Graduating students across campus have performed in senior recitals, compiled final art exhibits, defended several-hundred-page theses and even designed robots in pursuit of their degree.
Defending the doctorate
Sociology instructor Rebecca Cox has just begun the initial stages of her doctoral thesis.
Cox is reviewing the available literature on her topic to scope the findings of other researchers.
‘There hasn’t been a lot done,’ Cox said.
She viewed the thesis as an opportunity to blaze a new path on a topic she feels needs more coverage. The next step in her process is to select a three-person committee of professors, one of which must be her department chair, before submitting a proposal for research.
If the proposal is approved, Cox must seek permission from the University’s Institutional Review Board to interview people from the population she’s interested in. Without this permission, Cox will have to start over.
‘ Cox said another challenge was handling her interviews professionally. Sociologists interview subjects about personal experiences to glean insight on societal issues, and maintaining trust with subjects by protecting their privacy is paramount to researchers.
If Cox gets the go-ahead to begin interviewing, she will commence months of research and correspondence with her committee and culminate it into a defense of her doctoral thesis.
Last fall, instructor Maria Arneldo completed her doctorate in Hispanic Studies at UH.
Arnedo spent three semesters researching the work of Javier Tomeo, a 21st century Spanish author, in a 300-page thesis titled Locura, Freaks, y Dem’aacute;s Elementos Grotescos en la Literature de Javier Tomeo y el Imaginario Colectivo.
‘I don’t know what to say to describe it,’ Arnedo said.
Doctoral theses in the Hispanic Studies department are written in Spanish and may focus on works of art in Hispanic culture or linguistics.
Arnedo said she strived to propose a new model of literary analysis that could be implemented with films, novels and artwork, along with the work of Tomeo.
Teaching and learning
Cheyenne Ramos, a painting graduate student, put together a body of work that demonstrated her individual growth and style to professors.
‘I came into the program not really having a particular focus, and by working with the faculty I just really got a chance to narrow in my focus to decide what I was doing,’ Ramos said.
But Ramos’ biggest hurdle was balancing both her coursework and the classes she teaches at UH.
‘It’s been hard teaching and having to concentrate on my work, but that’s the only big trial,’ Ramos said.
UH’s art graduate programs allow students to put together a body of work over three years.
‘Most of the programs are two-year programs. The good thing about this school is that they give you the gift of time – three years to figure out what you’re going to be doing,’ Ramos said.
Ramos said she takes inspiration from the moody, sweeping landscapes of 19th century Romantic landscape painters, but also enjoys collaging found objects, such as wrappers into her pieces to send a message about contemporary environmental and social issues.
‘You want to be aware of your influences and the history of painting and to try and make something fresh and new and honest at the same time, not trying to just make something,’ Ramos said.
Ramos said she believes professors, want to see graduate students learn from mistakes and grow into mature artists.
Ramos also exhibited her thesis at the Blaffer Gallery’s 2009 School of Art Masters Thesis Exhibition.
‘We just got done with the Blaffer Gallery. That was pretty much it – they give you a final thesis show where all the graduating students from sculpture and photography and painting and graphic design. They all come together and they put their best work in the show and I think it turned out real well,’ Ramos said.
Ramos’ final hurdle was an oral review with her professors and her thesis committee. In the oral review, instructors ask students about the creative decisions made in their body of work.
‘They asked me what the meaning of the collage is. Luckily, it went really well and there were no conflicts,’ Ramos said. ‘I’m pretty much done with everything. I just have my classes I’m teaching and once I’m done with that, I’m free to go.
Leaving the lab
Undergraduate electrical engineers’ final design projects range from electric guitars that detect players’ fingers with lasers to robots designed to take care of waste disposal.
Seniors Jesse Maricelli, Dustin Drawhorn, Melissa Greer and Leif Bagge worked together to design a robot for the 2009 Region 5 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Conference Robotics Competition’s challenge to create an automatic toxic waste transportation device.
‘When you design things it can be stressful,’ Bagge said. ‘We’ve been working nonstop since then. You get kind of frustrated when you spend your spring break working on this.’
The team was given a semester to create a robot that could transport four different-colored objects into designated waste bins. The team tackled this challenge by designing four robots, one for each object, which uses wireless networks to communicate with each other to receive commands from their engineers.
‘Our first round was a disaster,’ Bagge said. ‘The robots communicate wirelessly with each other. There was some noise or interference. It was stressful.’
After moving their laptops, the engineers had a far more successful second round, walking away with third place in the competition.
Now Bagge and the rest of his team have to face an oral review with their design class professor.
‘I don’t think we’re too worried,’ Bagge said. ‘It isn’t anything new.’
Physics senior Eric Stout feels confident about his senior honors thesis.
Undergraduate physics majors do not typically have to complete a final body of work to graduate, but Stout decided to take a course through The Honors College which would allow him to put together a body of research. His research examines the behavior of vortices – swirling forces created by the movement of airplanes through aiR – but he also hopes to help airports determine how close planes can land to one another on runways.
‘ ‘Airports will say that planes can land, say, a mile from each other. However, if you change that to half a mile, that’s double how many planes a port can hold,’ Stout said. ‘We just need to find out if it can be done safely.’
Stout said there isn’t a model that perfectly predicts the behavior of the phenomena, but he uses a formula devised by a University doctoral alumnus for his research.
‘Right now, the goal is to have something publishable by gathering evidence and supporting that,’ Stout said.
Stout crunches the numbers from his own dormitory room by remotely sending formulas and commands to the advanced intelligence of the University’s super-computers in the Texas Learning and Computation Center.
His research does not require actual time in the laboratory.
‘It’s more like sitting in the office than the lab,’ Stout said.
Sing it loud
Gregory McDaniel, is one of many music seniors to perform for friends and family in a senior recital this semester.
In order to schedule a senior recital, all music students must provide proof of attending 96 recitals.
Chelsea Cross, a communication sophomore who works as an usher and ticket seller for Moores School of Music Building, said recitals take over the box office by the end of each semester.
‘I worked three (recitals) yesterday, three today, one tomorrow, one tonight. I worked 24 hours this week with student recitals,’ Cross said on Sunday.
McDaniel’s 30-minute performance, featuring American songs, an Italian aria by Gaetano Donizetti and ‘Zigernerlie
der’ by Johannes Brahms, used music he had learned in the past year.
He said recitals attract friends and family of the performers.
‘You can tell how someone is doing by the applause,’ Cross said. ‘Since (the audience) is younger, they kinda yell when they clap. If they’re all kind of just clapping, they’re not paying attention.’
A helping hand
Graduates from the College of Social Work do not complete a thesis, but they must complete internships at two different agencies, in addition to worrying about their licensing examinations.
Graduate student Stacey Brittain is completing the final week of her second internship.
‘I’m getting a lot of good, intensive experience with children. ‘hellip; I’m learning how to implement treatment plans with children, adults – you actually get to apply what you learn,’ Brittain said. ‘Just being where I’m at right now, just seeing where this client started, how hopeless or in crisis they were, and saying to them, ‘Have you seen how far you’ve come?’ That is just amazing.’
Brittain’s final project is obtaining her license with the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners.
‘That is the true stressor. Most agencies are not going to hire you until you’re licensed,’ Brittain said.
The examination itself proposes several case vignettes and multiple-choice questions about diagnosis and clinical procedure.
‘It’s difficult and it’s expensive and it sucks,’ Brittain said.
Proud of TeaCloud
Graphic communication undergraduates do not have to worry about compiling a body of work outside of their classes, but several seniors have put together ‘TeaCloud,’ an art show for the designs and projects they devised in class.
‘I love it. It’s all my work. It’s a little bit of everything, from print to website to animation,’ senior Johansen Medina said.
Students who participate in the show develop logos and invitations for the exhibit.
‘Every time we mention ‘TeaCloud,’ we laugh about it because we got so mad about it,’ senior Irene Rodriguez said. ‘As a final project, I guess it’s something to remember what we learned, what we’ve become, how we’ve developed as graphic designers and as students.’
Work exhibited in the show includes stationary, posters, three-dimensional designs and other classroom assignments.
‘TeaCloud’ is on display from 6 to 9 p.m. May 8 at Winter Street Studios on 101 Winter St.
As for the rest of his coursework, Medina echoed the sentiments of many students on campus.
‘Right now everyone is out of their minds,’ Medina said. ‘We just want to leave. You got deadlines you have to deal with, all this pressure.’
Instructor John Harvey said final theses teach students about time management and research, while also shaping the academic experience.
‘It gave the whole experience this final goal. It shaped the ending,’ Harvey said.
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