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
- Comp Sci
- Creative Writing
- Dance
- Dentistry
- Economics
- Engineering
- Entomology
- Environmental Science
- Ethics
- Fashion
- Finance
- Game Design
- Healthcare
- History
- Illustration
- Languages
- Linguistics
- Literature and Languages
- Math
- Medicine
- Music
- Neuroscience
- Nutrition
- Organizational Leadership
- Philanthropy
- Philosophy
- Photography
- Physics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Quantitative
- Social
- Social Science
- Sports Analytics
- Statistics
- Surgery
Arts and Justice
What is the relationship between arts and justice? How do they co-inform each other? While "law and literature" is an increasingly popular field, the intersection of the arts and legal reform goes beyond the scripted to the realm of the visual and performative. This project encourages the student to dive deep into a contemporary issue of justice--such as carcerality and feminism; race and policing; and “crimmigration”--among others, in order to understand how artists continue to inform the narrative and shape the future of a more just society.
Dance
Literary Magazine Concept Design
In this project, you will design the idea for a new literary magazine. First, you will learn about the variety of literary magazines that exist today, what their creative and practical models are, what their aesthetic is, and how they are run and funded. Then you will apply this knowledge to creating a custom idea for your own literary magazine that you might one day be the founder of, just as I was! If you are passionate about great writing and literary publishing, you can also be part of it and create platforms for the great writers to come.
Dance, Creative Writing
Social Determinants of Oral Health
There are so many ways our oral health affects our lives, and vice versa. This project is a marriage of sociology and dentistry, and studies the way our oral health both impacts and is impacted by our social surroundings. In this project, the student will create a presentation of their studies to educate different groups on the importance of oral health, and the fallacies of our current healthcare system.
Dance, Ethics
Potential Solutions to Reduce the Environmental Footprint of My High School
Most of what we do as humans causes some effect on the environment. With the way we live now, our greenhouse-gas-emissions, water-use, and waste-creation (just to name a few) put an unhealthy strain on our environment. Fortunately, there are ways to calculate these metrics for a given place or process and later identify hotspot issues. From there, we can come up with action plans and more sustainable solutions. For this project, it is advised that the student start by identifying common streams of inputs and outputs at their school. For example, a student can note inputs like supplies, food, water and even energy sources like the gas for heating or school buses. Outputs like food waste, flushing toilets, and all those old homework papers can be noted, too. The student will attempt to quantify and analyze all these streams… especially focusing on potential hotspots like energy/CO2 emissions. Data may be available (monthly fuel for buses, building heating bills) or some data could be collected by the student (average portion of lunch food thrown away). The student should practice creating data tables and graphs, and most importantly, interpreting these results. Finally, the student should do thorough research to discover and present innovative solutions to reduce the environmental strain of their school. Most likely, there would be a written deliverable for this project; but, it could also be a great opportunity for the student to visually present this project to a principal, teachers, or school board. In summary, the student will gain knowledge about issues and solutions relating to environmental sustainability. In addition, the student will gain tangible skills in calculating environmental metrics, collecting data, and creating descriptive visuals like advanced graphs. The project can be altered to fit a student’s needs and interests.
Dance, Environmental Science, Business, Creative Writing
Exploring the Link Between Ethnicity and Poor health
African Americans, in particular, bear a disproportionate burden of poor health outcomes in many parts of the world in terms of health status, care quality and treatment results. For instance, fibroid tumors and obesity are both more common and severe among African American women, and each can convey a significant disease burden by affecting many aspects of women's healthcare and reproductive health. This project will examine factors leading to healthcare disparities, highlight prevalent public health problems, compare and contrast health outcomes in different communities, and finally discuss ways to solve this health disparities issue.
Psychology, Dance
The effects of Motivational Interviewing (MI) on decreasing addicted behaviors (alcohol, smoking, social media, gaming)
To increase treatment seeking and treatment alliance for people with addicted behaviors, Motivational Interviewing appears as a promising technique to increase motivation and reduce ambiguity for patients.
Psychology, Social, Dance
Oral Microbiology
In this project, the student studies the over 700 types of microscopic species - both beneficial and detrimental - that inhabit our oral cavities. The student will write an extensive research paper discovering what remains to be done to couple microbiology with treatment mechanisms.
Dance, Ethics
The intersection of science and creativity
Biology offers so many cool things to think about - some that you can see under a microscope, and others that you learn through techniques in the lab. It can also provide creative inspiration too! In this project, you'll learn to see science through a different lens and use your creative skills to explore a scientific topic of interest. If you're worried that your creative mind won't be compatible with your analytical, scientific mind, this is the project for you!
Biology, Dance
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
Writing an Anthology of Ekphrastic Poems
Some of the greatest poems in history, including poems by John Keats and W.H. Auden, were written about works of art. They are called "ekphrastic poems." Would you like to write your own collection of ekphrastic poems, inspired by innovative paintings from art history and contemporary art? In this project, you will learn both about how to analyze art and how to write impactful and polished poems.
Dance, Creative Writing
How Does Resilience Relate to Mental Health?
Resilience is your ability to cope with life challenges and engage support networks. In other words, our levels of resilience determine how much we're able to adapt and "bounce back" from threatening and challenging circumstances. How does this relate to mental health? Is it possible that resiliency can help offset, protect or prevent mental health conditions? Let's see!
Psychology, Dance
Audition Solo
The student will choreograph a solo for themselves to use at auditions, focusing on analyzing their strengths and expressing what dance means to them. I will help guide them through this process providing feedback on their choreography and challenging them to explore movement in new ways including elements of space, time, and shape.
Biology, Dance
Creating a Virtual Reality Art Exhibition
Have you ever learned about the Russian Avantgarde of the early 1900's and how it influenced art practice and culture for decades to come? How would you like to learn about the history of some of the most innovative art movements and curate your own online exhibition of world art masterpieces, selected by you? Using an online template, you will design a 3D layout of your dream art exhibit and create a curatorial narrative about connections your have found between famous art traditions and styles. That involves learning how to research artists and mastering writing about art. Next time your go to the museum, you might be able to tell your friends or family why the curator has arranged the artworks in specific ways and what effect they were hoping to accomplish.
Dance, Creative Writing
Review Paper on the Neurobiology of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
This project would aim to succinctly review current models used to study the neurobiological mechanisms of PTSD. Students could further add in their personal interest in the project by looking at this in light of: gender differences, human versus animal models, or basic research to clinical treatments.
Biology, Psychology, Dance, Neuroscience
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
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
Just keep Moving
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death globally. Although there are many risk factors for cardiovascular disease the majority of them are modifiable. In this project you would explore the effect of exercise programs in reducing cardiovascular disease risk and prolonging life. Using current research you would focus on creating an optimal exercise program and presenting it in your form of choice.
Biology, Dance
How do cells divide perfectly every single time?
Most students have seen a movie of a dividing cell in biology class, but how does the cell actually accomplish that? Moreover, how does the cell divide perfectly and faithfully every time so that no genetic material is lost? What happens if this process makes mistakes and you lose DNA? This project will provide a window into the complex dance that our cells are capable of. You'll discover pathways, key molecules, a huge molecular machine called the mitotic spindle, and learn how this process affects diseases such as cancer along the way. You could write a research paper, a blog post (or two!), or let your creative mind shine through art, public speaking, etc - this project can work for all types of end goals :)
Biology, Dance
The Effects of Music on Emotions
A research study on how different genres of music can affect emotions in a certain group of people (ex. careers, age, etc.)
Music, Dance, Arts
History of Hip Hop Dance
This project will be a combination of studying the history of different hip hop dance styles and active hip hop dance instruction. The student will use dance as a vector for learning more about cultural expression. After delving into the meaning behind different hip hop practices, the student will create a dance routine that combines many styles, and in turn celebrates many cultures.
Dance, Ethics