Capstone Projects at CUSP

Students in their second year will enroll in USI I for their fall semester, and USI II in the spring semester. Both are required courses and must be taken consecutively. Course registration dates are announced via email. 

Students are able to submit up to 5 preferred projects after viewing the Capstone catalog and attending the Meet & Greet, but selection is not guaranteed.

Students teams are carefully selected to ensure that a variety of skills and experience are included in the working group. Requests may be made, but are not guaranteed.

Classes are scheduled for Thursdays 6pm-8:30pm, but at it’s the discretion of the instructors to set the meetings.

Students can expect to spend at least 75 hours on their research project outside of regularly scheduled class each semester.

We accept sponsor applications from all public, private sector, or academic organizations looking to address a critical urban issue or research problem. Our sponsors in the past have included city agencies across the US, international universities, and non-profits. Your organization does not need to be located in New York City or the United States, as long as you can provide regular communication with your capstone team.

New York University Community: Any NYU research center, faculty member, or researcher with a new or ongoing research project is welcome to apply!

A Project Agreement will be developed and executed, which describes the project purpose, scope, and expected outputs. This document will also outline data sharing protocols and any restrictions on shared data.

We seek project sponsors that are engaged and enthusiastic about the use of data science in improving city operations and planning. We expect project sponsors to identify a primary Point of Contact for the project who will ensure data sharing agreements are executed; will provide regular feedback on the students’ work, through periodic meetings and review of progress reports and presentations; and will be able to attend the final project presentations. The specific expectations and time commitment will vary by the needs of the project, but project sponsors should be able to commit 1-2 hours every two weeks to the above activities. Our student teams are very capable, and this level of engagement will help to ensure the final deliverables and output provide value for, and are of use to, the project sponsor.

Please review the Capstone Sponsor Mutual Expectations.

The CUSP Data Facility is a secure research data environment with datasets, tools, and expert staff to provide research support services to students, faculty, and city agency employees.  The CUSP Data Facility (CDF) connects all of these users to relevant datasets for urban policy research. The CDF reduces the multiple technical, legal, bureaucratic, capacity, and cost barriers to data access, so that the full research, policy, and operational benefits of data products can be realized by academic researchers and students, City analysts and managers, and other key partners in urban science.

We recognize that much of the data we manage, from streaming sensor data to agency administrative data, is sensitive and we handle it accordingly. The CUSP Data Facility’s Safe Data Environment comprises a multi-faceted approach to maintain safe data, through safe people, projects, settings, and outputs.  This approach combines technical protocols, user policies, and user-centered design in order to ensure adherence to data governance requirements.

• Safe people: regular trainings on responsible data use and privacy & confidentiality,  combined with updated online resources on best practices in data management
• Safe projects: standards and protocols for managing access to datasets and databases at the project level
• Safe settings: a secure data environment with restricted data ingress and egress
• Safe outputs: a statistical disclosure limitation prior to any export of products derived from restricted data

The Data Facility and Student Capstone Projects – CUSP students and faculty and host agencies are encouraged to perform all Capstone research within the Data Facility.  CUSP will process new project data and create project workspaces where designated team members can work with their project-specific datasets and collaborate on data analysis and visualization.  Other data facility users will not have access to the project workspace.

There is no fee associated with the Capstone projects.

This website will be updated soon to include a submission form. Project descriptions can be submitted by potential sponsors through Friday, April 11, 2025.

Capstone project group selection methods will be based on several criteria including students’ ranked preferences. Based on student interest, it is possible that an approved project may not be utilized. Demographics and competencies will also be considered in order to ensure group heterogeneity. Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed by project sponsors in advance. 

Project sponsors are able to provide input about what types of skills may be most useful to their project activities but will not be able to directly choose their student teams.

Please email cusp.capstone@nyu.edu with any additional questions about the Capstone Program.