M.A. Capstone

Held over two semesters and six credit hours, the capstone project culminates each student's experience at VIMS and results in a body of work and final product that is directly applicable to real-world situations relevant to the student's personal area of interest. Working with their VIMS advisor and an external professional mentor, students will develop and pursue a project that reflects their academic coursework and career goals. Previous examples of final products have included the creation of K-12 curriculum, experiential education programs, policy recommendations, and more. External mentors have come from organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance, and the Virginia State Parks.

Rachael King, M.A. '23

"For my capstone project, I looked at policies that regulate the poultry industry in Virginia and how to improve these policies to better protect aquatic health from the effects of industrial poultry production. My end-products are policy recommendations for the state of Virginia and a detailed science policy review of the impacts of industrial poultry production on aquatic resources, which will be distributed to relevant stakeholders. The most valuable part of this experience was hosting a stakeholder panel to discuss potential policy recommendations as it gave me experience bringing together different perspectives, maintaining a cordial conversation, and creating stronger end-products as a result of moderated discussion."

Anna Caputo, M.A. '23

"For my capstone, I have partnered with Machicomico State Park to help them create a place-based estuary science field trip program that both incorporates current research being done by VIMS around the park and aligns with Virginia state science standards. There will be three field trips, for elementary, middle, and high school students, that build on each other and focus on the importance of estuaries, how humans interact and impact these systems, and resilient solutions for both the ecosystem and community around them.

I hope that my project will result in a successful education program for the newly established State Park and a strengthened relationship between both organizations."

Apply to the Batten School

Apply Now!