Life Sciences majors are required to complete a capstone project related to a topic in life sciences in their final year at Yale-NUS College.
Identification of project and supervisor
Faculty will inform students of the areas of research that are of interest to them, suggesting general areas and/or specific projects. Students are encouraged to think about these topics and, where reasonable, develop their own ideas in consultation with the faculty. The supervisor should be a member of the Yale-NUS faculty, but if appropriate, an outside member of the scientific community may serve as a supervisor. In such a case, a Yale-NUS co-supervisor must be appointed. All projects and supervisors must be approved by the Head of Studies.
Range of topics and formats
The capstone project is expected to be a significant piece of original scholarly work of scientific research. This can comprise experimental laboratory work, field-based biological or ecological research, or theoretical, computational or analytical studies. In unusual cases, the Head of Studies may approve a capstone project of a more interpretive or descriptive nature. Examples might include an original history of a scientific discovery, meta-analysis or a novel scientific policy analysis. Original scholarship remains paramount, so surveys of scientific literature will not be deemed suitable. The capstone project culminates in the preparation of a substantial scholarly document (a thesis) describing the research carried out, placing it in the context of previous and ongoing research in the field, and describing the results and conclusions reached in the course of the research project.
Activities as part of project
Students are expected to work on the capstone project throughout the fourth year but may include work done in prior years. Milestone include:
- Semester 1, Week 2: A short oral presentation to classmates and faculty (5 minutes) on the capstone proposal
- Semester 1, Week 15: A 5-page progress report is due.
- Semester 2, Week 2: A short presentation on progress to date and plans for completion (5 minutes).
- Semester 2, Week 10: Draft of capstone to be given to supervisor(s).
- Semester 2, Week 11 (or as defined by the College): Capstones due on Canvas. Celebratory oral presentation of Capstone (15 minutes).
Preparation of students
Students should complete the required Research Seminar course in their third year. There is no expectation that students will have worked in the laboratory in which they do their capstone prior to the start of Year 4. However, students are strongly encouraged to experience some kind(s) of laboratory, field or computational research before that time, whether at Yale-NUS or elsewhere. Expectations for student-supervisor interactions and work on the project: students and their capstone supervisors are expected to meet throughout both semesters. The Head of Studies may periodically ask for updates from both students and supervisors.
Format(s) of final product
The thesis describing the capstone project is a substantial written document that includes an abstract, an introduction putting the research into context, a description of the experimental or theoretical methods used in the work, a description of the results and conclusions reached, and a reference section. There is no minimum or maximum length, but most theses are expected to be in the range of 6000-15000 words.
To get a sense of past Life Sciences capstone projects, this is an indicative list of the wide range of topics studied by our former students:
- Investigating the Neurological Complications of Singapore Dengue Infection
- Detecting environmental stress-induced patterns in coral symbiont structure with minION sequencing
- Why We Fight: Drivers of agonism between smooth-coated otters and Malayan water monitors in Singapore
- Cortical Network Dynamics Underlying State-Dependent Visual Perception Contextualizing Smooth-Coated Otter Vocalizations
- Characterization of Danio Rerio (Zebrafish) Response to Ethanol in an Acute Self-Administration Assay and the Role of CHRNα5
- Metabolic Reconstruction of C3-C4 Plant Intermediates
- In Silico Metabolic Engineering: C4 Rice
