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.

Check out some projects

What Is The Carnivore Diet?

There has been a recent interest in the 'carnivore' diet - a diet consisting of consumption of purely meat-based products and meat - which has been anecdotally successful at treating patients with immune disorders. Clinical studies on the carnivore diet's impact on longevity, health, and other metrics have been few however. Is it a fad? Or is there a key insight about it that could be beneficial for those looking to improve their health? Learn how to design a clinical trial to test the impact of nutrition on human health through this 'tasty' project!

Neuroscience, Computer Science, Photography, Chemistry, Math, Business

Steven

How to Make Good Pictures

What makes a "good" photograph? In this project, we'll learn about the history of photographic style and explore how new technologies and platforms from the 35mm camera to TikTok have changed how people make and share content. The final product could be an extended instagram story, a photo/fashion blog, or a portfolio for college apps or AP exams.

Photography

George Philip

Narrating a Life

Is there anybody in your family, your neighborhood, your church or your school whose life or work inspires you? Based on digital ethnographic methods and with the aim to write a testimonial, in this project you will be able to delve into the lives of people from your community that spark your interest. While Covid-19 is still out there, technology offers plenty of resources to tell the stories of people whose lives are compelling to you.

Literature, Photography, Creative Writing

Magdalena

Detecting Light Pollution with Astrophotography

Light pollution is easy to observe if you have ever been both inside and outside of a city. It affects everything from animal migration to our ability to clearly see stars. But how do we quantify light pollution? Photography is a way to capture photons—units of light. With consistent observations and some calibration, we can determine how much light affects various regions.

Physics, Photography, Math

Carissa

Research into Performance Techniques

Help in writing a research paper and analysis on techniques and traditions used in acting, dance, performance, and film/video. The paper can be conceptual and/or theoretical, with possible case studies as examples.

Dance, Photography, Creative Writing

Sami

Ethics of AI

Artificial intelligence is promising many big changes in our world. In this project, we will spend some time understanding the technical underpinnings of things like generative AI and then dive into literature on the ethics of it. Students will come away with a deeper understanding of generative AI from both technical and societal standpoint.

Biology, Philosophy, Engineering, Computer Science, Photography

Henry

Solo Performance/Acting Monologues

Creating a solo piece of video, theatre or performance art based on a conceptual idea that explores a personal, social or political subject. The process of the project can be based in writing or on research into any type of source material. This type of project could be helpful to anyone wanting to audition, build an artistic portfolio or applying for grants and scholarships or fellowship in film, theatre, performance or new media arts.

Dance, Photography, Creative Writing

Sami

Historical Dinner Parties

Using online research tools (like the New York Public Library's archive of historical menus, for example), you'll develop a series of historically-accurate dinner parties for your friends and family. You'll research food and culinary histories to source recipes, plan menus, and write descriptions that help to set the scene. Specific details about class, climate, traditions, and trade routes (among other considerations) will help your guests imagine how it might've felt to share a meal together in specific parts of the world, at specific points in time.

Photography

Anna

Open Source Adventure Course

Make a game that teaches the player to program/teaches them various algorithms. For example, the player could use basic flow of control to solve puzzles/riddles, defeat enemies by implementing a sorting algorithm that works faster than theirs, or race through a world using an algorithm such as A* to plot their course.. Publish the game under and open source license so anyone can add puzzles, levels, worlds, etc.

Photography

Chris

Curating an Exhibition in VR

Curating an art exhibition requires a unique mixture of skills: research, writing, design, storytelling, and strong aesthetic sensibilities. It's essentially making an argument about politics and culture through images. In this project, students design an art exhibition from scratch using a virtual gallery space like artsteps. I'll work with you to define a research question, learn the principles behind curating, write a compelling catalogue essay about the show, and design a virtual space that you can explore in VR. You'll bring an issue that matters deeply to you and we'll work to assemble artworks, from Instagram to museum collections, that help to tell your story.

Photography

George Philip

Prototyping

In this project, you would choose a problem, gather user data, brainstorm solutions, and work on mock ups. Ultimately, you would gather feedback on your ideas and adjust them until we have a prototype. This would develop your engineering design process skills as well as analysis and synthesis of user feedback.

Biology, Arts, Photography, Chemistry, Math

Gillian

Create a magazine of your photos and writing work

Learn to take photos and compile them in a magazine from start to finish. Whether you have photos ready to be edited or you are picking up a camera for the first time, we can use graphic design and photography to create a magazine or organized creative portfolio showing off your work.

Photography, Social Science, Statistics

Gabriel

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

Gillian

Photo-Based Fiction

Have you ever found a snapshot that really captured your imagination? Maybe you've seen loose photographs at an antique store, or discovered charming photos of your relatives from when they were younger. Together, we'll allow these photographs to open up researchable historical questions. You'll combine this research with your imagination and creative writing skills to craft fictional narratives around these photographs.

Photography

Anna

Documentary Film or Performance

Equipping and providing creative tools to that could guide a documentary process of filmmaking or performance making. The way one approaches a documentary project always influences and determines what is being documented, so understanding what type of approach work best in certain situations, while maintaining ethics, is key to a successful documentary project.

Dance, Photography, Creative Writing

Sami

Publish your own Android app

Build a mobile app, the Google Play Store, F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/en/) or one of many alternative Android app stores. You'll learn a lot building your app, and might even make some money!

Photography

Chris

Photo Ethnography of Places

In this project you will be able to tell the story of a place in your own city or town --a museum, a zoo, a park, a cafe, a music store, a forest, a library, etc. Relying on the pictures you take of that place, you will be able to tell others why this location is important for your or your community and to begin to understand the many social forces that converge in this spot which, after all, make it a socially constructed and mediated terrain.

Literature, Photography, Creative Writing

Magdalena

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

Gillian

Creating a short narrative film with visual effects for TikTok or YouTube

Using a combination of programs and applications from the Adobe Suite (e.g., Premiere Pro and After Effects), we can brainstorm, write, film, and edit a short narrative film to help grow your understanding and knowledge of visual storytelling and editing. This could include creating a short film (one to three minutes) from start to finish, or taking an idea for animation or visual effects and working our way through it. By the end of the project, you'll understand the adobe filmmaking and video editing workflow and will be able to take your ideas to the screen with future projects.

Photography, Social Science, Statistics

Gabriel

Computer Vision - Eye Contact

Train a computer to recognize eye contact - i.e. whether a person is looking directly into a camera. Use this to drive interaction with the computer (e.g. find "good" photos from a set of images, take a photo when eye contact is made, trigger a voice assistant, etc).

Photography

Chris