Capstone Projects

The purpose of the capstone projects is to combine students’ efforts across disciplinary boundaries to pose and make progress solving problems of a global nature (either of widespread application, or problems that literally affect a majority of humanity). The cohort of students is already engaged in the initial steps of outlining subgroups of common interest and possible themes for their eventual capstone projects.

The capstone project will be structured 2-credit course in the fall and 1-credit course in the spring semester.

In the fall semester (2 credits), while designing the project, teams meet once with their mentor and once on their own, for a total of 2 meetings per week, the timing of which is arranged by the mentor and students. Meeting times may need to be scheduled in the evenings or in the mornings to accommodate schedules. The fall semester will be spent discussing the dimensions, resources, and approaches needed to tackle the problem, including the various individual contributions that students will bring to this collective effort. 

In the spring semester (1 credit), teams meet for one hour per week with their mentor while implementing the project, the timing of which is arranged by the mentor and students. Meeting times may need to be scheduled in the evenings or in the mornings to accommodate schedules. The spring semester will be spent in intensive development, research, and coordination to complete their project. At the end of the spring semester, the group will submit a portfolio of their work and present their capstone project at the UM Conference for Undergraduate Research.

Note: The program is allowing students to complete their abroad experience in AY-2026. This might mean that students will be participating in their capstone meetings remotely from their study abroad location, and may require more flexibility in team meeting times to accommodate all team members. 

The online resource guide for Franke GLI capstone projects includes template syllabi (subject to change) and other resources for students and mentors to use throughout the experience.

Capstone Mentors

The mentor’s role is to guide the students toward productive interaction during their class meetings, support or direct the students to appropriate research sources, and when relevant provide discipline-specific input to their projects. Mentors receive a common syllabus as a framework but will have the ability to customize parts of it. Mentors need not be experts in the topic the students have chosen. It is more important that mentors encourage respectful discussion of different points of view within a group and are willing to invest the time to ensure that the students receive help when they need it during the course of the project, including how to communicate their results most effectively. Flexibility and creativity may be needed to help the group overcome hurdles in their process of bringing their capstone project to fruition. In some cases, mentors may be asked to work with students who are contributing remotely.

Compensation

Funding of $4,000 for the full year will be given to faculty mentoring Franke GLI capstone projects, paid as a stipend or as faculty development funds.

Application Process

Please complete the form below by November 1, 2024.

An information session for interested applicants will be held in October. Details and the Zoom link are forthcoming.

Capstone mentor selections will be announced by December.

Selected applicants will be asked to come to meet with their student teams once during the spring semester.

There will be a training session available for new mentors prior to the initial capstone team meetings.