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
Tackling Social Determinants of Health in Your Community
Investigate social determinants of health in your community, city, state, or nation and tackle them through policy change or strategic partnerships. In projects such as these, you are proposing evidence-based solutions to tackle the most pressing health challenges that are impacting your community. Through a case studies approach, you will follow a traditional consulting engagement/ research framework including conducting literature reviews, competitor analysis, feasibility studies, stakeholder interviews, survey development/distribution, etc..
Healthcare, Public Health, Business
How is antibiotic usage in hospitals affecting in-patient and out-patient outcomes?
Current antibiotic treatments leave room for antibiotic resistance among patients admitted to the hospital as well as after they return home. Due to this, the negative effects of antibiotic usage could be a factor that further exacerbates negative patient outcomes. This project would rely on the student to perform diligent literature searches on in-patient and out-patient results following antibiotic usage.
Healthcare, Medicine
Hospital Strategy
Develop a convincing presentation to key stakeholders summarizing the position of a hospital of your choosing, describing why it is important to the community, and what its strategies should be moving forward. Analysis will include: - Look at market share and patient demographics - Look at key statistics in comparison to other hospitals in service area (inpatient discharges, inpatient days, average daily census, occupancy, emergency visits, etc)
Healthcare, Public Health, Business
Ethical Considerations of Artificial Intelligence in General Surgery
This project involves a scientific viewpoint manuscript that examines the advantages, disadvantages, ethical considerations, and future directions for the use of artificial intelligence in surgery, with a particular focus on specific fields such as surgical oncology.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Open Questions about the New Drug Ozempic
Drugs like Ozempic are great examples of how basic science research can impact patient care! This drug, used to treat diabetes and obesity, has quickly become widely poplar among patients and news outlets alike. However, there is still a lot we don't know about precisely how Ozempic is working and what the long-term outcomes of chronic use might be. Imagine you're a doctor with a patient who has questions about the drug. How would you go about gathering information to answer their question? We can use this project as a chance to explore what it might be like to delve into recent research, summarize published outcomes, and list open questions. Together, we would explore how to best search for relevant articles (using resources like PubMed and UpToDate), how to digest both medical and basic research papers, and how to write a scientific report detailing your findings. By honing these skills to answer the above research question (or another one you find interesting!) you'll get exposure to what many doctors and scientists do every day as they work to understand new developments in the field.
Healthcare
The impact of social determinants of health during the postpartum period
This project assesses how social determinants of health (ie. food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation, language barriers) impact the postpartum or post-delivery period. Students can screen women who have recently given birth for social determinants of health and interview them on how their various social needs have influenced their postpartum care and experiences.
Biology, Healthcare
Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: A Comprehensive Study
This research project aims to investigate the impact of social media usage on the mental health of adolescents. The objective is to explore the correlation between social media habits, such as usage patterns, content consumption, and interaction frequency, and mental health parameters, including stress, anxiety, self-esteem, and overall well-being. Through this study, the student seeks to shed light on the complex relationship between social media and mental health in young individuals.
Healthcare
How Genes Work
Pick a genetic condition, such as Danon disease, and learn about the symptomology, treatment options etc. Present your findings in a research paper.
Cancer, Healthcare
Develop New Environmental Policies
Review various environmental statutes such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Make suggestions on how these acts could be improved to further protect the environment.
Environmental Science, Healthcare, Public Health
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Child Food Insecurity
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools transitioned to virtual learning, limiting students' access to free and reduced price meal programs. Students would investigate how this additional barrier impacted students' food security status and associated health outcomes including BMI and mental health. They could investigate one particular region, or compare discrepancies between states or districts. Students would write up a paper outlining what they learned and recommendations.
Healthcare, Public Health
Do a deep dive on something you're curious about with a systematic literature review
What do you want to know more about? What lights up your curiosity? Literature reviews are a great way to understand the lay of the lay on a topic of your choice and to become an expert on a specific area. We'll work on developing a finely tuned research question using the PICO framework (problem/population, intervention/exposure, control/comparison, and outcome) and then go through the process of developing search terms and finding relevant papers. After reviewing the papers and evaluating the evidence, we'll work on developing an outline and then write a systematic review paper about your topic.
Psychiatry, Healthcare, Public Health
How Does Aristotle Inform Decision-Making at the End of Life in the U.S. Healthcare System?
All medical decisions are grounded in moral values, and clinicians ought to have an ethical framework to guide their decision-making process. This project will apply principles of Aristotle's seminal work, Nicomachean Ethics, to topics of end-of-life decision-making such as artificial nutrition, code status changes, and brain death.
Biology, Arts, Healthcare, Business
Start Your Business!
Have an idea? Looking to grow this into an actual business? As an entrepreneur and Harvard teaching fellow in management, I'll help you (1) create a business plan using relevant frameworks, (2) find a market willing to pay for your product or service, (3) respond to customer feedback to grow a strong, successful company.
Literature, Healthcare, Business
Investigating the Impact of Exercise on Mental Health in Teenagers
This research project focuses on exploring the relationship between physical activity and mental well-being in teenagers. The objective is to understand how regular exercise influences mental health parameters such as stress levels, mood, and overall emotional well-being in adolescents. By conducting this study, the student aims to contribute valuable insights to the fields of both exercise science and mental health.
Healthcare
Synergistic Pain Management for Postoperative Pain
This project will include a brief overview of current postoperative pain management guidelines, the neurobiology of opioid pain relief, and the burden of opioid addiction faced by patients undergoing surgery. The bulk of the project consists of a thorough literature review of pain relief pathways in the brain and research exploring synergistic ways of relieving postoperative pain via neurobiology (such as complimentary receptor stimulation) that may decrease the narcotic requirement for adequate pain relief of postsurgical patients in the future. The literature review will then conclude in information synthesis and a scientific manuscript summarizing the current state of research on pain pathways. The findings are relevant to important topics in addressing the opioid epidemic.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Social Determinants of Health and Health Outcomes
The Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are the environmental, social, and economic factors that impact a person’s health, such as income, race, education, housing, and food security. The SDoH are receiving more attention and care from public health experts working with communities and physicians working with their patients. Students will be able to look at one or multiple factors part of SDoH and compare them to health outcomes in a community (ie county or state). Health outcomes the student can investigate, include the rates of COVID-19 vaccination, the prevalence of obesity, or maternal health complications. Students will have the opportunity to create a public health report discussing their findings.
Environmental Science, Healthcare, Public Health
Barriers to Seeking Mental Health for Immigrant Families in the US
There are many barriers to seeking mental health in the United States. Such barriers may be greater for immigrant families in the US due to their unique challenges including cultural and language barriers. Students would learn important public health knowledge through research and conducting interviews. They would merge their understanding with a medium of their choice such as a documentary published on YouTube or a journalistic report.
Healthcare, Public Health
Writing a specific review
In this project, you will write a scientific review-style paper on a topic of your choice. Topics could range anywhere within chemistry, from “the history of antibiotics” to “how do we know that electrons exist?“. This process will teach you how to find, access, and critically analyze existing scientific literature and how to assemble primary literature into a scientific review. You will gain skills in writing and editing, as well as an in-depth knowledge of your chosen research topic.
Healthcare
Antiplatelet approaches for risk reduction/prevention of recurrent stroke after initial TIA or mild ischemic stroke
A critical literature review of the efficacy of different kinds of prophylactic antiplatelet pharmacological interventions that are utilized to prevent recurrent stroke after initial TIA or mild ischemic stroke.
Biology, Healthcare, Medicine
Tranexamic Acid as a treatment for drug-induced angioedema
High blood pressure is one of the most common conditions in adults worldwide and medications such as lisinopril are commonly used to treat it. However, some patients develop a dangerous side effect called "angioedema" when they take this lisinopril, which can cause serious complications. In this project we review tranexamic acid as it is used medically to treat such patients and provide rescue therapy for drug-induced angioedema.
Cancer, Healthcare
