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
Neurological Sex and the impact of hormone replacement methodologies on our current understanding of sex-specific behaviors
There is an established connection between sex hormones and the development of sex-specific behavioral responses, but research methodologies manipulating these hormones are inconsistent and often lack species-specific justification. The objective of this project is to further understand behavioral neuroscience methodologies and shed light on the inconsistent treatment of female sex hormone replacement. In this meta-analysis, data regarding hormone replacement in common rodent models will be gathered, analyzed, and compared with current knowledge of species-dependent hormone levels. This paper will dissect what is known about the role of sex hormones on brain activity and the resulting changes in behavior to make an argument for leaving animal models intact or using hormone concentrations specific to the model species.
Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry
The effect of music on our memory
To understand if students will remember significantly more words when listening to non-lyrics music while studying compared to listening to lyrics music and no music conditions
Chemistry, Math
Renewable Energy Diversification
Renewable energy will soon become a large source of power production in the world. However, implementation of certain technologies does not make sense in different parts of the world (i.e. hydroelectric power in the Sahara). This project would involve researching the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy implementation in different parts of the world or your country of origin.
Engineering, Chemistry
AI in the field of Biology
Students can write a research paper on how they believe artificial will affect biology research in the next couple of decades. How will such a rise of AI affect current experiments and techniques? What skills do students need to equip themselves with to carry productive research in the upcoming years?
Biology, Chemistry
Correlating The Cancer Genome Atlas data with sc-RNAseq data.
There has been an explosion of publicly available data for cancer, including at the single cell resolution. By combining scRNA-seq data with bulk RNA-seq data, a more robust image of tumor purity and the tumor microenvironment can be captured. This has implications for tumorogenesis, disease progression, and therapeutic intervention.
Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Math
Creating a short film
In this project, you will capture content on the topic of your choice, then use software such as iMovie or other editing platforms, to edit your clips together into a short film. This project gives you an opportunity to explore filmmaking by learning techniques to combine clips and add audio and visual effects.
Biology, Languages, Chemistry, Public Health
Is Nuclear Energy worth pursuing?
The world faces a climate crisis, one in which immediate and drastic action is needed. Promising technologies such as nuclear power have faced public opposition and regulatory hurdles for years. Together, we can explore whether it is technically viable (is it better than other energy generation techniques) and practically acceptable (is it safe and what are the long-term consequences).
Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Math
Artistic Medium Exploration
In this project, there are two major options: 1. Choose an artistic medium to learn or practice it by producing an array of pieces in a series. 2. Choose a topic and create an array of pieces using a different artistic medium for each. This project would be more open-ended and a good chance to explore something creative you may not have tried before.
Biology, Arts, Photography, Chemistry, Math
Using NHANES dataset to explore the role of environmental toxins on diabetic patients
Using the publicly available Nutritional Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we can explore many questions relevant to public health. For example we can explore the role of perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), syntheic compounds used for industrial manufacturing in the 1940s that leak into the environment and water system, on individual's with diabetes. Diabetic individuals have an increase in blood gluocse levels and PFOS have been associated with many chronic diseases. Is there a relationship between PFOS and blood glucose levels? In this project, you will be able to explore a health related question that is relevant to public health. Additionally, you will improve your computational skills by using R Statistical Programming to manipulate the NHANES dataset and analyze this question. Following the completion of your analysis you can generate a report in the style of a Scientific Research Paper.
Biology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Public Health
Chemical Education without Barriers
Teach Chemistry students of all ages Chemical Education through varying different means (podcast, accessible website that simplifies material, videos/posters providing summary of a certain topic.)
Biology, Chemistry, Public Health
Increasing the resistant starch content of French Fries using dehydration and retrogradation.
French fries are a high-glycemic food that is ubiquitously available and excessively consumed. This study utilized the processes of dehydration and retrogradation of potatoes before frying to increase the content of resistant starch (RS) in French fries. RS is not digested or absorbed in the upper gastro-intestinal tract and passes to the large intestine where it is fermented into largely beneficial products by the microbiome. An increase in RS potentially translates into a lower-glycemic index and calorific value, thereby mitigating the onset and symptoms of metabolic disease. This project is complete and is published in the Journal of High School Science at https://jhss.scholasticahq.com/article/3703-increasing-the-resistant-starch-content-of-french-fries-using-dehydration-and-retrogradation
Biology, Neuroscience, Chemistry
Bioluminescence in Medicine
Bioluminescence is being used to monitor brain activity and the progression of cancer cells. Explore the future of bioluminescence imaging in the field of medicine and provide a history of its discovery, as well as its potential. Share your findings in an article, scientific review, or presentation.
Biology, Cancer, Engineering, Chemistry
Microbes vs Fossil Fuels: Are bacteria the new bioplastic solution?
Our society's dependency on non-renewable fossil fuels contributes to the ongoing global warming crisis, and researchers are actively working towards renewable, carbon-neutral solutions to supply our need for energy, fuel, plastics, chemicals, and more. One promising alternative is microbial biotechnology: identifying bacteria that naturally produce bioenergy products and engineering them to efficiently produce these products at industrial scales. Successful examples of microbial biotechnology have already been demonstrated, such as engineering E. coli to produce bulk proteins, using fungi to produce antibiotics, using microalgae to produce biofuels, and more! In this project, students will identify bacteria that naturally produce polyhydroxybutyrate, a robust bioplastic. They will perform a bioinformatic search for bacterial genomes that contain the genes necessary for its synthesis, consider how genetically-tractable (i.e., how easy it is to genetically engineer them?) these bacteria are based on previous research in the literature, and provide examples of renewable substrates that can serve as bacterial feedstocks. The conclusion of this project will be the identification of novel microbial platforms for bioplastic production -- and perhaps, the first step towards a more renewable, carbon-neutral future!
Biotech, Biology, Chemistry
Predict gold content in minerals using machine learning
Apply different types of machine learning algorithms to geological data to try and predict gold concentrations in different ore samples. This project will be focused on writing a code using Python and studying different machine learning approaches.
Computer Science, Chemistry, Environmental Science
Prevalence of anxiety in a high school population
My field of expertise involves mental health, mentorship, and internal medicine and I am proficient in SPSS. Students will gain knowledge of recruiting participants, utilizing accredited surveys, collecting survey data using qualtrics and excel, analyzing the data using excel and/or SPSS, and writing a manuscript. This will include reaching out to high schools to obtain consent to spread the survey, gathering answers from high school students anonymously, and exporting it from qualtrics to excel, replacing answers with numeric symbols to compute to SPSS. The potential student outcomes may include writing a scientific research paper, creating a survey, and/or creating an oral or poster presentation.
Biology, Psychology, Arts, Languages, Chemistry
Synthesis Paper
In this project, you would choose 2-3 articles on a topic of your choice to study and compare. This paper would explain, compare, contrast, and offer your conclusion on the different approaches. You will develop your professional and scientific writing skills, research skills, as well as understanding and finding reliable sources. Topics could be anything from "Organic vs. Artificial heart valves" to "How the Grimm's Fairytales Changed Over Time".
Biology, Arts, Photography, Chemistry, Math
The Physician-Patient Relationship and How It Relates to Long Term Patient Outcomes.
If you went to the doctor when you were younger I am sure you remember whether the experience was enjoyable or miserable. We continue to have these experiences as we grow older. There have been many articles that have pointed out that patients that have good rapport and or a good relationship with their healthcare provider tend to have better health outcomes. It would be interesting to see how the life span, number of hospital admissions, and overall quality of life compares between patients that enjoy their health care provider and those who do not.
Biology, Chemistry, Math, Medicine
Exploring Cognitive Frontiers: Aerospace Neurology in the Age of Space Exploration
This title is an example of a review article written on a specific topic. Within this objective, you will write a scientific review-style paper about something that particularly interests you. The goal is for you to become proficient in finding, analyzing, and synthesizing existing research. After collecting plenty of relevant data and thoroughly familiarizing yourself with the subject matter, you will construct the review article using effective writing and editing skills. This process will teach you how to critically assess scientific literature and communicate your findings proficiently.
Biology, Neuroscience, Chemistry, Medicine
How does WHEN you eat effect your health?
Eating at all hours of the day has been shown to have a negative impact on health and increase the risk of obesity and metabolic diseases, such as type-2 diabetes. Intermittent fasting (IF) is a popular dieting technique where food is only consumed in 6-10 hour intervals during the day and fasting is extended into the night. IF has been shown to improve health and prevent obesity and metabolic disease in many organisms, including humans, mice, and fruit flies. In this project, we will examine how IF induces these changes through both literature review and through survey study.
Biology, Neuroscience, Chemistry
The Role of Immunofluorescence in Cancer Research
Learn the history and current uses of immunofluorescence in cancer detection, diagnosis, and the development of treatments. Explore the limitations and benefits of immunofluorescence in comparison to other methods, and share your findings in the format of an article, scientific review, or presentation.
Biology, Cancer, Engineering, Chemistry