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Browse project ideas by Polygence mentors
Unconscious, Subconscious, and Conscious: Clarifying the Differences
Conduct a literature review and design a small behavioral experiment to explore the distinctions between unconscious, subconscious, and conscious processing. The project will focus on how these terms are used in psychology and neuroscience, with an emphasis on emotional perception tasks (e.g., masked faces or subliminal stimuli). The student will create a clear framework for how these levels of processing differ, and test whether emotional cues presented below awareness still influence behavior.
Philosophy, Neuroscience, Biology, Computer Science, Cognitive
The Effect of Rapid Scrolling on Attention and the Brain
This project explores whether rapid scrolling through short-form videos (e.g., TikTok-style clips) impacts sustained attention. Students will review the current literature on this topic. And then students could create a literature review, an Op-Ed, or slides to present their research.
Philosophy, Neuroscience, Biology, Computer Science, Cognitive
Interoceptive Signals and Emotional Awareness
This project investigates how subtle bodily signals (like heart rate changes or skin conductance) influence our conscious awareness of emotional stimuli. The goal is to explore whether physiological changes can predict when an emotion “breaks through” into conscious awareness. This could culminate in a paper, essay, or presentation.
Philosophy, Neuroscience, Biology, Computer Science, Cognitive
Environmental Standards in Chinese-Financed Infrastructure Projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
The Chinese government has made massive investments in financing infrastructure projects overseas, particularly in the developing world and through the Belt and Road Initiative. This project would explore how environmental considerations are addressed and how environmental standards are applied in Chinese-financed infrastructure projects abroad. A student could select a small sample of projects (e.g., one in Southeast Asia, one in Africa, and one in Latin America) using publicly available databases such as AidData, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center Chinese Overseas Development Finance Dataset, or news archives. The analysis could focus on whether Chinese-financed projects align with or differ from other development agencies in referencing international environmental standards, how host-country regulations shaped implementation, and whether any controversies or protests arose. The project would give students practice in cross-case comparison, familiarize them with real-world international political economy cases (i.e., Chinese presence in the developing world) with significant policy implications, and provide experience working with open-source datasets.
Quantitative
The Politics of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in U.S. Cities
This project would examine how local governments in the United States support the expansion of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. A possible research question could be: why do some localities install charging infrastructure faster than others? Students could develop and test hypotheses related to political, economic, and demographic factors. Methodologically, students could design the project in different ways and practice either quantitative or qualitative approaches. For example, they might collect data to create a simple dataset of chargers per capita across selected cities, analyze city council documents, local government reports, and media coverage to identify key policies, incentives, or barriers to deployment, or conduct interviews and case studies involving community engagement. This type of project gives students hands-on experience in designing research questions and testable hypotheses, and in applying basic methodologies such as data collection, interviews, and policy analysis, while remaining manageable in scope.
Quantitative
Market Prediction Machine Learning Model
Using various market data sources (kaggle datasets, bloomberg, etc), you'll develop an application in python using machine learning strategies with the goal of predicting a market of your choosing. This will likely not make you money, but reinforce the basic concepts of machine learning and data principles used in AI/ML development.
AI/ML, Computer Science
Andalusia's Aljamiado Legacy
This project serves to uncover the fascinating history of Aljamiado, or manuscripts that use the Arabic script for transcribing European languages, to shed light on the history of hidden Arabic-speaking communities in the medieval Iberian Peninsula, particularly Andalusia (southern Spain). We will ask, how did these communities maintain a connection to Arabic culture, language, and religious traditions through their preservation of the Arabic script across centuries? How did they assimilate into Iberian culture? What are the impacts of this legacy on Andalusia, in terms of language, food, dress, and architecture today?
History
The Visual Anthropology of Egyptian Women Filmmakers
In this project, we will write a research paper that explores the filmmaking practices of Arab women documentary filmmakers, with a focus on Egypt. Beginning with Ateyyat Alabnoudy and moving to Mai Masri and Jehane Noujaim, we will do a film analysis of their most important works and synthesize these to uncover what is unique to their vision, visual and cinematic language, and ethical practices. We will ask if they incorporate a particularly feminist gaze or methodology to their films. In doing so, we will draw conclusions on the future of gender and documentary filmmaking in this region.
History
Antibiotic Resistance Patterns - Mining Global Surveillance Data
This research project uses publicly available databases from the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) and CDC's antibiotic resistance data to analyze patterns of bacterial resistance across different regions and time periods. Students would examine datasets showing resistance rates for common pathogens like E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, creating graphs and maps to visualize how resistance patterns change geographically and over time. They would research the connection between antibiotic usage policies and resistance rates, comparing countries with different regulatory approaches. This project teaches data analysis skills, epidemiological thinking, and connects to current global health challenges. Students learn to work with real scientific datasets while exploring how human behavior and policy decisions impact microbial evolution, making complex concepts accessible through concrete data analysis. Image from the BBC.
Biology, Languages
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - Analyzing Treatment Evolution and Patient Outcomes
This project involves analyzing the current state of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) research by examining publicly available clinical trial data and published studies to understand how treatments have evolved over the past decade. Students would use databases like PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov to research FDA-approved treatments like nintedanib and pirfenidone, comparing their mechanisms of action, clinical trial results, and patient outcomes data. They would create timelines showing treatment development, analyze survival rate improvements, and investigate emerging therapies in current clinical trials. The project teaches students how to read scientific literature, interpret clinical data, and understand drug development processes while exploring a real medical challenge affecting thousands of patients. Students can create presentations comparing different treatment approaches or analyze geographic differences in treatment access, making this both scientifically rigorous and socially relevant.
Biology, Languages