Brianna Moling Heading link
How did you decide on your Capstone topic? How is your topic connected to you and your personal, academic, and/or career interests? How did your topic evolve across both semesters?
I knew right away that I wanted my Capstone topic to be about housing and specifically housing in Chicago. I have always had an interest in understanding subsidized housing and the Chicago Housing Authority from when it was first formed and its transformation over time. I would say that my Capstone topic connected to my personal interests because I strongly believe that adequate housing is a basic human right and I am an advocate for fair and equal access to housing for all. Academic and career-wise, my hope is to attend law school and possibly become a real estate lawyer. I feel as though my Capstone topic helped me to grasp a better understanding of what some of the larger issues are when it comes to housing and real estate, and I can use this knowledge to focus on improving these issues. Over the course of both semesters my topic evolved tremendously. During the first semester, I was only focusing on the history of subsidized housing in Chicago and looking specifically at eviction trends in subsidized housing. However, as I collected more data from the Chicago Housing Authority, I began to realize how much data was missing or was being kept in an unorganized fashion that could not be easily interpreted. Here is where my Capstone evolved into looking more at how the lack of record keeping leaves vital questions unanswered which could ultimately help explain bigger issues, such as residential segregation and the cycle of poverty.
How did you recruit your capstone supervisor? What was the mentorship experience like with your supervisor? What types of support did you receive from them throughout your capstone experience?
I began my search for a Capstone supervisor on the UIC Undergraduate Research Experience website. I read numerous professors research interests, student qualifications, and expectations and picked a few that I felt would be a good fit. I ultimately selected Dr. Kurwa because I believed his research interests were most similar to mine. After discussing with Dr. Kurwa my possible Capstone topic and his current research, he agreed to be my supervisor and I hopped on board with his research. I could not have asked for a better Capstone supervisor because he allowed me to progress and learn at my own pace while still directing me and providing support when needed. Additionally, he introduced me to two other students from other schools who were conducting research on the same topic. This allowed all four of us to collaborate and build off one another, even though we were each at different points in our academic research. When it came down to crunch time near the end of the Capstone timeline, Dr. Kurwa always provided constructive feedback when I would ask him to review drafts of my paper and poster, ultimately making my project a success.
What were some of the obstacles or complications you had to overcome on your Capstone journey? How did you navigate those?
Something that I had to overcome on my Capstone journey was realizing that the data collection process can be very slow and tedious. Requesting information from the Chicago Housing Authority was a waiting game and required a lot of patience. Additionally, once I received the data, I had to spend hours and hours reorganizing it in a way that would make sense to me and my research. However, I found that if I spent extra time early on with the data collection, it paid off in the end and made it so much easier when putting everything together in the final months.
What advice would you give students starting their honors Capstone? Anything you wish you knew beforehand?
Plan, plan, plan! This is not something that can be crammed into a couple of weeks, but rather needs to be planned out over months. What I found worked best for me was to make a very broad timeline with dates. I would list what I wanted to get done by which date and then add this to a calendar. That way I could see how far in advance I needed to start working on something (i.e. background reading, data collection, writing, etc.), plus it leaves a lot more leeway room. That way, you are consistently working on your Capstone over the course of two semesters and can see progress happening along the way