urgent help needed

hello friends
i am an electronics engineering student.I had just started in micro-controllers and doing the course. i have to make some projects in it and some good projects but not too expensive(range 100$-180$). So guys please help me in suggesting some good topics for the project. i will be greatly helpful to you all for helping me in this.Thanx a lot to you all in advance.

How about a programmable frequency generator?

Oven

You could maybe take an old toaster oven and add the microcontroller and a thermocouple to make it a reflow oven.