AI-Powered Image Retrieval With Vector Databases

Learn how to use PostgreSQL, Typescript, React and Vue to create a software app.

Application of Markowitz Portfolio Theory to Build Your Own Portfolio

The 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 project, you will have built a full-stack software application that follows multi-tier architecture. You will learn about databases, back-end systems, and front-end systems. You will learn how to build an application that is extensible and complete. The application can do what you wish but must have all the relevant components. At the end of the project, you will deploy your application for anyone on the internet to view. This way, you’ll have something tangible to show recruiters for future job prospects.

python, portfolio-management, optimization

Zhenan Li

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

How to Use QuickBooks Online

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.

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

Bud Khurelbaatar

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.

Develop a Decentralized Lottery System Smart Contract

blockchain, software-development

Mauro Delazeri

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.

Design an Enclosure for an Electrical Vehicle Battery

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

Luca Entremont

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.

Build a Pipeline to Segment Single-Cell Immunofluorescent Images 

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

Ali Al Abdullatif

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.

Develop a Web App for Lobby System

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

Ruicheng Wu

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.

Develop a Synthetic Monitoring Platform

software-development, saas, devops, information-technology

Sonu Gupta

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

Construct a Pro Forma Financial Model for a Software Startup

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.

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

Jasper Ng

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

Analyze the Growth Potential for an Innovative Biometric Technology

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.

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

Benoit Goyens

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

Develop an Interactive Web-Based 3D Visualization Tool

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.

software-development, gaming-development, visualization

Qiaodong Cui

Use WebGL to create a web page that allows users to visualize and interact with 3D objects.

Analyze Solar Projects Development to Inform Business Expansion

In the rapidly evolving field of software development, the challenge of creating real-time, appealing visualizations and simulations is a critical industry demand (particularly in areas like gaming, virtual reality, and data visualization). In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Software Engineer and develop interactive web-based graphics tool for visualization of 3D models. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll design and implement user interfaces, optimizing graphics rendering performance, and integrating various types of data sources for dynamic visualization.

renewable-energy, community-solar, business-intelligence, data-analytics, google-sheets, bigquery, tableau

Pavel Shteling

Perform an analysis of Interconnection Queue data to drive renewable company expansion strategy.

Business Intelligence Fellow

To understand which markets to focus on in the future, Ampion needs to analyze open-source data provided by power grids called Interconnection Queue. Ampion is one of the industry leaders in Community Solar, providing opportunities to participate in shared solar projects through a concept called Community Solar. Through a software platform, Ampion connects residents, businesses, and other types of consumers with clean energy facilities, primarily Solar Farms. Interconnection Queue is a compilation of power generation and transmission projects seeking connection to the power grid. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Data Analyst/Business Intelligence Analyst and perform an analysis of Interconnection Queue data to drive Ampion's expansion strategy. Under the supervision of an experienced Project Leader, you'll become familiar with Structural Query Language (SQL), which is used by thousands of companies for communicating with and manipulating databases. You'll also learn how to translate big data into a visual story using Tableau, another tool popular in the industry. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Data Analytics team.

Predict Stock Returns Using Factor Model

python, data-analysis, statistics, quantitative-finance, linear-regression

Camilla Guo

Use factor model to predict stock return and evaluate our predictions on stock returns.

Risk & Return: Making Investments in Equity Securities

In this Build Project you will use factor models to predict stock returns. The project is an example of quantitative finance field, where people utilize the skill of data analysis, statistics and programming to predict stock return and make investment decisions. You’ll learn to handle data using Python and get a solid introduction to forecasting in finance. The project covers important basics like data analysis and applying factor models. Completing it will gear you up for entry-level finance and data science jobs, which are key roles in many U.S. industries. This is a great start for students aiming for a future in the financial sector.

finance, accounting, due-diligence, private-equity, equity-research, investment-banking

Chirag Malkani

Learn how professional investors evaluate, model, and discuss investment opportunities.

Prepare a Malware Analysis Report

Pensions, colleges, and nations across the world rely on investment firms to generate financial returns to support the long-term needs of their retirees, students, and citizens.

In this Build Project, you’ll learn how investors decide to invest in businesses by donning the hat of an analyst entering an investment firm that is in the process of acquiring a public company. Under the guidance of an experienced industry expert, you will identify a potential investment opportunity, analyze the company’s performance, and build an Excel financial model to value it.

You’ll synthesize your findings to create your own investment memo in PowerPoint—skills critical to succeeding in entry-level roles across financial planning, accounting, banking, investment management and consulting. Entry-level roles in such fields typically pay upwards of $60-80K per year.

cybersecurity, information-security, information-technology, forensics, vulnerability-management

Zeeshan Ahmed

Learn how to analyze malware like a Cybersecurity pro by using market-leading Cyber Forensic tools.

Cybersecurity Fellow Fellow

Malware analysis is one of the key processes in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity specialists are constantly asked to analyze suspicious files to check whether they're legitimate or malicious. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of Security Analyst and prepare a standard report that companies use to develop countermeasures and strategies for preventing or mitigating future attacks. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll learn about different types of malware, steps of incidence response investigation, and how to use forensic tools like PEiD, ProcMon, and Wireshark. You will be exposed to the daily life of a Malware Analyst and learn the procedures and techniques that any cybersecurity specialist should know.

Develop a Secure SafeAPI Web Application

software-development, cybersecurity, cloud-computing

Rehana Shaikh

Learn how to create a secure web application with reCAPTCHA integration and real-time API request analysis using Google Cloud Functions.

Develop a Risk Management Plan for a Mid-Size Company

In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, defending against different cyber threats is a critical challenge. This Build Project focuses on developing a secure web application with reCAPTCHA authentication and implementing a Cloud Function for real-time API request analysis. Under the guidance of an experienced Build Fellow, you will actively contribute to the project's core deliverables, gaining hands-on experience with industry tools such as Cloud Pub/Sub and Firestore. This project mirrors the operations of a real-world Security Analyst team, providing invaluable insights and practical skills for a career in cybersecurity.

risk-management, business-operations, risk-financing

Luis Sarmiento

Understand the operations and business exposures to provide business risk management solutions using the Risk Management Process.

Design Optimization of Automative Bracket for Additive Manufacturing

It's imperative for the survival of a company to understand the cost & opportunity of various risks and to learn how to manage them. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Chief Risk Officer / Risk Advisor and build a comprehensive risk management plan for a client. You will help that company understand their vulnerabilities and opportunities and give them your recommendation on how to manage their risk. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you'll learn about the different risk management techniques: risk transfer, risk avoidance, risk mitigation, and risk acceptance. You will become familiar with the Risk Management and Financial methodologies like the risk management process, the financial ratios, forecasting, and the loss triangulation, in an environment that simulates the operations of a real risk management team.

additive-manufacturing, latticing, topology-optimization, optimization, fea, mechanical-design, computational-design, dfam

Ajay Prasad

Optimize an automotive bracket using topology optimization and latticing for additive manufacturing.

Mechanical Engineering Fellow

Lightweighting is strategically decreasing mass while preserving overall strength and structural integrity. Additive manufacturing has created opportunities to apply new lightweighting techniques that enable you to achieve even greater mass reduction.

In today's rapidly evolving engineering landscape, additive manufacturing (AM) stands at the forefront of innovation, offering unparalleled opportunities for maximizing performance and efficiency while minimizing lead times. Companies across industries are embracing AM to push the boundaries of traditional manufacturing methods and unlock new possibilities in design optimization.

In our Build Project, you will learn the power of computational design and AM technologies to lightweight mechanical parts, mirroring the innovative approaches in real-world industry applications. Through this project, you will gain invaluable skills in computational design, material selection, and additive manufacturing, positioning them for success in the dynamic landscape of modern engineering and manufacturing roles.

Prepare a Performance Analysis of Tesla's Advanced Safety Features

mechanical-engineering, automotive-engineering, electrical-engineering, advanced-driver-assistance-systems-adas, automotive-safety, automotive-testing, active-safety

Sundar Raman Nagarajan