What are some ideas for research projects?

What are some interesting ideas for research projects I could carry out independently?

• I realize this is an extremely open ended question but I was recently given the opportunity to receive a very generous grant if I came up with a proposal. The research would last through the summer, and possibly into the academic year depending on the progress I make. I am a sophomore with very basic exposure to theoretical computer science. That said,  I am an extremely quick learner and was wondering if there are any topics that have relatively low barriers to entry as I have till mid-June to self study. I find machine learning and AI to be fascinating but I feel like they might be too complicated at this stage. My skill set is roughly as follows: 1. Around 1.5 years of programming experience (Java, C and Python) 2. Coursework in probability, vector calculus, linear algebra, computer architecture, discrete math This would be a fantastic experience as recently I have been exploring the idea of pursuing a future in academia instead of software development.

• Answer:

  Computer Science is a very wide field, I suggest you first look for a subarea in Computer Science, such as those related in this link: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/?SearchDomain=2 Some examples: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Data Mining, Algorithms and Theory, Databases, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Retrieval, Natural Language Processing. Once you find a field, select a subfield. For example in Computer Vision there is: Scene Understanding, Object Recognition, 3D Reconstruction, Image Segmentation, Image descriptor analysis, etc... To do this, you're going to have to read numerous papers from the highest ranked conferences/journals to see into what you're into and to check if the math and programming skills set you have is enough. [EDIT] If your starting to do research, please understand that its a long-run rewarding process. What do I mean by this? Basically research isn't like your undergrad level math/physics/engineering class where there's always a textbook or how-to 1-2-3 step guide to understand something. Papers and research ideas can take days, or sometimes weeks to fully understand them, so patience and everyday working is key.