MEDS Capstone Projects

After six months of building data science skills in the classroom, the Capstone Project gives students the opportunity to work on a real environmental problem before they graduate. 

As the culminating experience of the MEDS program, students work with a partner organization to advance its environmental work through data science. Projects take many forms depending on the client’s needs, from analysis and reporting to visualizations and tools.

Through the Capstone, students practice the work of an environmental data scientist: collaborating with a team, shaping project goals, working with complex datasets, building reproducible workflows, creating useful visualizations and tools, documenting processes, and presenting results to a public audience.

By the end of the project, students will have contributed to work that matters and created a polished, real-world example of their abilities. For many MEDS students, the Capstone becomes a defining part of their professional story and a bridge between graduate school and the next step in their career.

What to Expect as a Student

Once Capstone projects are selected, MEDS students review the available projects and submit their preferences. Students are then assigned to teams of 3–4 based on their interests.

Each team works with a client, a UCSB faculty advisor, and the MEDS Capstone Project Course sequence, EDS 411A/B. The course structure supports teams as they move from project scoping to implementation, documentation, and final presentation.

Through the capstone project, students gain professional experience in fostering collaborative group dynamics, designing and implementing strategies, engaging with stakeholders, writing technical documentation, public speaking, and developing data science products that are reproducible and robust.

Timeline

• Fall Quarter (September – December): The Bren School Capstone Project Committee selects the projects and assigns groups based on preferences.
• Winter Quarter (January – March): Students enroll in EDS 411A and begin to refine project objectives, review datasets, and develop a design and implementation plan. At the end of the quarter, students present their design plan to Bren School faculty before beginning data analysis and processing.
• Spring Quarter (March – May): Students enroll in EDS 411B and implement their design plan. During this quarter, students complete their data science deliverable(s), project repository, and technical documentation, then present their findings to the public, client, and Bren community.