Year 2 Projects

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TheTransportation Modernization Act (TMA) fundamentally changed the way TDOT delivers projects. The TMA accomplished this generational change in infrastructure policy without raising taxes, issuing road debt, spending a disproportionate amount of funds in urban areas, reducing our maintenance budget or proposing toll roads.

An investment strategy for the $3 billion general fund transfer approved in April 2023 evenly distributed funds across all four TDOT regions to advance critical transportation projects. TDOT innovated its project prioritization process to develop its first-ever 10-Year Project Plan.

TDOT has re-envisioned its prioritization process to allow TDOT to select projects based on performance-based goals and criteria. This is an evolution in mindset and philosophy for TDOT, which will provide improved communication and accountability for taxpayers. The new project evaluation process considers three important dimensions of project delivery: performance, delivery time and cost. The transportation goals considered for inclusion in the current 10-Year Project Plan are:

Choice Lanes are new lanes added to congested urban highways that allow motorists an option of paying a voluntary user fee in exchange for faster, more reliable travel speeds and trip times. Unlike toll roads, Choice Lanes give motorists the choice to use existing lanes free of charge.

In addition to providing direct benefits to the customers of the Choice Lanes, the facilities also indirectly benefit all motorists with reduced congestion across all lanes of traffic, improved air quality from less idling and preserved funding for rural highways. Choice Lanes will be designed, built, financed, operated and maintained through a Public-Private Partnership (P3), with TDOT retaining ownership of the road.

The MaineDOT Work Plan outlines the work that the department plans to perform over the next three years. The Work Plan is calendar year-based and includes all MaineDOT work activities. Projects and activities listed for Calendar Year 2024 have the most definite schedules and estimates, while those for Calendar Years 2025 and 2026 may be more subject to change.

As an Equal Opportunity employer, Maine State Government embraces a culture of respect and awareness. We are committed to creating a strong sense of belonging for all team members, and our process ensures an inclusive environment to applicants of all backgrounds including diverse race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, familial status or genetics.

Ready to break free from the ordinary and embark on a life-changing adventure? Join us on our epic Global Gap Year program, designed for students seeking an extraordinary experience before, during, or after college.

This is not your average gap year. Over 28 unforgettable weeks, you'll traverse the globe, exploring six diverse countries across three continents alongside a vibrant community of like-minded adventurers.

Travel to Puerto Maldonado and then take a boat ride deep into the Amazon Rainforest, where you'll spend the first two weeks living and working at the Taricaya Conservation Project. Care for animals, support their release program, and help with farming and maintenance. You'll also conduct research and collect turtle eggs from riverbanks.

During your final two weeks here, you'll also have the chance to volunteer with children on the island. Help children learn through play, run educational games, and teach English. You can also work with small groups of kids in the community for sports coaching.

Travel by private bus from Kenya to Tanzania! You'll live and work around Arusha, at the base of Mt. Meru, for four weeks. The city is located near the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.

Start your stay in Nepal by supporting our Building Project in Kathmandu. Help ongoing recovery efforts since the 2015 earthquake that devastated the country. Explore temples and markets, taste new cuisine, and discover a unique culture.

Your final two weeks will be spent back in Phnom Penh with our own Public Health Project. Learn basic health techniques, support check-ups and hygiene workshops. Visit different areas of the city each day!

Throughout your stay, the group will visit various sights such as the Royal Palace. You'll join monks in Buddhist temples for meditation and blessings, learn about the Khmer Rouge Genocide while visiting The Killing Fields, and try new flavors with cooking classes! During your week in Siem Reap, you'll explore the UNESCO temples of Angkor, hidden within a dense jungle.

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In the first part you have asked for direction on your idea brain controlled wheel chair. It is an interesting idea though in no way is it novel. Just a simple search on Google will list a number of such projects done before including a complete instructable ( -Controlled-Wheelchair/). I have seen students do this same project in Pakistan as well (I remember seeing one in Islamabad at FIT). So the questions that you should be asking yourself when deciding on an idea to work on is

You will notice that in the question list, I haven't listed down a single technical question or challenge. When you work on idea, you usually build a prototype first to prove your point that the idea is possible. In this particular case we know that the idea is possible and people (read students) have built it quite a few times, but we haven't seen it as a commercial product just yet. So the question comes down to whether it would be really useful to build a brain controlled wheel chair in the Pakistani context.

There are 2 kinds of projects. Research based and non-research based. At under graduate level most students go for non-research based projects which are mostly practical in nature. Those who are interested in research based projects are usually who plan to go for a Masters degree by research or a PhD later. So the first question that you should ask yourself is what excites you? Doing research which involves reading research papers, understanding analyzing and implementing them (in probably Matlab) and coming up with your own improved techniques or algorithms in a particular area. Or building a project which involves less research and more practical stuff like understanding new programming libraries or algorithms and implementing them to solve a problem.

Once you decide for a particular area you must select a supervisor who most suits your project and your area. For example if you want to do a research based project, find a supervisor with a PhD. If you want to do a more practical project find a supervisor who has worked in the industry or has worked on practical projects.

If you decide to build a project that is mostly software then you must see if you have access to the right development tools. For example most Pakistani universities are part of the Microsoft Academic Alliance which gives them access to most Microsoft development tools. If you plan to use a particular library that is not freely available, can you get an academic free version for it? Or can you find an open source alternative for that library?

If you are planning to build a hardware project, there are some important questions to consider. In most cases hardware is unavailable locally, although there are now a number of local websites that offer microcontrollers and electronics parts. Here is a list:

You may also need 3d printing to build your hardware prototype, in this case you can get your stuff printed from or if you can convince your university or have the finances you can get a 3d printer in Pakistan from

1. National ICT R&D fund runs a program ( ) where they finance innovative FYP ideas, mostly for buying hardware. You can get up to Rs 65000 in funding. Usually the fund takes a long time to release funds so be prepared to spend from your own pocket initially if you plan to take this route.

2. Another way is to find someone willing to fund your idea. There are several companies in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi willing to work with Final Year Projects. The key is to find a company that works in your area of domain and would be willing to work with you. A good idea is to find someone from the faculty who knows people in a company you are looking for. Most faculty members have friends and colleagues working in local companies.

3. The third way is to fund your project yourself. In my case I wanted to build a robot which required considerable finances in buying stuff and getting things done. I solved this problem by convincing my friends to work with me and ended up with a group of 5 students. It helped me in sharing the costs and we managed to spend more than 50,000 on our hardware and manufacturing. Be careful though, most universities usually only allow a maximum of three students per group.

One of the key questions is to understand what kind of idea you can work on. Final year project is one of the most important activities in your undergraduate studies that can define your future direction. So the decision should be taken very wisely. If you plan to go for a Masters degree and are good at reading papers then find a research based project. If you plan to work for a company even then you can do a research project or vice versa. There is no fix path. For example a student of mine did a research based project on data mining and started working at IBM (Islamabad) in the Business Intelligence (BI) division. After working for a couple of years at IBM he has now gone for his Masters in BI.

When students come to me and ask for advice regarding projects, I usually tell them to find a problem to solve or a need to fulfill. So how does one go about finding a problem? I have devised a top down approach to finding the right problem to solve.

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