This page provides a series of suggested projects.
Students are certainly free to suggest alternative project topics.
However, I am offering these suggestions for several reasons. First, In the past I've seen students have understandable difficulty designing projects early in the semester, before they have actually seen most of the material that will be covered. In other words, by the end of the semester, most of you will know enough to make informed choices as to what sort of project you might design, but unfortunately, by then it is much too late. A second reason for making these suggestions is that there are already resources and some background in place here for these projects. Many relate directly to prior and ongoing research conducted here and consequently are more likely to lead to significant results in the course of one semester.