Capstones and Student Research

I am one of the most active capstone advisors in all of ISAT. In twelve years I have mentored:

  • 40 Projects
  • 75 Students
  • 2 Best Honors Theses
  • 1 ISAT Integration Award
  • 1 Best IA Thesis Award
  • 2 Successful businesses launched from capstone, one of which has received national press coverage
  • 1 NCUR publication
  • 1 Refereed journal publication
  • Over $100,000 in funding

That's an average of over 3 projects and 6 students per year. The ISAT capstone project is my favorite part of the major. Although it consumes a considerable amount of time and energy, I truly enjoy the opportunity to work one-on-one with students and build things that can have a lasting impact.

For example, the work I did over several years with several students on the UMatter2Us project has been incorporated into the custom courseware that I use to teach all of my classes currently.

I have been an active participant in the evolution of the capstone into a 4-semester sequence since the fall of 2013 when the first experimental version of what we now call ISAT 490 was run. I have visited Dr. Bachmann and Dr. Conley's ISAT 490 classes frequently, and have actively participated in discussions about how to improve the 490-491 sequence.

I was also a member of the committee led by Tom Benzing that examined the ISAT capstone workload balance among faculty during the 2016-17 academic year.

Chronological List of Capstone Projects

  1. Balch, J. D., and Gilkeson, J. M. (2007) ShenanSOA: Bringing Water Quality Data to the Web using a Service Oriented Architecture.

  2. Keith, C. (2008) Student attitudes and behavior on file sharing. In Proc. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Salisbury MD, April 11.

    • Published at NCUR

  3. Fadoul, T. (2009) UMatter2Us: A Collaborative Learning Management System (LMS).

  4. McMahon, M. (2009) Implementing the Least Of These International (LOTI) Capacity Factor Analysis (CFA) Tool via an Online Database.

  5. Hakes, T., and Heiman K. (2009) RoommateRoundup: Implementation of an Online Roommate Matching System.

  6. Brill, C. (2010) Fish Disease and Mortality Information System.

  7. Burwell, A., and Whitley, D. (2010) Spot-A-Ride:

  8. Haney, T. (2010) UMatter2Us: The Use of Computers in Peer Assessment for Higher Education.

  9. Palmquist, R. (2010) OnTrack – An Online Academic Planning Tool for ISAT Majors.

  10. Ramsey, D., and Rapp, B. (2010) Development of a Residential Site Assessment and Economic Feasibility Calculator for Behind-the-Meter Wind Energy Generation in Virginia.

    • Best Honors Thesis Award
    • ISAT Integration Award
    • Presented a poster at AWEA

  11. Jones, C., and Long, A. (2011) Harrisonburg – Department of Public Transportation Itinerary Planner

  12. Klepper, A., and Mason, M. (2011) The Use of Electroencephalogram Technology to Harness Brain Waves that Signal Motion to Control an External Computer Application.

  13. Madden, G. (2011) Mobile Assessment Tool for Water, Sanitation and Household Energy Technology Selection in Developing Countries.

  14. Merkel, M. (2011) Development of a Residential Site Assessment and Economic Feasibility Calculator for Solar Thermal Systems in Virginia.

  15. Farber, J., and Maas, A. (2012) Spotter Charts: Cheat-Sheets for College Football Announcers.

    • Became a successful business

  16. Ford, B., and Gogoel, C. (2012) ISAT IPA – Integrated Portfolio Assessment.

  17. Hurd, M., Mastro, A., and Sliwinski, M. (2012) UMatter2Us: A WordPress Plugin for Learning Management

  18. Morris, M., and Watson, S. (2012) Fantasy Football Database & Website Application with Projection System Integration.

  19. Dempsey, J., Fischer, B., Godfrey, B., To, D. (2013) SmartClickR: A Web-based Audience Response System.

  20. Lang, E. (2013) Patuxent Breeding Bird Atlas Geolocator.

  21. Erney, J. (2014) Analysis and Development of Mobile Application for Spotter Charts.

  22. Morgan, A., Pham, A., Yantz, C. (2014) TutorScout: A Web App to Match Tutors and Students.

  23. Hyman, S., and Donoghue, L. (2014) Saving the Sea Turtles: Conservation methods including a mobile application.

  24. Joffee, D., Morse, E., Somma, E. (2014) Japanese Remilitarization.

    • Best IA Capstone Award

  25. Moellers, C., Chance, D., and Spinosa, R. (2015) "Zome": An Interactive Art Piece.

  26. Campbell, B., and Walisko, E. (2015) Mobile Activity Recognition System.

  27. Nguyen, T. (2015) Using Case Study Methodology in Teaching Social Context

  28. Kamienski, N. (2016) Design for STEAM: Creating Participatory Art with Purpose.

  29. Cobb, J., and Lamma, N. (2016) SmartClickr 2.0: In-Depth Statistical Analysis of Audience Response.

  30. Davis, M. (2016) CourseDuke Course Advisement Application.

  31. Bell, C. (2017) IoT Sensory Tube: Prototype to Production.

  32. Astarita, A., Brown, M., and Michon, A. (2017) JMScoop: A Progressive Ride Sharing Application for JMU Students.

  33. Berry, R., Donovan, E., and Fitzpatrick, A. (2017) Dialoggr: An Application Using Quantified Self to Help Type 1 Diabetics Manage Their Chronic Condition.

  34. Cousins, C., Felice, A., Gilbert, B. (2017) Madison Conservation Corps: Software Development for Home Energy Audits.

  35. Abdou, A. (2017) Presence: A Social Network for 360° Photos and Videos.

  36. Benedetti, J., Bonham, J. (2017) Dialoggr 2: Physician Portal for Type 1 Diabetes Management.

  37. Nangle, R., Purritano, A. (2018) Dialoggr 3: Tracking Physical Activity and Modeling BGL (Blood-Glucose Level).

  38. Driver, T., Perry, B. (2018) JunoVR: Improving a Breath Sensor for Virtual Reality (VR) Applications.

  39. Campbell, S., Cox, C. (2018) Madison Conservation Corps: Auditing the World One Home At A Time.

  40. Ellison, B., Gerhart, C., Walsh, H., Wilbur, L. (2018) Simulating the Success of JMUScoop: A PWA to Promote Ridesharing at JMU.

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