The Build Fellowship Hub: Articles

In most organizations, data is stored in hundreds or thousands of columns stored in multiple tables. With this level of complexity, it's often hard to understand the relation between tables, columns, views, and workflows. In this Build Project, you'll build a library that takes in a complicated data schema, analyzes all the existing relations, and provide a flow chart as an output to easily understand all the relations and how data flows in the system. All these skills are essential for the productive work of any specialist analyzing large datasets, and in this project, you have a chance to develop them under supervision of an experienced Project Leader.

computing-data-science

python, cloud-computing

Cloud Data Pipeline for Dental Patient Data

Jerry Assan

and 1 more

Develop a scalable cloud Data Pipeline to Analyze Health Records

Software Development Fellow

Fast, reliable, and cost-effective diagnosis of dental radiographs is one of the grand challenges that dental healthcare providers face. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Junior Software Engineer and build an end-to-end data pipeline that can process dental patient data. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll learn how to use Python and rest api combined with google cloud to deploy a solution that can handle large data ingestion. You'll get exposed to the daily life of a Software Engineer in a data team and learn procedures and techniques that are must-to-know for any professional.

physical-life-science, business

biotechnology, startups, finance, due-diligence

Analyze the Market Potential of a Biotech Startup

Anjanei Dhayalan

and 1 more

Evaluate a biotech startup and learn to think like a Shark from Shark Tank.

Natural Sciences Fellow

In this Build Project, you’ll act as a Biotech Analyst, creating an Investment Research Thesis for a biotech company. Guided by an experienced Build Fellow, you'll conduct research, perform due diligence, and develop analytical models to assess the competitive landscape, regulatory environment, and market trends. You'll gain hands-on experience with industry tools, clinical trial data, and financial modeling. This practical experience offers essential skills for understanding biotech startups and navigating their risks and opportunities.

engineering

programming, dynamic-systems, control-systems, simulation

Develop a Quadrotor Simulator and Controller

Roy Vorster

and 1 more

Use Python to write a simulator for a quadrotor, explore its behavior and write a feedback controller to stabilize it.

Mechatronics Engineering Fellow

A startup drone company is developing a new small drone and before building it, we need to evaluate its stability and iterate on the design. In this Build Project, you’ll wear the hat of a Robotics Engineer and develop a model to simulate the drone and write a feedback controller to stabilize it. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you’ll become familiar with feedback control and dynamics modeling techniques using tools like Python and NumPy. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real robotics team.

physical-life-science

biotechnology, cellular-biology, molecular-biology, crispr

Identify Gene Targets and Develop Gene Editing Strategies for Cellular Therapies

Marie Goulard

and 1 more

Molecular Biology Fellow

Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is the only cure for patients with blood, bone marrow and immune disorders. Understanding the underlying molecular biology behind HSC function, expansion, and differentiation is critical to improve cellular therapies for multiple diseases. In this Build Project, you will wear the hat of a Molecular Research Associate to perform RNA sequencing analysis and then identify relevant pathways and genes of interest in HSC functions. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Research team.

By the end of the 8-week project, students will develop deliverables for this project are focused on building artifacts that you can use to showcase your work in a job application. By the end of the micro-internship, you'll review an RNAseq gene pathway from human hematopoietic stem cells, perform a comparative analysis between multiple conditions, and develop gene knockout and genotyping designs. In the final project session, you'll present your results to the Project Leader in a format that mimics a job interview (so you’re ready to discuss your work in real-life interviews).

computing-data-science

software-engineering, web-development

Develop a Web App to Build Dynamic Forms

Pedro de Almeida

and 1 more

Use JavaScript to build a full-stack web application that allows users to create, view, edit, and share forms to collect responses.

Computer Science Fellow

In this project, you will take on the role of a full stack Software Engineer to develop a dynamic form builder tailored for a specific industry. This JavaScript-based solution will enable users to create and edit forms, incorporating industry-specific features. Throughout this project, you will gain hands-on experience with the entire software development process, from ideation and design to production release. By the end of this project, you will have developed an interactive and user-friendly web application that meets specific client requests, showcasing your ability to handle core responsibilities of a Web Developer.

engineering

assembly-line, process-improvement, quality-control, bill-of-materials

Introduction to the Production Process of Sheet Metal Products

Carel Vos

and 1 more

Analyse and evaluate sheet metal production process, method and practices to identify possible manufacturing improvements.

Industrial Engineering Fellow

Manufacturing always requires specialists who can lay out the most effective way to produce goods – and who can keep improving these processes in the ever-changing business environment. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Project Engineer and analyze CAD product design. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll produce a BOM, Time Study, Flowchart illustrating the manufacturing process. You will learn the ability to propose a more efficient process (less expensive, faster) for making that product. You'll become familiar with software tools like CAD, the process flow methodology, as well as manufacturing tools used in actual production. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Engineering team.

business

marketing, digital-marketing, event-management, sales, market-research

Create and Pitch and Experiential Marketing Campaign

Dáire Boylan

and 1 more

Perform market research and provide recommendations for how an early-stage startup can select a marketing event.

Market Research Fellow

All companies must make tradeoffs in navigating how to distribute limited resources (money, employees time) for optimal growth. In this Build Project, you will wear the hat of a Marketing Manager and propose an appropriate marketing event for your chosen company to target. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you’ll leverage online sources to gather market research data, use it to propose a marketing event, and pitch your event in the final project session. You’ll become familiar with navigating online databases, running digital campaigns, modern approaches to market research, and tools like Canva and LinkedIn. All of this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real-life marketing team.

business

business, finance, economics, management-of-technologies, cybersecurity, innovation, strategic-management

Analyze the Growth Potential for an Innovative Biometric Technology

Benoit Goyens

and 1 more

Assess the growth potential and revenue model for a novel multi-market high-tech company.

Finance Fellow

Applying principles of Business, Finance, and Management, in this Build Project you will gather and analyze macroeconomic data, perform competition analysis, use financial modeling to project scenarios, and support strategic decisions for a high-tech software development company offering a game-changing technology in multiple markets ranging from banking, telecom, online services, and pharma. This will be an opportunity for students to experience contributing to a real-world project involving AI, Biometrics, and data privacy.

business

financial-modeling, corporate-finance, accounting, saas, startups

Construct a Pro Forma Financial Model for a Software Startup

Jasper Ng

and 1 more

Forecast and model the financial performance of a high-growth startup.

Finance Fellow

The ability to deconstruct and forecast the growth and quality of a business is foundational to a career in finance and investing. In this Build Project, you will mimic the work of a financial analyst and create a financial model that forecasts the trajectory of an early-stage software startup.

Alongside your project leader, you will build a 3-statement financial model that showcases future financial performance based on present and past business assumptions. You will familiarize yourself with software-specific accounting concepts like deferred revenue and accumulated deficit as well as spreadsheet modeling standards and techniques — all of which are skills used and valued by real finance teams.

computing-data-science

software-development, saas, devops, information-technology

Develop a Synthetic Monitoring Platform

Sonu Gupta

and 1 more

Use Python to build a Synthetic Monitoring Platform for real-time insights and proactive monitoring of network performance.

Software Development Fellow

The global synthetic monitoring market is growing rapidly, with a projected CAGR of 15.3% from 2023 to 2028. This growth underscores the importance and relevance of synthetic monitoring in the DevOps and Software Development industries, making it a valuable skill for entry-level jobs. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Software Developer and build a synthetic monitoring platform. Under an experienced Build Fellow's guidance, you'll create an application that executes the ping command at regular intervals and stores the results in the Time-Series Database. You'll then use Grafana to visualize these metrics in real-time. You'll become familiar with industry tools like Wireshark software and Grafana, as well as methodologies like observability and synthetic monitoring – which represent key skills in the DevOps and Software Development fields. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real software development team.

business

market-research, consumer-trends, business-strategy, online-commerce

Mastering Digital Marketing: Selling to Today’s Online Consumer

Desirée Nayak

and 1 more

Develop a deep understanding of E-Commerce and learn how to use digital marketing techniques and best practices to create a successful online marketing strategy.

Market Research Fellow

The E-Commerce Boom which began 5-10 years ago was really accelerated by the COVID-19 Pandemic. With people unable to leave their homes, brands really needed to find a way to bolster their online presence - this has not only led to retailers of every size now having direct-to-consumer/online sales channels, but also created a real spike in new digitally-native brands popping up every single day. The current macroeconomic conditions and low barrier to entry in online commerce has sustained this growth despite our return to the physical world. This has created an immense demand for skilled digital marketers, especially at the entry-level, because this is also most of these brands’ target market.

In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Digital Marketer and develop the marketing roadmap for a digitally native brand. Under the supervision of an experienced industry expert, you'll become familiar with digital marketing fundamentals and key performance indicators, research design and methodology, content creation best-practices, and E-Commerce systems/platforms. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Digital Marketing team and relevant business executives with support from your project leader every step of the way.

computing-data-science

web-development, rest-apis, full-stack-development, react

Develop a Web App for Lobby System

Ruicheng Wu

and 1 more

From scratch to build a full stack web app: create a lobby system for hosting various types of virtual events.

Computer Science Fellow

Are you looking for entry-level software development experience with a wholistic vision? In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of Full-stack Software Developer and analyze the user needs, prepare necessary programming knowledges, plan stepwise approach for UI, API implementations and conduct the software development from scratch to support users playing tic-tac-toe using virtual web lobby to join or create the event. Under the supervision of an experienced industry expert, you'll develop a full-stack web app using React, REST API using Node JS and Express framework and version control your code in a repository. You'll become familiar with full-stack software development like React, HTML, CSS, Node JS by following the Object-Oriented Principles. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real software development team.

engineering

biotechnology, biomedical-engineering, molecular-biology, high-throughput-pipeline, single-cell-segmentation

Build a Pipeline to Segment Single-Cell Immunofluorescent Images 

Ali Al Abdullatif

and 1 more

Design a high-throughput image analysis pipeline using Cell Profiler and ImageJ software.  

Biomedical Engineering Fellow

Immunofluorescence is a widely used tool in the visualization of protein and biomolecules within fixed cultured cells (immunocytochemistry) or preserved and sectioned patient or animal tissue (immunohistochemistry). Fluorescent immunostaining is a reliable confirmation technique used across scientific disciplines both in academia and industry. However, without extremely expensive and proprietary software, analysis and interpretation of this data can be complicated and time-consuming. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a scientist or engineer and build a pipeline capable of delivering high-throughput single cell data from immunofluorescent images. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll design a segmentation workflow and analyze data. You'll become familiar with industry tools like Cell Profiler and ImageJ. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real biotech team.

engineering

mechanical-engineering, materials-engineering, structural-engineering, cad, automotive-engineering

Design an Enclosure for an Electrical Vehicle Battery

Luca Entremont

and 1 more

Use CAD to design a frame intended to provide safety for an Electrical Vehicle (EV) battery and provide structural support for the vehicle.

Mechanical Engineering Fellow

Electric Vehicle design has become incredibly widespread in the industry of mechanical engineering, due to new developments that make this technology more attractive than ever. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of an Electric Vehicle Mechanical Engineer and design an Electric Vehicle battery enclosure. Our goal is to make sure the function of the frame is fulfilled in a lightweight way, while still having structural integrity to ensure safety. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll learn how to use common formulas to evaluate the performance of the designed battery enclosure. You'll become familiar with useful and widespread tools like Google Sheets, FEA and CAD software. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real engineering design team.

computing-data-science

blockchain, intents, web3, crypto

Build an Intent-based Token Trading Platform

Felix Madutsa

and 1 more

Design and implement a multichain web3 application for buying and selling tokens using a general-purpose intent protocol.

Software Development Fellow

Intent-based blockchain systems are the next-generation architecture for building scalable web3 applications. One of the challenges that every intent-based system faces is having competent solvers to fill orders. Unfortunately, not much work has been done to create solver solutions that are easy to run and can be used in these intent-based systems. In this Build Project, you will wear the hat of a Software Engineer and create a prototype of a much-needed solver solution for reliable and efficient filling of intents. Whether new to blockchains or not, this entry-level project provides a solid basis for designing, developing, and testing decentralized systems accessible by billions of users. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll use JavaScript as well as tools such as web3 libraries, Infura, and other external APIs to interact with blockchains and software that runs on decentralized networks.

computing-data-science

blockchain, software-development

Develop a Decentralized Lottery System Smart Contract

Mauro Delazeri

and 1 more

Create a decentralized, transparent, and fair lottery system leveraging blockchain technology for secure and tamper-proof draws.

Software Engineering Fellow

In this Build Project, you'll be asked to develop a smart contract that simulates a decentralized lottery system. Such a system requires transparency, security, and verifiability to ensure trust among participants. A smart contract is essentially a “black box” that executes predefined rules, but understanding its internal mechanics and ensuring its fairness can be complex. Therefore, comprehensive testing and evaluation are crucial to confirm the smart contract's reliability and performance. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll develop a fully functional smart contract that will be deployed in the Ethereum Sepolia Testnet. You'll also use various metrics and test simulations to identify potential vulnerabilities or failure modes.

engineering

fpga, verilog, hdl, pwm, pfm

Design a FPGA based LED Dimmer controller

Boyun Wang

and 1 more

Program a FPGA board using Verilog hardware description language to achieve an adjustable PWM/PFM signal with human input button.

Electrical Engineering Fellow

FPGA, Field Programmable Gate Array, is an emerging tool for various engineering applications, especially prototyping and real-time control. In recent years, the dramatically reduced price associated with high density semiconductor manufacturing, FPGA can now be used in a product directly and cost-effectively.

Learning FPGA and implementing it to solve an actual engineering problem in such a short time is the challenging part. Unlike traditional software programming, FPGA Verilog programming emphasis hardware thinking. Converting the mind set from software programming to hardware would be challenging at the beginning, but extremely rewarding when the user gets used to it.

computing-data-science

computer-science, python, data-driven-development, version-control, maintainability, object-oriented-programming

Learn Professional Software Development Practices with Python

Leon Staubach

and 1 more

Use Python to write high-quality code applying object-oriented concepts and data-driven development style. This Project is facilitated with the support of Himanshu Raghuvanshi.

Data Science Fellow

In this Build Project, you will learn how to take your Python skills to the next level. You will learn how to write software in a way that it can easily be maintained, tested, and extended so that it fulfills industry standards. Through object-oriented patterns, you will be able to apply design patterns to create modularized code. Version control will be a crucial part of the feedback loop and development of your project. Towards the end, you will work on your final deliverable, creating a software application in a domain of your own choice. For example, you can build a weather data analysis app, language translation app or sports prediction app. This Build Project is different from most others because during it, you’ll receive guidelines and support not from one but two Build Fellows!

This Project is facilitated with the support of Himanshu Raghuvanshi.

engineering

sustainable-development, supply-chain, business-modeling, business-analysis, environmental-science-engineering, environmental-policy

Business Model Analysis Using Material Sustainability Frameworks

Apurva Bafana

and 1 more

Evaluate a company's business logic to address and mitigate environmental and sustainability impact of material consumption.

Materials Science Fellow

Being the base requirement in the production of goods, the use of raw materials in the global economy is steadily rising. Both the general public and industry professionals are becoming more concerned about how material consumption contributes to climate change, ecosystem degradation, chemical pollution, and resource limitations. A growing number of industries and individual companies are taking a more comprehensive lifecycle approach to their materials and processes to stay competitive in the long run. Thus, knowledge of sustainable use of resources and different aspects of the material lifecycle becomes increasingly important for success in many types of engineering careers.

In this Build Project, you will wear the hat of a Sustainability Analyst and prepare a business analysis that employs sustainability principles for more efficient use of materials. With the help of an experienced industry expert, you will evaluate an organization using a multistage analysis that involves strategies, drivers, and barriers for business models, the role of governments, and the influence of policies. Sustainability is a cross-disciplinary field of study, and this project will promote the development of your own ideas to become more involved in the transition to a Circular Economy.

business

quickbooks-online, microsoft-excel, google-sheets, kinnser

How to Use QuickBooks Online

Bud Khurelbaatar

and 1 more

Get hands-on experience in QuickBooks, focusing on essential accounting practices, financial management, and real-world applications to enhance your practical skills and career readiness.

Accounting Fellow

QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based accounting software that helps businesses manage their finances by tracking income and expenses, invoicing customers, paying bills, and generating financial reports. It's crucial for modern accountants to understand QuickBooks Online because it streamlines financial management, offers real-time data access, and enhances bookkeeping accuracy and efficiency. Approximately 80% of small businesses use QuickBooks, making it the most popular accounting software in the U.S., with over 26.5 million businesses utilizing it.

In my QuickBooks Online project, you will develop essential accounting skills through hands-on experience with the software, learning to navigate its features and manage accounts effectively. You will gain proficiency in generating and interpreting financial reports, including profit and loss statements and balance sheets. Additionally, you will build strong bookkeeping skills by understanding and performing fundamental tasks such as accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), and bank reconciliations. By applying core accounting principles to real-world scenarios, you will enhance your practical knowledge and prepare for successful careers in the accounting industry.

physical-life-science

cell-gene-therapy, immunotherapy, oncology

Quantify Cytokine Release to Functionally Characterize CAR T-cells Targeting Tumor Antigens 

Sai Valli Srujana Namburi

and 1 more

Learn the biology of CAR T-cells and cytokines with a major focus on quantifying cytokine secretion in response to cancerous tumors.

Molecular Biology Fellow

Cytokines are cell signaling proteins and are released by the CAR-T cells upon engagement with tumor antigens. So, measuring cytokines release is one of the most often used techniques in tumor research. This data is often critical for Investigational New Drug (IND) applications to the FDA. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Research Associate and quantify a certain set of cytokines to evaluate the functional profile of CAR T-cells before their clinical application. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll learn how to process the raw data for visual and quantitative analysis using statistical software like MS Excel and GraphPad Prism. You'll also develop skills for drawing meaningful conclusions from the analysis you perform.

computing-data-science, business

python, portfolio-management, optimization

Application of Markowitz Portfolio Theory to Build Your Own Portfolio

Zhenan Li

and 1 more

Implement and apply the Markowitz Portfolio Theory to construct diversified portfolios that strike an optimal balance between risk and return.

Finance Fellow

In the ever-evolving landscape of financial markets, constructing and managing portfolios that optimize returns while minimizing risk is a fundamental challenge for investors. The Markowitz Portfolio Theory, introduced by Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz, offers a pioneering framework for portfolio optimization. This project aims to leverage Markowitz's model to build and back-test portfolios, providing valuable insights into the construction of efficient investment strategies.

The primary objective of this project is to implement and apply the Markowitz Portfolio Theory to construct diversified portfolios that strike an optimal balance between risk and return. By utilizing historical financial data, we will back-test these portfolios to evaluate their performance under different market conditions.

computing-data-science

software-development, web-development, frontend, digital-art, creative-coding

Painting with Pixels: Crafting a Portfolio of Generative Art Experiences

Tanuj Lalwani

and 1 more

Use JavaScript and P5.js to develop an interactive gallery of generative art pieces.

Software Development Fellow

Web development is a cornerstone in today's digital world where websites are increasingly moving from static documents to dynamic and interactive experiences. That puts more pressure on Software Developers, as they should know how to create web solutions that are not only well-functioning but engaging and visually appealing. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Creative Coder and explore the world of generative art using JavaScript and the P5.js library – all while developing an interactive portfolio to showcase your creativity and technical skills. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you’ll design and develop a series of generative art and creative code experiences, prepare an interactive slide deck showcasing these projects, and link your work to source code in interactive notebooks. You'll become familiar with industry tools like JavaScript and P5.js, and techniques like interactivity, repetition, randomness, and image processing. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Web Development team.

physical-life-science

high-performance-liquid-chromatography-hplc

Propose a Method to Optimize the Assessment of Oligonucleotide Purity

Juan Carlos Garcia-Prieto

and 1 more

Research modern liquid chromatography techniques (HPLC) and help improve the method for separation and resolution of oligonucleotides.

Chemistry Fellow

Oligonucleotides are synthetically produced biomolecules that have proven to be crucial for gene editing therapies. Biotech companies put a lot of time and effort in optimizing and developing groundbreaking analysis techniques for these molecules; purity assessment being one of the most significant ones. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), is one of the tools almost every research team uses to assess and characterize the constituents found in a compound. Knowing this technique becomes a very important skill even for entry-level jobs.

In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of an Analytical Development Scientist and help optimize a method for purity/integrity assessment of oligonucleotides through RP-IP HPLC. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll become proficient in navigating scientific literature and building your own conclusions and course of actions in the development of this method. You'll learn the science behind liquid chromatography and how biomolecules such as RNA behaves in such. You will also be able to appreciate role that oligonucleotides play in gene editing therapies; a rising focus for biotech companies. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Analytical Development team.