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
Research Paper- Does Autism cling to Leukemia?
Determining Incidence/prevalence of Leukemia among those with different forms/severities of autism (e.g., Downs Syndrome, Asberger Syndrome, etc.)
Psychiatry, Social, Public Health
Finding Algorithmic Success on TikTok
TikTok has grown exponentially in popularity, but how do you become popular on the platform? What are the ethics of promoting one creator over another? This project can take many directions depending on the student's interests. - Students interested in social justice may write an exposé on discriminatory factors that promote creators with certain characteristics or privileges. - Students interested in computer science may explore basic code that underlies social media platforms. - Students interested in law&policy may write a report on how social media platforms should be governed.
Social, AI/ML
Review of Psychology & Physical Health Outcomes
As a health psychology graduate student, I am trained to understand how psychosocial factors (e.g., happiness, anger, loneliness, socioeconomic status) impact individuals' physical health. For students with similar interests, we can write a systematic review paper focused on a psychosocial factor of interest and the body systems through which it affects physical health. Through this project, students will become familiar with using Google Scholar for literature searches, learn how to assess the quality of academic sources (e.g., using metrics such as journal quality, citations, recency, and research methods), and learn how to summarize the literature in an academic review paper. These skills can benefit students as they begin taking upper-division college courses and those who go on to participate in research labs where assisting graduate students or professors with literature search and writing is required. The final project will be a review paper that could be submitted as a journal article.
Social, Psychology
Understanding Diversity and Inclusion within STEM
The world needs scientists from all backgrounds - yet, disparities exist across race, gender, and class in who becomes a scientist. Recent literature in the social sciences and education suggests that there are multiple angles researchers and policy makers can take in combating these disparities. In this project you can review current interventions designed to promote diversity in STEM, and these interventions underlying psychological mechanisms. Projects could include a suggested intervention to promote STEM interest among currently underrepresented students.
Social, Psychology, Social Science, Statistics
Spirituality and Mental Health
In this project, you will review scientific literature on the relationship between personal spirituality/religion and mental health. You will learn how to conduct a scientific literature review in the field of psychology (how to use search engines to find recent and relevant peer-reviewed research articles, how to read, summarize, and synthesize peer-reviewed articles). You will produce a scientific review paper and propose a research question that you did not find to be answered in the existing scientific literature.
Social, Arts, Statistics
Hospital Ranking & Communities
Review population demographics of the highest ranked hospitals in the country. Identify if highly ranked organizations primarily serve affluent communities that are likely to have better health outcomes.
Social, Public Health
Fear of missing out (FoMO) and its possible implications for our moral interactions
The fear of missing out (FoMO), an anxiety that others may be having rewarding experiences that you aren't taking part in, is likely something most of can relate to. Higher levels of FoMO have been found to be associated with increased social media use, texting while driving, and decreased life satisfaction. More recently, I have found that college students with higher levels of FoMO engage in more inappropriate activities (selling drugs, cheating in school, stealing) than their lower FoMO peers. This suggests there may be an effect of FoMO on moral cognition, for surely they know these things are wrong but choose to do them anyways. There is little to no current research done regarding this area of psychology so a paper discussing how FoMO may influence our moral cognition and resulting behaviors would be an incredibly interesting and meaningful contribution to the field!
Social, Cognitive
Race, Gender, or Sexuality in Schools
This project would examine how race, gender, or sexuality impact perceptions of different school processes. We could look at how these identities intersect to create different outcomes for different groups, or we could selectively look at how one identity becomes salient.
Social
Cancel culture & evaluations of moral character
We hear in the news that a beloved celebrity cheated on their spouse, a famous YouTuber gives a half-hearted apology, or a politician is involved in a money-laundering scandal. Even if these individuals once had a positive reputation, one immoral action can lead to public "cancellation". From this topic a few different research questions can emerge: -What is the function of pubically signaling moral praise or blame of individuals? -What does it take for someone to be "cancelled" or seen as immoral? How does this differ from being seen as a "hero" or "saint"? -Can immoral or "cancelled" individuals be redeemed in the public eye or forgiven? What would it take to do so? -What amount of reward is appropriate for "heroes" vs. punishment for "villians"? First we would start by looking at examples in pop-culture - what seems the same or different between those who are "loved" vs those who are "hated" in the public eye? Next, we would turn to the academic literature to see what research exists on this topic. Then, we would develop a research question and think of ways to test it. Many times, great research questions come from real-world experiences and intuitions! Students will learn how to formulate their ideas into quantifiable, research questions, test their hypothesis using validated scales or novel measures, and find out new information about our social world. As a take-away students can create an academic research poster, which is typical for academic conferences, a short research presentation, or a research proposal outlining how they would test their research question.
Social, Psychology, Social Science, Cognitive
Mental Health and Health Behaviors
Can eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream make us feel less lonely? How does fat shaming lead to disordered eating and unhealthy weight control behaviors? In what ways does social media (e.g., Tik Tok trends) influence our food choices? If you've ever been curious about HOW and WHY we eat the way that we do, then I would love to help you develop a research project that interests you!
Social, Psychology
LGBTQ school climate
Is your school a friendly environment for LGBTQ+ students? We can work together to create a survey or conduct interviews to learn more about how LGBTQ students feel in your school or how non-LGBTQ students and staff perceive LGBTQ students. With a quantitative survey, we can answer questions such as "Do white LGBTQ students feel more comfortable than non-white LGBTQ students?" or "What percentage of school staff would say they support LGBTQ students in your school?" With a qualitative survey, we can answer questions such as "How do LGBTQ students describe their experiences in the cafeteria?" or "What changes could be made to events such as school dances to make LGBTQ students feel more included?"
Social, Psychology, Creative Writing, Social Science
Helping Men Seek Help: Reducing Mental Health Stigma and Promoting Vulnerability Among Boys and Men
This project (podcast, presentation, article, documentary, blog, research study, literature review, website, etc.) aims to build greater understanding and awareness of the barriers that prevent boys and men from seeking out mental health support, while sharing information, providing resources, and stimulating conversations that deconstruct these barriers. The project will center an intersectional understanding of masculinity, exploring how it is experienced by men across different identities, communities, cultures, and contexts. This project is also about promoting healthy, authentic, and compassionate forms of masculinity in our world.
Social, Psychology
Factors that determine your level of empathy
Empathy is an emotional reaction to someone else's feelings or it is the ability of "putting oneself in someone else's situation". Have you ever wondered which factors determine your level of empathy? In this project, we can read about previous scientific studies that test the effects of age, gender, attractiveness, and other factors on the level of empathy. After reading previous studies, we will identify a gap in the research literatature and propose to test a factor that has not been tested before. We will design a method and write a research proposal paper.
Neuroscience, Social
Intro to Coding for Analytics
Want to learn how to use coding skills to spot patterns in data? This project would be best for someone who already has some exposure to programming, but even if you're brand new, we can dive in and build that foundation together! This project could take the form of a coding "notebook" or a written article summarizing findings and learnings.
Social, Psychology, Math, Statistics
When and how is social media associated with social connection and loneliness?
Young adults are increasingly lonely, yet use social media more than ever. How might social media contribute to the current loneliness epidemic? Can social media be used to increase positive connection on AND offline? In this project, we will investigate the state of the research on social media and social connection. We can then design an experiment to test a hypothesis, write a review, synthesize the literature to create blogposts, or create a social media campaign to increase connection!
Social, Psychology, Statistics
Exercise & Emotional Well-being: A Mixed Methods Project
There is a large body of literature linking exercise to emotional well-being (e.g., increased positive affect, reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms, improved focus); however, further research is needed to understand what types of exercise are most beneficial for certain individuals (i.e., the "what works best for whom" question we are often asking in Psychology). The student will put together a brief (<5 minute) anonymous web-based survey to be distributed to their peers. We will ask at least 20 participants to rate how stressed, sad, happy, and calm they feel on a scale from (0) not at all to (5) extremely each day for five consecutive days. Each day, we will also ask them whether they exercised and, if so, what type of exercise they participated in and for how long. On the last day only, we will ask them to respond to a short open-response question asking them "what is your favorite type of exercise and why?" All study procedures will be approved by the IRB. We will then analyze the quantitative data using Excel or R statistics (depending on student preference) and use qualitative methods for the open-ended question to understand (1) how daily exercise affects mood and (2) what individuals believe is the "active ingredient" that makes their chosen form of exercise enjoyable. The student will develop a paper suitable for journal publication or a research symposium presentation to disseminate their findings. Through this project, the student will learn about survey design, measurement, IRB approval, statistics, and dissemination of research as they would in a college-level research methods class.
Social, Psychology
Blog Series on Mental Health (or other social issues)
Lets work together to create a series of blogs that build your writing skills and promote the researcher within you! We can think through which key topics to focus on based on data reports and reviewing literature on current rates of conditions among a specific population of your choice. Once we finalize our topics, we would draft brief blogs that describe the current evidence, best practices for prevention, and share your own viewpoints based on what you learned. Then we can offer publication opportunities at Polygence or find other spaces to promote your work.
Social, Psychology, Statistics
Perceptions of therapy
Although many people would say that mental health counseling is helpful, many people have feelings or beliefs about going to therapy that prevent them from utilizing mental health resources. We can develop a project to explore the perceptions that your family, community, peers, or a specific population hold regarding mental health counseling. Do they believe therapy is important? Do they utilize therapy themselves? What do they think of others who utilize therapy? Once we understand the beliefs that discourage individuals from participating in therapy, we can come up with interventions that can challenge those beliefs and improve mental health outcomes!
Social, Psychology, Creative Writing, Social Science
Create your own research proposal!
Is there a topic you've always wanted to investigate? A question you've always had about the way the mind or the brain works? Develop your own research proposal, and maybe even collect some preliminary data! Together we can take your question and use it to develop a hypothesis that will guide your data collection. You could create a survey, perform a literature review, or design your own experiment. I can then help you translate that work into a manuscript.
Psychiatry, Biology, Neuroscience, Social, Psychology
How does mindfulness reduce anxiety?
This research idea would allow the student to investigate some of the mechanisms through which both mindfulness and anxiety act, and draw connections between the two to determine how they interact. Through searching existing literature online in research databases, the student would learn to conduct a literature review on a given topic and identify gaps in the literature. The review could be written up and submitted for publication to a scientific high school journal.
Social, Psychology, Cognitive
