Business Administration:
Strategic business plan for a startup company – Students conduct industry and market research to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for launching a new business venture. The plan covers company overview, products/services, marketing strategy, operations plan, management team, and financial projections.
Consulting project for a small business – Students are paired with a small local business and act as management consultants. They conduct an organizational assessment, identify issues or opportunities for improvement, and propose recommendations. A final report is presented to the business owner.
Social impact project – Students design and plan for the launch of a social venture or nonprofit organization to address a societal issue. The project entails extensive research on the social problem, target population, potential solutions, and development of an operational and financial model.
Engineering:
Design and prototyping of an engineering system – Common projects include designing and building prototypes for things like renewable energy systems, biomedical devices, automated systems, transportation solutions, etc. Work involves research, conceptual design, detailed design, building, testing, and evaluation.
Applied research project – Students work with an industry partner or research lab to conduct applied research on an engineering problem. Involves literature review, experimental design, data collection/analysis, and reporting of results. Partner provides guidance, equipment access, and sometimes funding.
Software engineering capstone – As a team, students work on a substantial software project from conception to completion. Work includes requirements analysis, system design, coding, testing, deployment, documentation, and presentation of the working software product.
Nursing:
Evidence-based practice project – Students identify a problem or issue in clinical practice, review the literature, and propose an evidence-based solution, protocol, or guideline. Involves research rigor expected in the nursing field. Presented to clinical stakeholders.
Community health assessment and intervention – Teams conduct a comprehensive assessment of the health needs of a community. Based on findings, they plan and implement an education or intervention project addressing a priority health issue. Assess project effectiveness through evaluation.
Leadership project – Take on a leadership role on a unit at their clinical site for the duration of the capstone. Lead a process improvement project, implement an education initiative for staff, or evaluate a new model of care delivery on the unit.
Education:
Curriculum design and implementation – Students design and implement a new curriculum, unit, or lesson plan for a course at their grade level or subject area. Lesson plans must meet state standards. Assessment of student learning outcomes.
Educational research project – Identify an issue in K-12 education, review literature, and propose evidence-based recommendations. Topics can range from best practices in special education to enhancing social-emotional learning to boosting STEM participation among underrepresented groups.
Community engagement project – Collaborate with a community organization, after-school program etc. to develop and teach an educational enrichment program. Assess impact on participants and student growth in planning, instruction and reflective practice.
Computer Science:
Software engineering capstone – Same concept as for engineering capstones, but focuses specifically on developing substantial software through team-based work. Products range from mobile apps and web services to databases, algorithms and more.
Security and privacy project – Assess vulnerabilities in an existing system, design countermeasures, and test their effectiveness. Or research latest technologies and propose privacy-enhanced solutions.
Applied AI/machine learning project – Work with industry/research partner on applying AI/ML techniques to address real-world problems in various domains like healthcare, transportation, education etc. Design models, analyze results and report findings.
As you can see, capstone projects provide an opportunity for students across different disciplines to synthesize their learning through substantial culminating projects that simulate real-world work experiences. The projects allow students to gain practical skills in areas like research, critical thinking, project management, collaboration, communication and more. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional questions!