2,893 Inspirational Passion Project Ideas
Turn inspirations into your passion project.
This collection of project ideas, shared by Polygence mentors, is meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.
- AI/ML
- Animation
- Arts
- Biology
- Biotech
- Business
- Cancer
- Chemistry
- Cognitive
- Computer Science
- Creative Writing
- Dance
- Dentistry
- Economics
- Engineering
- Entomology
- Environmental Science
- Ethics
- Fashion
- Finance
- Game Design
- Healthcare
- History
- Illustration
- Languages
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Math
- Medicine
- Music
- Neuroscience
- Nutrition
- Organizational Leadership
- Philanthropy
- Philosophy
- Photography
- Physics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Quantitative
- Social
- Social Science
- Sports Analytics
- Statistics
- Surgery
Language variation and identity
Speakers of the same language vary in terms of pronunciation, word choice, and other dimensions. This variation is structured, and can often be correlated with factors such as gender, ethnicity, geography. The student will collect data on a case of linguistic variation, and explore how this variation is tied to markers of identity. The student can learn methods for collecting speech and analyzing speech data (e.g. fieldwork methodology, working with online text corpora).
Computer Science, Languages, Linguistics
Literary or Philosophical Analysis--Project of Your Choice!
Critical reading of any text that sparks your interest.
Music, Philosophy, Linguistics
Rhetorical questions
Many questions aren't asked in order to get an answer, like "Are you trying to get yourself killed?". What do they communicate, and can we build models which help us understand this more precisely?
Linguistics, AI/ML
Are you a computer?
Does a person's mind relate to their body as a computer's software relates its hardware? Those who answer ``yes'' endorse the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM). CTM commits you to the view that many, if not all, of a person's mental processes (e.g., their thinking and reasoning) are computer softwares executed by their brain. CTM is fascinating because it gives a unifying answer to a wide array of questions from across the history and philosophy of psychology. Nevertheless, there is broad disagreement over whether CTM is a genuine scientific organizing principle or a merely convenient metaphor. We'll start by familiarizing ourselves with the origins and content of CTM. After that, we'll branch out in accord with your interests. Whichever way we go, we'll strive for a deeper philosophical understanding of how our mental processes facilitate our capacity to navigate and alter our environment. Pre-requisites: A curiosity for the relationship between the mind, body, and environment is all that's required. We will start with thoughtful columns, podcasts, or videos authored by science communicators and public philosophers and engage with recent research and historical movements where needed.
Linguistics, Cognitive
Art is a Necessity
COVID-19 has led to a worldwide shutdown of theatres, concerts, and events. What resulted was a surge in online streaming such as Netflix and Hulu. According to USA Today, "worldwide viewing time grew 44% in the last three months of 2020, compared with the same period a year ago." Arts and entertainment play a critical role in our lives, and its accessibility is correlated to mental health. Let's investigate the intersections of art and health, and discover the ways that art can change the world.
Music, Linguistics, Cognitive
Student Led Web Application
Project purpose would be open ended: essentially students can pick whatever idea/problem they would want to tackle and be guided through the process of creating a web application for it. This includes understanding the full layout of designing a web application, picking what tech stack to develop in (e.g. React front end, Python backend), creating a dynamic UI front end, deploying a robust back end, and testing the project out! Students are encouraged to create a data visualization component as part of the application (humans are visual creatures!). End goal of this project is to be able to deploy the project to go live as well as having the student develop a proficient understanding on how modern day web applications are created and how to solve software engineering problems!
Computer Science, Linguistics
How can we write rules for a language game?
We do so much with words. Consider, for instance, our practice of questioning and asserting. In raising questions, we determine what problems to resolve. In asserting propositions, we resolve questions by present things as being certain ways rather than others. Our practice of questioning and asserting can have profound effects on others. In skillfully questioning and asserting, we can achieve equitable agreements, well-coordinated actions, and insightful research. In abusively questioning and asserting, we reap such harms as silencing, unwarranted subordinating, gaslighting, and propogating misinformation. How should we scientifically explain our ways with words? Many linguists and philosophers explain them as being moves in a rule governed language game. Others reject language games as unhelpful metaphors. Together, we'll examine both sides to understand what we explain when writing the rules of a language game. Pre-requisites: None. All you need is a curiousity for how our words bear meanings and how we can use our words to effect substantive change. We will start by reading classical philosophical works in the philosophy of language, foundational texts in linguistics, and thoughtful reflections by public intellectuals and then engage with recent research as the project develops.
Linguistics, Cognitive
People's Happiness
World Happiness Report up to 2020 at kaggle.com The world happiness report used several financial and social parameters to rate the happiness of about 160 countries. The data is available and the parameters used to measure the degree of happiness are well known. One project I propose is to critique the world happiness report and see if there are other parametrs that were not considered but would gaive a more accurate judgement of nations' happines. Second, to look at the individual and devleop a chatbot that would elicit answers to a set of questions posed to individuals. The answers individuals give would then be analyzed and a juudgement is made on the degree of happiness an idividual has.
Linguistics, AI/ML
What is knowledge and what is it good for?
What is knowledge? What is the value of knowing something? How should answers to these questions inform our practice of explaining people's actions and animal behaviors by referencing what they know? We will start by familiarizing ourselves with contemporary discussions about the composition and value of knowledge. From there, we can branch out in accord with your interests to investigate such topics as knowledge in non-human animals, knowledge as a social good, or the scientific method as a distinctive way to gain knowledge. Pre-requisites: A curiosity for the role of knowledge in our mental lives is all that's required. We will start with thoughtful columns, podcasts, or videos authored by science communicators and public philosophers and engage with recent research and classic literature where needed.
Linguistics, Cognitive
(Intermediate/Advanced) Efficacy of math education methods in different countries
Basically every country agrees that math is an important topic to study in schools, but how to go about teaching math differs wildly between all of them. This project would study different math teaching methods throughout a number of countries along with a specified parameter (such as test results, future academic success, research success, etc) to measure the efficiency of each method and what results each method provides. This could culminate in a paper, a podcast or other creative project, or a presentation.
Music, Math, Linguistics
Robot Ed Sheeran: Making an AI Composer
Current state-of-the-art ML for music (see: OpenAI, Google Magenta) is bad at learning long-form structure. I believe this is because their approach of swallowing and vomiting MIDI files does not reflect the vast amount of prior information we have as humans: we have ears that pick up on the subtle ways that pitches interact, and we're hard-wired to understand linguistic structures. Let's build a better AI with these inductive biases and generate some funk!
Neuroscience, Math, Linguistics, AI/ML
Liberatory Pedagogy: Radical and Transformative Ways to Teach and Study the Humanities
One of my greatest joys is exploring how studying the humanities in collaboration with others can build community and address the joys and sorrows of human experience, in ways often avoided in traditional academic settings. Looking to scholars such as bell hooks for inspiration and guidance, we can talk about ways to make the humanities more serviceable to, well, humanity, than they sometimes are on university campuses.
Music, Philosophy, Linguistics
Explore slang trends in twitter corpora
Slang is rapidly changing, and may vary a lot depending on the age/gender/community of the speaker. The student will extract tweets from Twitter and explore trends in slang use over time. The student, through this project, can get an introduction into basic text analysis/processing techniques.
Computer Science, Languages, Linguistics
Role of Stigma in Health and Social Outcomes of Autistic Individuals
In this project, we will explore the role stigma may play in health and/or social outcomes of autistic individuals. Much work in autism focuses a lot on the perspectives of researchers and/or caregivers and not much on the lived experiences of autistic individuals (although this is starting to gradually increase). Given that many autistic individuals report poorer healthcare outcomes, this project is interested in exploring the role stigma might play. This project can focus on either autistic children, adults, or transition youth depending on your interests. We can work together to determine the method of this work (i.e. literature review, survey/questionnaire, documentary, etc) depending on your skillset and interests.
Social, Linguistics
German Art Song (Lieder)--the Philosophy of Music and Poetry
I wrote my beloved dissertation on a form within the so-called German classical music tradition called "art songs" or "Lieder" (singular: "Lied"). A Lied is a poem set to music, usually by someone other than the poet. The poet may or may not have known the composer, or given their blessing to having it set to music--there was no copyright in those days, so the composer could use any text they wanted and do anything they pleased with it. My greatest fascination is with the meeting--or confrontation--of two separate artistic wills, and the magical transformation that happened when a composer like Franz Schubert or Robert Schumann set a poem to music. When it went well, the whole is more than the sum of its two parts. I'm hoping to turn this dissertation into a book and will need help with many parts of the process, including finding citations for quotes and sources that I already have, and also finding new material to enhance or deepen the argument. I might even need help getting permission from various places to use quotes, materials, or pictures (don't worry, I'd help you help me with technical stuff like that!). If you're interested in queer studies, there's also a connection (even if not a very obvious one) between that and my German art song project that I'd love help developing. Knowledge of German, or at least curiosity about it and a desire to learn, is helpful though not required--same goes for music.
Music, Philosophy, Linguistics
The Power of Listening
Have you ever wondered how children are able to learn a new language without taking any classes? No lectures, no flashcards, no textbooks, no quizzes. We all learned how to speak by simply listening to the world around us. The more we understand about human communication, the better we can foster our relationships with each other. Let's talk about language acquisition, and design a research experiment that explores the power of listening.
Music, Linguistics, Cognitive
Literally speaking, how figurative are we?
When it comes to metaphors and other figures of speech, people generally equate them with some artistic talents that are shared only among poets and writers. Not to mention, some tend to believe that rhetorical devices are at best useless ornamental pieces scattered here and there to beautify one's language, or worse yet, deviant twists of tongues insidiously lead the recipients astray. But hold on a sec! Did I just unintentionally left a full trace of metaphors as I'm typing down these words? Isn't "equate" a metaphor - mapping maths values to general ideas? Isn't "scatter" a metaphor - mapping candies to words? Isn't "astray" a metaphor still - mapping a physical path to a mental path? It turned out, figuration (especially metaphor) might as well be a fundamental mechanism of human cognition! In this project, you will: - experience the magic of "Conceptual Metaphor Theory", a powerful and still developing theory in Cognitive Linguistics - gather evidences and examples of "metaphors of our mind" in linguistic data, cultural and social artifacts - Carry out a corpus study OR a discourse analysis based on arguments for or against "Conceptual metaphor
Psychology, Linguistics, Cognitive
Creative Writing: Blending Genre, Exploring Form
In this project, we'll learn the rules of literary craft while finding innovative ways to break them. We can explore poetic forms like the sonnet, ghazal, or epic and how to remix them in your own artistic style. I can teach you tools from poetry and memoir to explore your lived experience in a lyric essay. This is not a project about fitting the bounds of tradition; it is about learning to create literature that is uniquely and authentically yours.
Creative Writing, Linguistics
Research Proposal
Looking to get approval or even some funding towards a project you're passionate about? Together, we will work through the steps to developing a strong proposal, including researching existing literature, developing research questions or project goals, and devising a timeline and/or budget. We will also discuss persuasive writing strategies and adapting writing to institutional contexts.
Languages, Linguistics
Learn How to Do a Scientific Presentation
Being able to clearly communicate technical information, especially to non-experts (i.e. people in different fields), is one of the most important skills employers in academia and industry look for. Choose a topic within the fields of forensic science, linguistics, computer science, or cognitive science and get lost learning all about it. You will gain experience finding and reading scientific literature as well as comparing different research approaches. Not only will you deepen your knowledge in this area, but you will also learn how to effectively communicate this knowledge to others in a scientific presentation.
Languages, Linguistics, Cognitive
