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
UWB-based 3D Localization and Tracking
With the increasing popularity of VR/AR, it has become especially important to understand where the user's device is in 3D space accurately to provide a seamless and realistic experience. Nobody likes a glitch where the floor is cutting through you at waist level. To alleviate this problem, Ultrawideband (UWB) based 3D localization and tracking have taken off in recent years. UWB is a specialized type of wireless signal, very similar to WiFi signals, which can provide centimeter-accurate localization of devices interacting with it. This project would involve further developing this technology with a VR/AR use case in mind. Goals: 1. For people who want to delve into the hardware, you could develop PCB's and firmware which would incorporate existing UWB radios 2. For people interested in software design, you could write applications in Unity, Unreal or another game engine to interact with these UWB radios. 3. For people keen on algorithm design and signal processing, developing novel techniques to remove noise and other artifacts for the wireless signals to further improve the 3D localization and tracking performance.
Engineering, Computer Science
Literature Review: 5-HT2 (Serotonin)-specific Small Molecules and Their Potential Applications
5-HT2 receptors (release serotonin) are important for regulation of sleep and play a role in the disease progression of depression. SSRIs target the serotonin transporter (SERT) and are often used for treatment of depression and some sleep conditions. However, specifically targeting serotonin receptor release could provide potential nuance and benefit in treatment of serotonin-related conditions. This review would entail reading about the function of 5-HT2 receptors and explore current research in selective small molecule development.
Neuroscience, Chemistry, Medicine
Neurotechnology design features' impact on the identity and function of reactive astrocytes
I work with these brain computer inteface devices called microelectrode arrays. They communicate with neurons in the brain and allow for tetraplegic patients to regain some level or movement once again. The problem is after a few years, these arrays stop working. The reason why is that these other specialized brain cells, called astrocytes, act like body guards towards the neurons. They see these little devices and try to cover them up to protect the neurons. The problem is after awhile, the astrocytes behavior changes and they actually end up killing neurons. My job is to figure out what makes these astrocytes harmful and if I can reverse that process.
Biology, Neuroscience
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations
In this project, a student will use open-source parallelized cloud computing software (SimScale) to simulate fluid dynamics in a relevant engineering or science application that is of interest to the student. They will research the cutting-edge of fluid dynamics simulations, and design a simulation to answer an open question about a fluid flow application.
Engineering, Chemistry, AI/ML
Voice Analysis
Collect audio recordings from yourself, friends or the internet and make a program that can tell different voices apart. You could even try to predict the age of the speaker or guess whether they have a cold.
AI/ML, Medicine
How accurately can large language models predict time series data, such as financial markets and weather patterns?
Large language models (LLM) have recently been shown to perform well as predictors of time-series data. In machine learning (ML), time-series data is notoriously challenging to predict, due to ML's inherent ability to interpolate, but not extrapolate. Most people that use LLMs use them via applications such as ChatGPT. However, there are open source LLMs that can be downloaded and run programmatically. These "raw models" are well-suited for scientific study. For example, these raw models can be examined in Python, and the LLM's "next token prediction" can be exploited to predict numerical sequences, instead of sequences of words. In this project, the goal is for the student to find a "niche" or "angle" that is unique, such that the results could possibly be the first ever in its respective research topic. Overall, this project will enable the student to learn about time series models (in financial markets and weather patterns, for example), machine learning, LLMs, and Python programming.
Engineering, AI/ML
Collision Detection and Physical Simulation in Video Games
You're playing a dodgeball video game. You throw a ball at another player. How do you know if the ball hits the other player? The answer is obvious to us, but it's not obvious to the computer that's simulating the dodgeball game. In fact, collision detection is one of the most time-consuming operations that a computer must perform when simulating a virtual environment. So how do computers detect collisions, and how do they do it fast? It's your job to research the algorithms that make real-time collision detection possible and implement them in your own simple game.
Engineering, Computer Science, Math
Analyze medication-effect patterns in Reddit data.
Collect a dataset of Reddit posts regarding mental health and medications. Build clustering algorithms to group medications by their commonly reported side effects.
Engineering, Computer Science, AI/ML
Medical Device Development
I have experience working with engineers and industry and medical professionals in developing effective medical devices that address a clinical need. In this project, you will learn how to navigate the engineering design process from establishing user needs through research and user interviews to creating a minimal viable product through electronic design and prototyping. Together, we will work on personal and technical skills you need to effectively identify and addressing gaps in current medical solutions.
Biology, Physics, Engineering, Math
What attributes make a good airplane?
There are hundreds of distinct airplane types that currently fly in the air. Have you thought of why they all look different from each other? In this project, we study the design choices that aerospace engineers make to build safe, environmentally friendly, and performant airplanes. Then, we will come up with the best airplane design for a flight objective that we will select.
Engineering
Satellite Navigation and Communication
GPS (Global Positioning System) has revolutionized how humans navigate. However, the robustness of the satellites that enable the use of GPS is constantly being improved. Additionally, our availability, accuracy, and coverage of GPS is still outstanding challenges that must be solved. Join me in solving the challenges to enable worldwide navigation in extreme environments!
Physics, Engineering, Math
Elucidating the mechanisms that promote or limit the survival of antibody producing cells
Antibody producing cells also known as plasma cells are an important component in the immune system's ability to fight and remember infections. Too little antibody production leaves us vulnerable to clearing ongoing infections or remembering pathogens encountered in the past. Too much antibody production can in turn lead to autoimmunity and tissue damage. The immune system has complex exquisite mechanisms in place to tweak and balance the survival of plasma cells and their ability to produce antibodies. Fully understanding these mechanisms can enable us to better fight infections with better responses to vaccines, as well as treat autoimmune diseases like lupus or arthritis.
Cancer
Robotic Grasping Simulation using Python
In this project, the student will use Python to implement a simulation of an industrial robotic arm and end effector picking an object from a bin and placing it in another bin. Although this task may sound trivial, it will require skills in mathematical optimization, control theory, and rigid-body kinematics. The student will utilize Drake, a Python library for model-based design and verification of robotics, developed at MIT and the Toyota Research Institute. Depending on progress, this project can go as deep as desired --- for example, by adding algorithms for motion planning, pose estimation, and impedance control.
Engineering, AI/ML
Immunoengineering
Cancer vaccines. Supercharging bone marrow transplants. CAR-T cell therapies. In this exercise, we will explore how engineering can be used to exploit the immune system in the context of disease. Students will learn basic immunology and the latest bioengineering approaches to treating diseases of or involving the immune system. At the end of the exercise, students will be able to (i) understand the underlying immunological and engineering principles of immunotherapy, (ii) create a tangible project that attempts to tackle a disease that can benefit from immunotherapy, and (iii) create a short presentation and written proposal on said project.
Biotech
Vehicle Detection through Deep Learning
For autonomous vehicles, one of the most fundamental tasks is to automatically detect other vehicles, allowing the ego-vehicle to analyze and monitor surrounding traffic to plan its own safe path. The student will learn about state-of-the-art deep learning object detection methods and decide which model fits best for, this task of vehicle detection. Furthermore, the student will research various autonomous vehicle datasets and apply their developed model to their dataset of choice. From this project, students will be introduced to all the modern deep learning and computer vision models used in research today and how each can be applied to various applications. They will also learn how to develop their own machine learning models in Python with libraries such as Pytorch. The potential student outcome of this project would be to write a scientific research paper about their approach to vehicle detection as well as the performance they achieve.
Engineering, Computer Science, AI/ML
Stress and Strain Sensor Design
Sensors that measure forces and change in dimensions are ubiquitous in our day-to-day life, from use in airplanes and cars to monitor the tires and wings to your phone which uses them to enable technologies like Touch ID. All of these complicated sensors, however, boil down to the same set of sensor design principles and physics. In this project, you will learn about these mechanisms and how sensors transform mechanical signals to electrical ones. The project will culminate in designing your own sensor to measure stress or strain and wiring it up to collect the data.
Engineering, Computer Science, Quantitative
Investigating Mechanisms of Action of Potential Antibiotics
We know that antibiotics kill harmful bacteria that make us sick, but how exactly do the antibiotics that we take actually enter and bind to cellular targets, stopping infection? Why does a certain antibiotic kill certain types of bacteria, but not others? Through a genetic engineering approach, we can investigate how many antibiotics are responsible for killing certain types of bacteria.
Biology, Chemistry
Optimizing protocol for in vitro meat cell culture
Different scaffolds, temperatures, and supernatants will be tested for how effectively they enable the growth of muscle cells from a particular animal. A range of mixers and heat sources will be manufactured and evaluated. Experiments can be conducted in the presence and absence of bovine serum, and downstream processing steps (shaping, packaging) can also be evaluated.
Biology
Machine Learning in Sports
First gain an understanding of how machine learning is used in sports and sport science today before attempting to implement new architectures and methods on available youtube data. Baseball has a fantastic array of data that can easily be used for projects and can teach web scraping skills as well as machine learning techniques.
Engineering, Computer Science, Sports Analytics, AI/ML
Calculate the optimal time to buy a house in your city
Analyze home price data from Zillow (data available by zip code) to find what year was the optimal time to buy a house! Use Python to calculate total cost of a house using average interest rates, and think through the macroeconomic factors which might make for an encompassing measure of the "time to buy"!
Engineering, Economics, Math
