[mettamage]

If I were you I'd send an email to prof. Erik Demaine about this. If you write your email thoughtfully enough, then I think he's the kind of person to answer. I would in his position send at least a quick reply.

I have the same question, except I already have a partial answer (i.e. less interested in going after it, I sometimes do these things if I'm interested enough). I'm currently working my way up 6.006, but I wonder why I'd have to do advanced data structures. My guess is: I think I don't, because it's more of a research area than anything else.

I would need to take a quick look to see if there are some interesting data structures solving some interesting problems.

Personally, I'd be interested in time travel and memory hierarchy (caching) as topics. I think they might have some immediate practical utility in those areas.