Spring 2021 Capstone Presentations

AI Dashboard
Presenters: Connor Golden, Salima Mukhit, Erik Parawell
Sponsor: Reiner Steffens - Consilient Labs
Teaching Assistant: Tushar Sehgal

Consilient Labs is an AI startup focused on memory-based learning. The Consilient Knowledge Engine is usable through an API; however, a user-friendly interface and graphical illustration of the results generated would help customers and engineers alike. We focused on building a dashboard using the Angular framework and used D3 for visualizations and Bootstrap for structure. The dashboard contains functionality for user authentication, uploading data to the knowledge engine, making queries about that data, and viewing status information about the knowledge engine itself. Our work makes it easier and more intuitive for engineers and customers to exercise the API.

 

AccesSOS Enhancements            
Presenters: Chris Chu, Jason Hao, Kaleo Hayashi, Angelica Liuzzi
Sponsor: Gabriella Wong - AccesSOS
Teaching Assistant: Tushar Sehgal

The goal of AccesSOS is to provide access to 911 emergency services to those who can’t hear or can’t speak out loud or are non-English speakers. Team AccesSOS is working on a mobile app that allows users from those populations to text 911 emergency services with ease. Based in React Native, the app leads a user through step-by-step curated questions and then texts the user’s location and relevant information to a 911 dispatcher to summon the appropriate help in an emergency situation. 

 

Reading for Racial Justice
Presenters: Ethen Pociask, Keaton Currie, Meghan Johnson, Stephanie Grasso, Lillian Ryan 
Sponsor: David Beckemeyer, David Rubenstein - Action for Racial Justice
Teaching Assistant: Tushar Sehgal

Action for Racial Justice (ARJ) is a non-profit organization that helps justice-minded people learn about race issues and press for policies with equitable outcomes. Reading for Racial Justice is a sub-service of ARJ, specifically a book club application that helps form communities of activists to learn more about the history and principles of what they are fighting for. Once users are logged in to the ARJ service they can navigate to their personal book club dashboard to view their active clubs, create/join a new club based on a specific book, goals, or interests, and view short descriptions of the books available to them. The project used React on the front-end and Golang in the back-end with a MySQL database.

 

DDoS Simulator Game
Presenters: Alex Hanson, Jaden Hamid, Juan Rodriguez, Carlos Portillo
Sponsor: Jon Rahoi - Credit Karma
Teaching Assistant: Tushar Sehgal

The primary goal of our project is to teach users the importance of understanding software systems, scaling, and security. We are developing a game that teaches players how to handle possible dangerous real-world scenarios such as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), botnet attacks, or even server hacks as they play. The game, based in React, simulates various issues that can arise during cybersecurity attacks. 

 

The Split: Graphical Simulation of How Social Networks Impact Social Bifurcation
Presenters: Yuanqi Jin, Zeyi Liu, Razan Said, Zheng Yuan
Sponsor: WeiDong Yang - Kinewiz
Teaching Assistant: Aarthi Parthipan

Social bifurcation or polarization is a major issue of the day and the mechanisms of social networks that have an impact on polarization are important to understand. The goal of the project is to study possible mechanisms of social polarization in networks by simulating the diffusion of ideas in social graphs, asking specifically: “how does this society fragment?” This project will provide tools to explore and manipulate factors that may contribute to polarization in social networks and help users to develop insights about how to reduce polarization. We hope to make the simulation engine available through open source to empower others interested in the same topic.

 

NewsKG Project 
Presenters: Daniel Barajas, Jose Carranza, Evelyn Matson
Sponsor: David Guy Brizan - USF Computer Science
Teaching Assistant: Aarthi Parthipan

NewsKG uses state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing tools (backed by machine learning models) to process hundreds of thousands of news articles from a variety of media sources in order to extract purported facts and entity references. We created a portal for NewsKG users to search the enormous database of extracted information for people, organizations, or places they are interested in, filtering by media source or date. The portal displays information in interactive relationships, with a dynamic node-link-diagram visualization that encourages exploration of the dataset. It allows researchers to find answers rapidly to such questions as how various media sources portray news subjects differently, how coverage of certain stories changes over time, and similar questions.

 

Mapbox GeoJSON to SVG Tool
Presenters: Rogelio Cantu, Shengping Cui, Omar Hussain, Dylan Maynard
Sponsor: Megan Danielson, Alex Yule, et al. - Mapbox
Teaching Assistant: Aarthi Parthipan

Mapbox is a location data platform that supports the creation of maps for a wide range of customers such as Porsche, National Geographic, and Snap Inc. Their software allows users to design and style their maps in the simple and versatile GeoJSON format to encode a variety of geographic data structures. However, some customer applications do not accept GeoJSON, and instead rely on files known as Scalable-Vector-Graphics or SVGs. Presently, there is no open source tool that can convert from one format to the other. Our project provides a simple, easy, and accessible way for programmers and creative professionals to create maps in a Mapbox tool and then download them in either format as needed.

 

BART: Platform Signage
Presenters: Alaap Bharadwaj, Jason Liang, Jackson Raffety
Sponsor: Herb Diamant, Yu Shen - BART
Teaching Assistant: Aarthi Parthipan

Our goal is to support BART engineers by helping to build a system to identify and correct platform sign inaccuracies. Currently, there is no system that actively monitors the accuracy of platform sign information, so engineers are blind to problems until a customer files a complaint. We took a data-driven approach to improving platform sign accuracy by using Splunk to process and analyze BART train log data to identify recurring conditions associated with sign inaccuracy. We also used Splunk to build dynamic dashboards and interactive data visualizations as tools for BART engineers to examine these data. We hope our project will help improve the experience of hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents who use BART.

 

Fitness Workout Log
Presenters: Theodora Nguyen, Andrew Dao, Mark Codd, Bharath Gajjala, Michelle Feinberg
Sponsor: Jose Alvarado - SF Dev Shop
Teaching Assistant: Chia Esparza-Chavez

We have built a fitness workout log that automates the process of trainers tracking client activity, eliminating the tedious process of manually inputting and updating data about client progress. Data that clients enter about their workouts and progress will automatically be shared through our React-based application with trainers, supporting a direct and efficient trainer-to-client relationship. In addition to allowing clients to connect with trainers, users will have the freedom to track workouts independently.

 

USF Innovation Hive App
Presenters: Andrew Cabezudo, Evan Carlson, Kainalu Hagiwara, Stephen Tselikov, Sonya Angst
Sponsor: Chris Brooks, Julia Thompson - USF
Teaching Assistant: Chia Esparza-Chavez

The USF Innovation Hive is a makerspace now under construction that will hold rapid prototyping equipment, such as laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC machines. The Hive App will support the scheduling process for USF students who want to use the Hive. It will allow them to learn about the equipment, test their knowledge of equipment use via quizzes, and schedule times for equipment use. Users will also be able to gain information about the Hive and view current projects.

 

Oasis iOS App
Presenters: Peter Chuong, Chandler Mathews, Andrew Nguyen, Neil Pulido, Maya Ayed
Sponsor: Ben Fernandez - Oasis
Teaching Assistant: Chia Esparza-Chavez

Oasis Mobile is a mobile application designed to engage users in wellness practice. It allows users to pursue their journey towards a healthier lifestyle through its menu of personalized mindfulness exercises and programs. Currently, Oasis operates off one’s new tab window through a Chrome Extension, but working with the sponsor team, we’ve developed a mobile application that will allow users to access Oasis programs and exercises at any time or place.  The project, using React Native on the front-end and NodeJs and Express on the back-end, has included numerous additional features such as breathing exercises, tracking of user activity, and mood journaling.

 

File Explorer Web App
Presenters: Ian Murphy, Kevin Tao, Wei Tian, Tiff Zhou
Sponsor: Pedram Namiranian – USF alumnus
Teaching Assistant: Chia Esparza-Chavez

We all have a UI that we are accustomed to when it comes to file explorers. In a world where each operating system has its own unique file explorer system, a switch of operating systems means relearning the file exploration system in order to access files. Worry not, our team has developed the File Explorer Web App: a downloadable web application that lets you view the local files on your computer within your browser regardless of operating system. With our Java and PostgreSQL backend and React JavaScript frontend, this application can run on just about any operating system to provide a responsive, intuitive, and consistent file exploring experience.

 

BUS 398 Student Projects
Presenters: Angela Wun, Martina Granieri, Dominic Estaban, Makana Sauer, Kaitlin Chang
Sponsors: Gabriella Wong - AccesSOS; Herb Diamant, Yu Shen - BART; Robert Fanini, Kris Skrinak - Inspiration Ventures
Faculty Advisor: Luigi Lucaccini

Several business and media/design students are working on parallel projects with sponsors of CS 490 software team projects. Specifically, three students support the AccesSOS project by designing social media campaigns to raise awareness, developing user analytics, and identifying potential donors for this non-profit entity. A fourth student is working to orient BART users to the data analysis and display tools the BART team is building. A fifth student is working with a venture firm to define Hapi.Zone, a wellness app designed to counter the negative impact of over-exposure to social media. These students will discuss their activities as a group in a recorded presentation.