Interesting topics for undergraduate astrophysics research?

[Bristlethorn]

Starting in the fall of this year, I'm going to get to start my own year-long undergraduate research project.
To summarize as briefly as possible:

Resources Available:
Our university has access to the SMARTS consortium's three telescopes:
- 1.5m CHIRON telescope
- 1.3m ANDICAM telescope
- 0.9m 2KCCD telescope

Current Fields of Interest:
I'm mainly interested in exoplanets, variable stars, and black holes.

I do have one key wish though, and it's that I'd really like to do something that adds value to the astro community, as opposed to "Let's look at a star that's already been looked at before, and make sure the data we already have is correct." If there are fields or topics out there that would allow me to do so, I'd definitely be open to looking at them.
Any and all feedback, ideas, and/or criticism is welcome.

Thanks in advance!
-Bristlethorn

 

[johnnyrev]

Magnets.

I say that facetiously, I mean magnetic fields around exoplanets. Without them, we could never live in the "Goldilocks Zone."

Check this research out, maybe it could use some review/expansion?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258562688_Detecting_The_Magnetic_Fields_Of_The_Transiting_Exoplanets_Corot-1b_And_Wasp-3b