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Browse project ideas by Polygence mentors
Designing Health Reminders People Want to Use
Can a reminder be helpful without becoming another notification people ignore? Choose a focused routine, such as taking activity breaks or preparing questions for a medical appointment, and explore research on reminders and behavior change. We will compare approaches to timing, wording, personalization, and user control, then design a small app mock-up or notification prototype. You will create a simulated evaluation plan that considers usability, privacy, and notification fatigue rather than assuming reminders improve health. Your final product could be an interactive prototype and research-based design report. Coding is optional, and the project can be tailored to your experience. Potential outcomes: Interactive app mock-up or coded prototype; research-based design report; science fair presentation; usability study proposal.
Surgery, Medicine
When Children Outgrow Medical Devices: Designing for Growth
How can an assistive device accommodate a child's changing size and daily needs? Choose one noninvasive device component, such as an adjustable handle or mounting system, and investigate the design challenges through published literature and existing products. We will define requirements, compare adjustment mechanisms, and create a CAD model or physical mock-up. You can evaluate range of adjustment, ease of assembly, and material cost with bench tests. Your final deliverable will be a design report and prototype explaining tradeoffs and next steps. Prototypes are for demonstration, with no patient testing or claims of clinical effectiveness. Potential outcomes: Biodesign prototype or CAD model; bench-testing report; design portfolio; science fair project.
Surgery, Medicine
School Emergency Preparedness: Comparing Policy and Practice on Paper
What do school emergency policies actually require, and how clearly are those expectations communicated? Choose one topic, such as access to automated external defibrillators or heat-illness preparedness, and compare a manageable sample of states or districts. We will identify official sources, record their dates, and build a rubric that separates legal requirements from recommendations. You will learn document analysis, source verification, and how to describe policy differences without assuming they prove differences in outcomes. Your final deliverable could be a policy brief, comparison matrix, and proposed questions for future research. Potential outcomes: Policy brief; policy comparison matrix; research manuscript for submission; presentation for a school or community audience.
Surgery, Medicine
Who Gets Included? Representation in Clinical Trials
How well do clinical trial participants reflect the people a treatment is intended to help? Choose a single condition and a small, clearly defined set of trials using public trial registries and published results. We will develop a consistent approach to extracting eligibility criteria, participant characteristics, and reporting gaps. You will learn to distinguish missing information from evidence of exclusion and consider the limits of any comparison population. The project can produce a descriptive research paper, evidence table, and infographic. This is a practical introduction to research methods and health equity using public information rather than individual patient records. Potential outcomes: Descriptive research manuscript for submission; data visualizations; health-equity research poster.
Surgery, Medicine
AI in Medicine: How Fair and Convincing Are the Studies?
When a study claims an AI tool performs well, what should we ask next? Pick one narrow application, such as identifying a finding in medical images, and review how published studies evaluate their models. We will compare datasets, performance measures, representation of patient groups, and testing on data from other institutions. You will learn to recognize common sources of bias and explain why strong performance in one dataset may not generalize. Your final product could be an evidence review and a student-friendly checklist for evaluating medical AI claims. No coding is required, with optional analysis for students who want it. Potential outcomes: Critical review manuscript for submission; medical AI evaluation checklist; research poster or science fair presentation.
Surgery, Medicine
Returning to Sports After Injury: A Focused Evidence Review
How do researchers decide when an athlete is ready to return to sport? Choose one injury, sport, or age group and examine the tests and outcomes used in published studies. We will build a focused review question, document a reproducible search, and compare how studies define readiness and successful return. You will practice reading scientific papers, organizing evidence tables, and distinguishing a research finding from a clinical recommendation. Your final deliverable could be a review paper and visual summary highlighting evidence gaps. The project uses published research and does not involve assessing or advising individual athletes. Potential outcomes: Review manuscript for journal submission; evidence table; sports-medicine research poster.
Surgery, Medicine
Virtual Reality in Pediatric Care: What Does the Evidence Show?
How has virtual reality been studied to support children during a particular healthcare experience? We will narrow the question to one setting or outcome and develop a structured literature review. You will learn to search research databases, apply inclusion criteria, extract study findings, and assess limitations such as small samples or inconsistent outcome measures. Depending on the available literature and project timeline, the result could be a focused systematic review or an evidence map. Your final paper and infographic will explain what the research suggests, where findings disagree, and what a stronger future study might look like. Potential outcomes: Focused review manuscript for journal submission; evidence map; research poster or science fair presentation.
Surgery, Medicine
Designing Medical Instructions That People Can Understand
What makes a health instruction sheet clear, accessible, and easy to navigate? Select a narrow topic, such as preparing for a clinic visit or understanding a medical device's published instructions. We will compare publicly available materials using a transparent rubric for readability, organization, illustrations, and accessibility, then design an improved mock-up. You will learn how to turn research into visual communication and explain your design choices. Your final deliverable could be a comparative report and an illustrated guide or interactive prototype. The project evaluates communication; any patient-facing medical content would require clinical review before use. Potential outcomes: Redesigned educational material; interactive mock-up; communication research poster; manuscript for submission.
Surgery, Medicine
Build a Better Surgical Training Model
How can we make hands-on surgical education more accessible? Choose one practice task, such as tying knots or placing sutures, and investigate the features a useful training model should have. We will compare published designs, select inexpensive materials, and build a nonclinical prototype. You will evaluate practical measures such as cost, durability, and repeatability using a standardized bench test. The project can culminate in a reusable model, illustrated construction guide, and research poster. This is a chance to combine anatomy, materials science, and design without working with patients, animal tissue, or clinical procedures. Potential outcomes: Surgical training prototype; illustrated build guide; design poster; manuscript for submission to a student research journal.
Surgery, Medicine
Project Idea: How Does Culture Shape Consumer Behavior? A Study of Brand Preferences Across Generations
Why do some brands become part of our identity, while others are simply products we buy? In this project, you will investigate how cultural background, family traditions, and generational differences influence consumer preferences. You might explore how food brands adapt to different cultural markets, why younger and older consumers respond differently to advertising, or how people living between cultures develop brand loyalties. You will begin by reviewing research on consumer psychology, cultural identity, and marketing. Then, you will develop a focused research question and collect data through a small survey, interviews, or publicly available market research. By analyzing your findings, you will identify patterns in how cultural experiences shape purchasing decisions and consider what these insights reveal about consumer behavior. Your final project could be a research paper or presentation that connects your findings to broader questions in economics, psychology, and business. This project is ideal for students interested in understanding the human behavior behind everyday decisions and how research can help explain real-world trends.
Economics, Business, Social Science
