make in the past.

Through his capstone, Joshua hoped to contribute to the broader global discussion about the future of city centres and urbanisation––especially from the context of cities in the Global South. The concept of “in-betweenness”, for example, and the unique inequities of Philippine cities require greater examination in such countries where economic development and urban inequality are intertwined.

Finally, Joshua also wanted to tell the stories of BPO workers, who are often credited for driving the Philippines’s economic recovery, yet find their struggles underrepresented in the media and in everyday discourse.

Reflecting on his education journey, Joshua expressed that he believed his time at Yale-NUS gave him the confidence to be critical of existing knowledge, and “engage productively with the existing literature” while “being charitable, rigorous, and committed to representing the truth of [his] participants’”.

These examples illustrate how students are often inspired by experiences leading up to their senior year, with the capstone project offering a perfect opportunity to pursue their various interests in greater academic depth and rigor.

Note: This article was updated on 5 June 2023.