For my independent study project, I will most likely work on Mechatronics. This area interests me because it requires many diverse fields of knowledge coming together. Mechatronics is a combination of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, controls engineering and computer engineering. If I study Mechatronics, I will start with Lego to learn the basics principals, and then possibly move on to other building materials.
My first choice for a field of engineering would be nanotechnology, however, Nanotechnology would be very difficult to study without the specialized apperatus and tools needed for it, so any study of it would be very hands off.
Links that I used for research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechatronics_engineering
http://www.nanotech.uwaterloo.ca/
http://mme.uwaterloo.ca/~mechatro/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology
