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
Mind-Brain_Body Connection
This project will investigate how the brain can change with direct mind-management.
Cognitive
Exploring Identities Through Multimedia
As my final project for a study abroad program I did in Rabat, Morocco, I filmed an experimental documentary of a 20-year-old Moroccan woman to capture her life, dreams, vision, and identity. I am very interested in exploring various identities and the way different aspects of society, such as culture, gender, language, class, race, and religion affect identities through film and other media. If you are interesting in creating and portraying unique stories and people through multimedia (film, podcasts, music, art, etc.), I would be happy to help you!
Music, Social, Arts, Creative Writing, Social Science, Cognitive
Analyzing and Understanding Moisture Detection
Human tactile senses are rich and dynamic. By combining information about changes in temperature, chemical environment, and vibration and indentation stimuli, we can construct highly detailed and precise neural representations of objects. Our sense of discriminative touch is based in neurological responses to vibration and indentation stimuli. In our skin we have a wide array of different fiber types, each tuned to a specific stimulus type and intensity, that mediate our sense of touch. While many insects have hygroreceptors that allow them to perceive changes in humidity and moisture in their environment, without these receptors, humans are left to use cognitive processing to discern changes in moisture and wet from dry. Moisture requires sensory integration in the central nervous system and is an emergent sensation that occurs from the integration of inputs rather than a direct signal from the periphery (i.e. touch or heat). Moisture detection proves essential for sensing the world: texture discrimination, object grasping, or gait changes on slippery surfaces. The aim of this project is to understand the way our bodies interact with the physical world through touch. We will learn of the basics of neuroscience and a foundational understanding of our sense of touch. We will investigate how different neurons respond to different stimuli, how this code is transduced, and what properties of physics make this possible. Following this, we will work through the scientific method, analytic statistics, and experimental design. From there, you will write your own project proposal and emulate a laboratory to conduct home experiments to build a qualitative and quantitative understanding of how we detect varying moisture levels.
Neuroscience
Data Analysis of an Open EEG Data Repository
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive neural recording that measure electrical potentials generated by the brain using scalp electrodes. In an effort to open scientific collaboration to global researchers, scientists have released EEG datasets as open repositories on websites such as OpenNeuro and PhysioNet, among others. This project would involve analyzing a dataset using data science and statistical methods in pursuit of scientific insight regarding a hypothesis-driven research question. This project will utilize skills ranging from scientific literature review, hypothesis generation and research design, implementation of statistical methods, and programming in Python/MATLAB. This project would be ideal for a student interest in neuroscience or medicine with an aptitude for quantitative methods and coding.
AI/ML, Statistics
The role of mathematics in biology
In this project you will explore the mutual relationship between math and biology that has developed over the past two centuries. You will learn about the impact novel biological problems have had on the development of a diverse set of mathematical fields such as statistics, control theory, and information theory. Additionally, you will explore the benefits this relationship has had on emerging sub-fields in computational and theoretical biology such as neuroscience, psychology, evolution, ecology, and cellular physiology. Most importantly, you will learn about the communication gap that persists between computational and experimental biologists, the causes of this gap, and potential paths that can be taken to narrow it. Prerequistists: There are no formal prerequisites for this project except for a strong interest in the intersection between math and biology. However, a strong background in either high school mathematics, biology, or both would serve the student well.
Neuroscience, AI/ML
Leveraging Psychology to Help Bridge Political Divides
Over the past few decades, Americans have become increasingly polarized. How can we take insights from psychology to help people better understand those who are "on the other side" of the political spectrum? This project could involve reading articles/books, interviewing exercises, and more to identify potential interventions. It could take the form of a research paper, research transformed into a blog post, video or podcast format, or an online survey where we collect our own data.
Social, Cognitive
Hero rats, sniffing their way to valor!
Rats have an incredible sense of smell, or olfaction, and can sniff out odors from several meters away! There are ~1,000 receptors expressed in neurons of a rat's nose that are devoted to detecting odors. Due to their amazing sense of smell, rats are often trained to sniff out landmines in countries contaminated with these explosive devices. These rats save human life daily by identifying landmine locations. In this project you will study how rats are trained to detect landmines using their sense of smell. You will learn important principles of behavioral neuroscience as well as how neurons in the brain process smell.
Neuroscience
Machine Learning for Brain-Machine Interfaces
Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) are an important and promising area of medical neuroscience research that have the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for many patients. One of the most difficult technical problems for BMIs is reading out the movement intentions of an individual from their brain activity. In this project, you will use an open dataset of motor cortical activity and machine learning techniques to determine how a prosthetic arm should be moved based on a person's brain activity, allowing you to gain valuable experience in applying machine learning to neuroscientific data.
Computer Science, AI/ML, Statistics
Bilingualism and cognition
How does bilingualism affect general cognition? In turn, how does cognition affect bilingualism? In this project, we will examine the intersection of bilingualism and domain-general cognitive processes such as attention, executive function, cognitive control, and memory. We will also review the similarities and differences between various types of bilinguals, such as simultaneous bilinguals vs. late learners.
Neuroscience, Linguistics, Cognitive
Are habitual video game players more persistent on learning tasks?
Video games require lots of persistence. You often fail and have to try again. We know from theories like Mindset Theory from Carol Dweck and Grit theory from Angela Duckworth that continued persistence after failure is an important factor in good learning outcomes. Does the persistence that video game players train and use during a game transfer to difficult learning tasks that require sustained effort? If so, can we train non-video game players to improve their academic persistence by playing video games?
Cognitive
Human Gene Editing and its therapeutic applications
In this project, you will investigate the history of therapeutic human gene editing, what therapeutic gene technologies are available or are currently being developed, and what conditions these tools are being used for. You may choose to focus more broadly on the history and current status of human gene editing tools and therapy, or focus more closely on a specific gene/condition pair that has been or could be explored for gene therapy (e.g. sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis). You may choose to write a literature review paper, write a blog post, or create a podcast outlining the relevant literature and current state of genetic therapeutic technologies... or, you could come up with another presentation method for displaying what you have learned! There are no solid pre-requisites for this project, though highschool level biology would be useful; my philosophy is to meet people where they are at, and modify the project according to their interests and skillset.
Neuroscience, Cognitive
Alternative therapies for Alzheimer's Disease
Improving cognitive deficits of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with different cognitive stimulating activities such as playing video games, board games, playing music, etc. I can help students work with senior homes to develop a study to test how we can use novel therapies to help reduce AD.
Neuroscience
The Far Reaches of Diabetes
This project can explore the long-lasting and far-reaching effects that Type II Diabetes has on the human body. Diabetic patients face a risk of chronic pain and debilitation when considering the increased possibility of developing neuropathy. This project can help raise awareness of diabetes and the secondary diseases that may result from it. The end result can take the form of a podcast or public advisory warning about proper health and nutrition for prevention of diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.
Psychiatry, Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Social Science, Cognitive
Class Presentation - The Developing Teenage Brain
Adolescents take more risks than children and adults. Neurobiological theories suggest that increases in adolescent risk taking can be explained by some brain regions maturing faster than others. Learn about the function and development of many brain regions involved in adolescent risk taking. Create a presentation for your classmates explaining key theories of how brain development shapes adolescent behavior.
Social
Major depressive disorder and their relationship to neurodegenerative diseases in late life.
Episodes of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have been implicated in increased inflammation in the brain. Additionally, individuals diagnosed with MDD are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Long term inflammation and poor cardiovascular health are also predictors of neurodegenerative disorders in late life. What other predictors might there be between mental health and geriatric health? What are the potential treatment targets that could decrease these outcomes? Conversely, what are the predictors of healthy aging and how can we implement those practices in our lives?
Neuroscience, Cognitive
literature review on social relationships and behavior during adolescence
Many of adolescents' behaviors, such as risky behaviors, are shaped by their social relationships, such as their parents and peers. Social relationships with parents and peers, however, drastically change across the adolescent years. This project will examine how various social relationships (family, friends, teachers, strangers / public figures) affect various behaviors (risky behaviors, school performance), and how this might look differently from childhood to adulthood.
Social
Is reality an illusion?
For this project, we will delve into the mechanisms behind sensory perception. Everything we do in our lives is guided by our ability to sense the environment around us and respond accordingly. You might be surprised to find out that what we see, hear, and feel is constructed in our brain, prone to error, and is not as "real" as you might think (have you ever seen an optical illusion?). This project can be approached from many different perspectives including neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. Together, we will investigate what is known about how we perceive the world around us and how those perceptions can be skewed or distorted.
Neuroscience
Write (or illustrate) a literature review
Literature reviews are research overviews that provide a summary and discussion of a particular subject. They are often used by researchers to get a bird's eye view of a particular question. I can work with you to find a topic that interests you in biology, psychology, or neuroscience. I will teach you how to search through primary literature using database search engines, and how to read research papers in order to pull out important information. You will produce your own 2-4 page literature review. You will gain skills in qualitative research, reading research papers to understand their significance, and scientific writing. Alternatively, you can create a comic, illustration, or poster that similarly synthesizes the information you have researched.
Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology
Bringing Your Story to Life
Storytelling has been around for thousands of years. It's an essential part of being human. In this project, let's bring your story to life, whether it be through film, theatre, song, or any other concept that you have in mind.
Music, Linguistics, Cognitive
Audition Coaching
We all experience audition stress: from doing a great slate, to really nailing your character arc in your 1 minute monologue or 16 bar audition song, there's a lot of pressure! I can help you gain comfort and ease through all parts of your audition process, whether it's for a community theatre audition, auditions for college or conservatory, or your professional career. We will figure out the details of what you need to succeed together.
Music, Cognitive
