There are hobby projects that I would like to do deep research into in my free time and perhaps try to put to use somehow. At the same time, since the fields of my interests change every couple of years, I don’t want to start a whole university programme for each of these deep dives. Nonetheless, I would still benefit from academic support/guidance, and I would like to be able to have some kind of final piece of work to show for all my effort.
(currently I’m deep diving into techniques of recycling plastic and trying to invent realistic ways to promote their use in society)
I’m currently doing my bachelors in which the system constrains me to one narrow field. What would be the best way to formalize my curiosity-driven deep dives (ie. Special Interests) so that they aren’t just private word documents and thoughts in my head? Does the academic system have any provisions for people like me?
I had a really great professor in a class I really liked. I went to his office hours towards registration time for next semester and asked about an individual/independent study course. He was open to it and even fought for it to count towards something I needed to graduate.
It was so liberating to chase my wild ideas down their various rabbit holes and do legit research. I wasn’t, and likely won’t be a phd, bs in engineering was enough for me, but it was a nice break from the norm