Kardan
16-05-2013, 06:06 PM
Ok, so... Second year Maths undergraduate, just to give you some background.
Had a meeting with my personal tutor today, and asked her about the list of topics we have to do in 3rd year for our two-semester final project. Basically, the list is pretty horrible, here's some examples:
Propagation of waves in a two-dimensional wave guide
Integrable Partial Differential Equations in 2+1 dimensions: deformations of dispersionless limits
Bifurcation analysis for drops of partially wetting liquids on a heterogeneous substrate
Now, you don't know what they mean, I don't know what they mean, and I'm having to pick from a list of about 30/40 topics, all like that. So basically, I'm crapping myself. I asked her if I was able to suggest my own topic, and she said that it's very rare since most lecturers have already made up their list of topics, and she said I should contact the lecturer I was interested in overseeing my project.
So I go to my Stats tutorial today, and basically asked my lecturer. Turns out in his spare time he works for the FA and does statistical analysis in football, and also does it for betting companies in Horse Racing. Basically, all of his stats modelling he does in his spare time is around sport. So, I asked him if it was at all possible to do statistical analysis and modelling in Formula One as my topic, and my god was I surprised.
Turns out, he's always wanted to oversee this project, and actually do it himself. The betting company bet365 got into contact with him a few months ago with loads of F1 data for him so he could calculate betting odds for them, and he told me he'll try and get hold of this data so I can do this project.
My friends sitting next to me were stunned that I stumbled into getting a final year project that I want, and assuming it gets approved by the powers that be in the Maths department, I don't have to fight with anyone on getting the topic, nor do I have to pick my top 10 choices out of the horror list of topics that everyone else has to go through.
So, I'm amazed, I actually got probably the best final year project I could ask for. The two things I love put together, Maths and Formula One :)
TLDR; Was dreading getting a horrible project topic, ended up with the most awesome one in the world.
Had a meeting with my personal tutor today, and asked her about the list of topics we have to do in 3rd year for our two-semester final project. Basically, the list is pretty horrible, here's some examples:
Propagation of waves in a two-dimensional wave guide
Integrable Partial Differential Equations in 2+1 dimensions: deformations of dispersionless limits
Bifurcation analysis for drops of partially wetting liquids on a heterogeneous substrate
Now, you don't know what they mean, I don't know what they mean, and I'm having to pick from a list of about 30/40 topics, all like that. So basically, I'm crapping myself. I asked her if I was able to suggest my own topic, and she said that it's very rare since most lecturers have already made up their list of topics, and she said I should contact the lecturer I was interested in overseeing my project.
So I go to my Stats tutorial today, and basically asked my lecturer. Turns out in his spare time he works for the FA and does statistical analysis in football, and also does it for betting companies in Horse Racing. Basically, all of his stats modelling he does in his spare time is around sport. So, I asked him if it was at all possible to do statistical analysis and modelling in Formula One as my topic, and my god was I surprised.
Turns out, he's always wanted to oversee this project, and actually do it himself. The betting company bet365 got into contact with him a few months ago with loads of F1 data for him so he could calculate betting odds for them, and he told me he'll try and get hold of this data so I can do this project.
My friends sitting next to me were stunned that I stumbled into getting a final year project that I want, and assuming it gets approved by the powers that be in the Maths department, I don't have to fight with anyone on getting the topic, nor do I have to pick my top 10 choices out of the horror list of topics that everyone else has to go through.
So, I'm amazed, I actually got probably the best final year project I could ask for. The two things I love put together, Maths and Formula One :)
TLDR; Was dreading getting a horrible project topic, ended up with the most awesome one in the world.