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Browse project ideas by Polygence mentors
Small Scale, Big Impact: How Is Nanotechnology Transforming Medicine and Materials Science?
Why can a material behave differently when its size is reduced to the nanoscale? In this project, you will explore how changes in particle size, surface-area-to-volume ratio, atomic structure, and quantum effects can alter a material’s optical, electrical, mechanical, thermal, chemical, or biological properties. You will examine how scientists use these nanoscale changes to improve material performance and develop more efficient technologies in medicine, energy, electronics, environmental science, and advanced manufacturing. Based on your interests, you may focus on an emerging area such as targeted drug delivery, cancer diagnosis, antimicrobial coatings, wearable biosensors, tissue engineering, nanocomposites, water purification, energy-storage materials, quantum dots, two-dimensional materials, or nanocatalysts. You will investigate the scientific potential of the selected technology while critically examining challenges involving toxicity, stability, scalability, cost, environmental impact, and ethical use. Through this project, you will learn to find and evaluate scientific literature, connect nanoscale structure with material properties and performance, identify unanswered research questions, and communicate your conclusions through a scientific review paper, presentation, poster, or educational podcast.
Physics
Can Materials Keep Up With AI? Exploring the Future of Memory and Computing Hardware
Artificial intelligence can process enormous amounts of data, but its growing computational demands require faster, more energy-efficient hardware and memory systems. In this project, you will explore how AI is changing hardware requirements and why materials science is essential to meeting these challenges. You may investigate conventional silicon-based devices, high-bandwidth memory, memristors, phase-change memory, magnetic memory, neuromorphic computing, or emerging two-dimensional materials. You can compare these technologies based on processing speed, memory capacity, energy consumption, heat generation, durability, scalability, and cost. Through this project, you will learn how to find and critically evaluate scientific literature, understand the relationship between material properties and device performance, identify the limitations of existing technologies, and examine which emerging materials may support the next generation of AI hardware. Your final outcome could be a scientific review paper, presentation, research poster, or educational podcast.
Physics
Quantum Dots: How Can Tiny Crystals Transform Displays, Medicine, and Solar Energy?
How can crystals only a few nanometers in size produce vivid colors and support technologies ranging from television displays to medical imaging and solar cells? In this project, you will explore the unique optical and electronic properties of quantum dots and examine how their size, composition, and surface structure influence their behavior. You may focus on an application that interests you, such as QLED displays, biological imaging, cancer detection, solar-energy conversion, light-emitting devices, or quantum sensing. You can also compare traditional cadmium-based quantum dots with emerging, less-toxic alternatives such as carbon, perovskite, or indium-based quantum dots. Through this project, you will learn to find and critically evaluate scientific literature, compare materials based on performance, stability, toxicity, cost, and sustainability, and communicate your findings through a scientific review paper, presentation, poster, or educational podcast.
Physics
(MUSIC) Violin Lessons
I also offer violin mentorship for beginner, intermediate, and advanced violinists looking to grow their skills in learning, practice, and performance. In these sessions, we will hone your craft, your practice routine, and technical skills on the violin so that you can feel comfortable playing in front of a variety of audiences, at a level of skill that you can feel extra proud of. Sign up if you're interested!
Economics, Statistics, Music
Build a Smart Robotic Assistive Device Using Sensors
How can a robot use sensors to detect its environment and respond intelligently? In this project, the student will design and build a small Arduino-based robotic or assistive device that uses sensors to collect information and make simple decisions. For example, the student could build a robotic system that detects obstacles and changes direction, a smart mobility aid that warns users about nearby objects, or a sensor-based robotic gripper that responds to contact or distance. The student will progress from designing the system and selecting sensors to building the prototype, programming the controller, testing different conditions, and analyzing its performance. Depending on the student's experience, the project could incorporate ultrasonic, force, motion, or other sensors and explore how changing the control algorithm affects the robot's behavior. Through the project, the student will gain experience in robotics, Arduino programming, sensors, engineering design, prototyping, experimental testing, and data analysis, ultimately producing a working prototype and a research report or presentation.
Math
How Does Bone Shape Affect Its Ability to Withstand Force?
Bones experience different types of forces during everyday activities such as walking, running, and jumping. In this project, the student will investigate how the shape and structure of a bone influence the way mechanical forces are distributed throughout it. Using a simplified computer model, the student can compare different bone geometries or loading conditions and examine where high stresses and strains occur. Depending on the student's interests and experience, the project could involve computational modeling, analysis of existing data or images, and a review of biomechanics literature. Through this project, the student will learn fundamental concepts in biomechanics, mechanical stress and strain, computational modeling, data analysis, and scientific research. The project can be adapted to the student's skill level and could result in a research paper, computational study, or visual presentation of the modeling results.
Math
Genetic Variation in Resistant Cancers
This project would choose a specific type of cancer and a specific type of treatment (something like Lung Adenocarcinoma and the BRAFv600e inhibitor debrafenib) and look at how the genetic landscape of the tumor changes over the course of treatment. The student would likely use large patient datasets that show rates of various mutations that arise in patients over the course of treatment. The project would look to find if there are consistent and specific mutations that arise in response to treatment. The project could then evolve into a literature deep dive that would seek to understand how those mutations may impact the response of the cancer cells to the initial treatment.
Biology
(SCIENCE) Climate Change Impacts on Mental Health
Curious how rising temperatures, extreme weather, or climate anxiety are affecting mental health outcomes, and how we'd even measure that? In this project, you'll dive into the emerging field of climate psychology and environmental epidemiology, using real datasets (public health records, survey data, or climate indices) to investigate a specific research question — like whether heatwaves correlate with increased ER visits for mental health crises, or how climate anxiety varies across age groups and regions. You'll learn to source and clean relevant data, conduct exploratory analysis, and test hypotheses using statistical methods, walking away with an independent research project that bridges public health, psychology, and data science.
Economics, Statistics, Music
(SCIENCE) Organizational Behavior and Emissions: Why Do Some Companies Report (and Reduce) More Than Others?
Why do some companies voluntarily disclose methane leaks, water usage, or emissions data while others stay silent? Does disclosure actually link to reductions? In this project, you'll build a dataset combining corporate disclosure records (like CDP or EPA data) with firm characteristics (size, industry, leadership, regulatory environment) to explore what organizational or behavioral factors predict transparency and follow-through. You'll use hypothesis-driven analysis to test theories from organizational behavior, like whether public commitments, leadership incentives, or peer pressure from competitors drive real environmental performance, not just reporting.
Economics, Statistics, Music
(SCIENCE) Does Going Green Pay Off? ESG Performance and the Stock Market
Does strong ESG performance actually predict stock returns, lower volatility, or investor confidence... or is it mostly noise? You'll gather ESG ratings and financial data for a set of public companies, build a clean panel dataset, and run exploratory and statistical analyses testing specific hypotheses (e.g., "do high-ESG firms outperform during market downturns?"). Along the way, you'll learn the basics of financial data analysis, event studies, and how researchers and investors quantitatively evaluate sustainability claims. This will be a great intro to the growing field of sustainable finance.
Economics, Statistics, Music