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

The Intricacies of Buddhist Philosophy - Non-attachment to identity in an ancestor-venerating society?

Have the complexities and seemingly contradictory philosophies of Buddhism ever intrigued you? Explore these ideas and other facets of Buddhist thought in pre-modern China.

Economics

Wren

Causality vs correlation - A basic tutorial on causal inference for the public

Causality is the desire of many scientific disciplines. Correlations are easier to analyze typically, but are not equivalent to causation. This is exemplified in the following phrase: "correlation does not imply causation". Causality is typically measured in medicine, policy and science via a randomized control trial, where something is randomized and then its effect on something else is measured. For example, randomizing who gets a COVID-19 vaccine and comparing people with vaccines vs without will determine the causal effect of the vaccine on preventing COVID. Modern causal inference allows one to encode causality as a graph, represented by nodes and edges in a pictorial representation. This enables scientists, policy makers and leaders to not only encode their causal assumptions for a specific problem, but also provide general algorithms for determine if someone can determine a causal effect from purely observations. A break down of graphical notions of causality in laymen terms would be useful for education at the high school and undergraduate level. Successful completion of this project could go on to inspire and educate people on causal inference. A successful project would take the basics of causal inference and break it down into a paper and/or series of short posts that introduce the topics.

Neuroscience, Economics, AI/ML

Adam

Statistically Selecting Stocks

This project would entail researching various ratios and other statistics of publicly traded stocks. With an understanding of some stock ratios and statistics the student would then and then formulate a method for selecting stocks based upon these ratios or statistics. The stock selection method the student comes up with would be in an effort to outperform the overall market or a specific index. The student's portfolio would then be tracked against the overall market or a specific market index to determine the student's portfolio excess return.

Economics, Math, Business, Statistics

Garret

Money in developing countries

Increasingly, the use of cash in developed countries is lagging in the past against new modern options such as credit cards and mobile applications. However, this is still not the widespread case in developing countries. How behind are they? Let's quantify that!

Economics, Math, Finance, Statistics

Alberto

Surgical Treatment Cost-Effectiveness Model

2. Advanced Research Project. Students will identify a surgical problem that they are passionate about or interested in learning more about. We will work together to study the cost-effectiveness of different solutions to this problem to determine what is best for patients. Students will learn to perform literature review, quantitative data collection, statistical analysis and modeling, and manuscript drafting. Examples include limb salvage vs. prosthesis use after lower limb injury, lumpectomy vs. mastectomy in breast cancer, and open-heart vs. minimally invasive management of aortic valve disease.

Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Economics

Grant

Charting a Greener Future for Tourist Havens

I'm an expert in economic development and international finance and have spent years studying the intersection of environmental conservation and economic advancement. With biodiversity increasingly under threat from the very tourists they attract, how can policymakers balance environmental conservation and tourism promotion in key areas? For this project, we'll collect public data like hotel occupancy rates as well as environmental indicators like water quality and biodiversity from major tourist destinations. We'll map this data using geographic information systems (GIS) software to identify areas where tourism and threats to biodiversity overlap. Using this information, we'll create a research paper identifying the effects of tourism on local biodiversity and lay out alternate development strategies to promote sustainable economic and environmental growth.

Economics, Creative Writing, Business, Finance

Reid

The Youth Perspective

Oftentimes, many issues that are decided in legislative bodies most affect children and young adults, yet Congress is one of the oldest in history. Do we have a gerontocracy? How can those under 30 use their firsthand experience to create change within our political system on issues like gun control, school systems, and drug use? This project could either be a proposal or a collection of op-eds.

Philosophy, History, Economics, Creative Writing, Social Science

Hala

Fundamental Analysis of Company XYZ

Every publicly traded companies in the stock exchange are required to file 10-K annual reports, which provides insights on the company's financial health and statements. We can perform a deep-dive fundamental analysis of any companies listed in the stock exchange, calculate future revenue growth/forecast, as well as measure stock valuation using conventional methods, such as the discounted cash flow

Economics

Minsub

Innovation and the Economy in Modern China

After a period of rapid economic growth, does China have the infrastructure to continue at such a rate? How will the Chinese Communist Party react to future innovation? Through developing an understanding of China's history since the 1950's, explore the complexities behind the challenges China will face in the coming decades.

Economics

Wren

Perfect Waves: How Surf Quality Impacts Residential Property Values

While surfing is possible wherever there are waves, the quality of surf spots is highly variable, with factors like bathymetry and exposure to swell and wind playing major roles. In this paper, we examine the impact of desirable waves on the real estate markets in their neighboring communities. To do this, we analyze residential real estate transactions in select coastal communities and perform regression analysis to discern the impact of wave quality on price.

History, Languages, Sports Analytics, Economics, Business

Joseph

Make No Little Plans

...they have no magic to stir men's blood. So says Daniel Burnham, author of the 1909 Plan of Chicago and in many ways the master architect and planner of the 20th Century American City. We're no longer living in Burnham's times, but the desire and need for big plans will always be with us. Using the city of your choosing as a starting point, this project will combine a deep dive into history, economics, demographics, policy, and governance with the realities of trying to enact civic change -- including the need to stir people's blood enough for them to care. You will be invited to do your due diligence, soberly consider the possibilities, recognize all the stakeholders, and carve out incremental improvements wherever they may appear. But at the same time, you will also be participating in that timeless, irresistible tradition of utopic city-building.

Economics, Business

Yang

Health Outcomes: effects of minimum wage policies

While minimum wage policies are a hot topic in American public policy discussions, economists have primarily focused on their employment effects. Although economists tend to prioritize efficiency concerns, the discipline is evolving to emphasize the importance of other types of outcomes as well. This project would challenge you to model the estimated effect of these outcomes by finding data on minimum wage policies, health outcomes, and control variables and using R, Stata, or another statistical programming tool to explore your results by implementing quantitative methods and generating a written report.

Economics, Statistics

Alena

Policy projects

How competitive are industries where brands are all owned by 1 or 2 companies? What is the impact of removing gas tax on gas prices? Will firms stop being innovative if prices are capped for their products?

Economics, Business, Statistics

Daniel

Financial Plan

Prepare a comprehensive and detailed plan for a hypothetical person’s retirement and investment strategy. Reviews withdrawal rates, anticipated returns, dependence rates, etc.

Economics, Business, Finance

Jonathan

Bayesian Persuasion in Misspecified Financial Markets

Can the optimal disclosure of banking sector stress test results affect investor beliefs about uncertainty in the market? Are the potential scenarios in which investors may have an incorrect or "misspecified" view of the financial market they are operating in? If so, how do investors update their beliefs following the observation of a stress test disclosure by a public entity in the face of their own model misspecification? This work ties in a number of subfields in economics. Generally, game theory or "models of strategic interaction". Specifically, the two main subfields of interest are "models of bayesian persuasion" and "modeling agents with misspecified models". This work also can be considered applied economic theory, since the modeling choices should be largely informed by the real world financial market which inspires the analysis.

Economics, Math, Social Science

Decory

Comparative tax policy

Few topics in economics generate as much heated debate as taxation. Why do some countries have higher taxes than others? How does taxation affect business activity and consumer welfare? What are the arguments for progressive versus flat-rate taxation? More generally, what trade-offs are involved in making economic policy, and how should we weigh our often competing concerns for economic growth, equality, and stability? For a sample deliverable: write a policy memo on why the U.S. should or shouldn't follow other developed countries in adopting a value-added tax (VAT).

Economics, Finance, Statistics

Anthony

Poverty trends

How did world poverty trends change in the last decade? Which regions improved and which did not? What are the possible explanations?

Economics, Math, Finance, Statistics

Alberto

Conceptual projects

Why do prices of worse drugs go up when a new, better drug enters the market? Why do foreign firms outcompete local firms in a variety of industries? What is a platform and how much power does a platform have in the marketplace?

Economics, Business, Statistics

Daniel

The Causes and Effects of Inflation in 2022

Inflation hasn't been a major public issue in the U.S. since the 1970s, but it's firmly back in front page news in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Several explanations have been set out for inflation levels approaching 10 percent: global supply chain issues, sharply accelerating demand in the aftermath of COVID, large fiscal stimulus packages, and persistently loose monetary policy. A student project could address a subset of the following questions: Is inflation a problem and if so, why? Who wins and who loses from high levels of inflation? What are the primary causes of inflation in 2022? Why is US inflation higher than that in other countries? What kind of actions can governments take to tackle inflation?

Economics

Matei

Historical Exhibition:

Do you love visiting museums? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create an exhibit about a topic of your choice? We can work together to create one! In a project like this, we would first select a period or event in history to talk about. I would then guide you toward relevant primary and secondary resources which we can talk through and analyze together. From there, we will work on curating those pieces you found to be most relevant into an exhibit that you could, if you wanted to, display for family or friends to see!

Economics, Public Health

Dominique