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
#3: A multi-country comparison of health systems
This would be a comparison of the health systems of various countries of choice. Through this investigation, students would learn about a country's healthcare priorities, which insurance options are most popular, and the effectiveness of the healthcare systems (considering variables such as cost of insurance premiums, cost of healthcare services, coverage of healthcare services, and types of healthcare services that are most commonly used). After analyzing the pros and cons of each country's health system, the student would develop their own model of an effective health system.
Illustration, Public Health
Personalized Music Therapy
Our favorite streaming services use wealths of data to predict, suggest, and present music to us that we may be interested in. Even if these services know the music we use for our 'self-care' playlists, would a behavioral health specialist agree with what we listen to? This project would require establishing the impact music can have on mental health, and how a technology could be designed to support this impact while maintaining clinical expectations of good health and privacy.
Music, Public Health, Organizational Leadership
What messages did you receive about race growing up?
In this project, you will collect data from individuals about their past experiences and messages that they've received about race in their childhood. You will then analyze the responses for common themes to determine what racial messages were received in their childhood. Some skills that you will acquire are conducting literature review of racial socialization and qualitative analysis skills.
Neuroscience, Psychology, Public Health
Infectious Disease Research
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a lot of misinformation and uncertainty about infectious disease. How do we know how it is spread? What are possible treatments? If you think you might be interested in infectious disease research, or scientific research in general, this project is for you! You will be reading and dissecting scientific papers from peer-reviewed journals covering infectious diseases of your choice. This will also act as your background reading for developing a research question you would like to answer. Finally, you will write an original research proposal. This project can be tailored to students with no or minimal experience reading scientific papers, although having such experience is a plus. I also welcome students who intend to submit their proposals to public or private agencies for fellowships.
Public Health
Project 1: Failed Self-Tolerance: When Our Immune System Attacks Us
The immune system is like a little army within our body that prevent us from getting diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and more! It also helps in eliminating cancer cells. However, sometimes, the immune system can make a mistake and attack our own proteins and cells, leading to autoimmune diseases such as Lupus Erythematosus, Type I Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis and more. For this project, students can explore one or multiple autoimmune disease(s) of their choice. Students will learn to read primary literature relating to the pathophysiology of the autoimmune disease(s) and write a review paper summarizing current scientific work on the autoimmune disease(s). Alternatively, students can choose to hone their scientific communication skills by preparing a 15-minute presentation on the autoimmune(s). Students will then receive individualized feedback to improve public speaking and presentation skills.
Cancer, Public Health
Designing and completing a research project
In this project, you will be a scientist and go through the entire process of a research project. You will craft a research question, write an introduction and background section by gathering scientific journal articles related to your topic, design a research method, collect data, complete statistical analyses, and interpret your results and their significance to the related field of research. This project will provide insight into the career of a scientist and a research student studying science. The final outcome of this project could be a poster presentation or a final written product such as a scientific journal article or report.
Biology, Languages, Chemistry, Public Health
Racial Disparities and Preferences in Breast Reconstruction
This project reviews differences and disparities in access to care, type of breast reconstruction, and health outcomes among women who have survived breast cancer. Comparisons will be made based on the patients' racial and ethnic identities. This project offers an excellent opportunity to contribute to a growing body of knowledge on health disparities in order to address an important public health question.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Intersection of Depression and Diabetes
Students would use publicly available data to assess the prevalence of depression medication use stratified by chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
Social Science, Public Health
Scientific Literature Review on Adolescent Stress
Are teenagers today more stressed than teenagers 10 or 20 years ago? Are they stressed about similar or different things? You can explore the answers to these questions in a literature review that compares stress and mental health levels in adolescents over time, as well as investigate changes in sources of stress. Your final product could be a paper, blogpost, or even a podcast episode!
Psychology, Social Science, Public Health
Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Treating Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders in Youth
Anxiety disorders are very prevalent in youth today, and they have their onset in childhood or early adulthood. Pediatric anxiety disorders can lead to adult psychopathology and are associated with poor functioning in several areas of life. Some of the of the most common anxiety disorders include Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Social Anxiety Disorder, or Social Phobia (SOP). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of such anxiety disorders and is one of the main treatment options recommended for mental disorders. The specific research question being investigated in this study would be the treatment efficacy of CBT in children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Psychology, Public Health
Using publicly-available datasets to evaluate policy interventions
There are many types of projects we could work on together. As an example, we could investigate whether a particular policy intervention (e.g., Clean Air Act) influenced changes in an outcome (e.g., # preterm births, CO2 levels in a local community, etc.) over time.
Biology, Public Health, Statistics
Social Action project: Developing a Public Awareness Campaign
The purpose of the project is to provide students with an opportunity to actively participate in addressing teen dating violence using a prevention approach. Specifically, students will apply critical thinking, research, and scientific communication skills to conduct a literature review on the topic of teen dating violence and create an awareness campaign to educate a selected target audience (e.g., high school students, teachers/school administration, and parents/caregivers) about the prevalence, risk factors, and consequences of teen dating violence, along with information on where and how to obtain support when needed. Students will also design multimedia informational materials and activities (e.g., brochures/pamphlets/bulletins, podcasts, etc.) for the campaign.
Psychology, Public Health
Grant Proposal
Learning how to communicate your ideas is an important skill. Researchers acquire funding for their projects by writing proposals for grants. For this project, you will choose a topic and come up with a project idea. Then, you will create a grant proposal that includes background of your topic, your proposed experimental plan, and an explanation of the broader impacts of your research idea.
Neuroscience, Public Health
Podcast: Neurodiversity and Culture
You will develop a podcast centering on the impact of culture on teenagers who are neurodiverse. Culture can be described as family heritage and traditions, community culture, school culture or workplace culture. Topics can range from teenagers who manage having ADHD, ADD, Autism, Epilepsy, etc. This process will teach you how to tap into current studies regarding neurodiversity, communicate publicly about the intersection of culture and learning/living/being with neurodiversity, and to raise awareness about the services and resources associated with neurodiversity. You will gain skills in writing, editing, communication, technology, digital services, and community engagement statregies.
History, Literature, Languages, Public Health
Attitudes towards municipal tap water
Many people have varied feelings about drinking tap water, especially after the events in Flint, Michigan. A student could survey people from all over their city to understand their attitudes towards city tap water. They could also collect some demographic data to see what factors may correlate with different attitudes. Do people in a certain neighborhood think alike? Do people who drink well water have different attitudes about city water? Do women have different attitudes than men? Does family income correlate with attitudes? A student would also learn to develop a good samples frame, design non-biased survey questions, and have the opportunity to analyze local data!
Social Science, Public Health, Statistics
Controlling Brain Activity with Light!
Neurons are specialized cells that transmit information throughout the nervous system. Optogenetics is a fascinating biological technology that allows us to control the activity of neurons with beams of light that are projected directly into the brain! The development of optogenetics truly transformed neuroscience and opened up a whole world of interesting questions we can study and try to answer. The project would continue to examine and review some fascinating discoveries that have been made with optogenetics and a look at how it works. We can then present your findings in any format you wish, such as a traditional review paper, blog entry, YouTube video, and beyond!
Neuroscience, Public Health
Lifestyle Factors and Mental Health during Covid-19
Are you interested in contributing to the ever-growing research on Covid-19 and its impact? Covid-19 has disrupted all our lives in one way, and research has shown that mental health has changed for many during the past two years as people navigated their way through this difficult time. For this project, you will conduct research by surveying a population of your choice on some of their lifestyle habits during the pandemic and the impact of Covid-19 on their mental health. This project can culminate into either a research paper, a website where you display your findings for the general public or any other creative format of your choice.
Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Public Health
Where Science Meets Policy: Design Your Own Intervention!
After we discover a social problem or disparity, the next step is often to ask: What can we do about it? One solution is to come up with an intervention, or a program/policy that seeks to address the problem. For example, if we identify that low math test scores and frustration learning new mth material is a problem, we may decide to create an after school math tutoring program to address these issues. We need to decide the format and structure of the program, such as how many days per week it will meet, who is eligible to join, and who will tutor the students. Further, it is common to test whether or not the intervention "works." Did test scores increase from before to after the program? Is there a control group that we can compare? For this project, you will research a social "problem" that you want to help solve, then design your own intervention to address it. We will also cover research design and statistical analysis to test for intervention effects. This project is perfect for anyone wants to bridge the gap between social science and social policy!
Psychology, Social Science, Public Health
Social Justice Engagement Project
Social justice data science projects can allow you to think “globally, but act locally”. For example, if there is a new crime law in your community determining, using a dataset released from your community, can help portray whether this new law has positively affected your community or not. This would require using data visualization graphs to report findings in an interesting and interpretable way. You will also use fundamental statistical tests to validate your results. If the findings are interesting, the findings can be written about in a blog post and/or be reported to an elected official in your community.
AI/ML, Public Health
Review Article: Exercise Training and Peripheral Arterial Disease
It is generally known that exercise can improve symptoms of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This project can investigate the existing data and analyze how exercise has been linked to treating patients with PAD, and can seek to determine if a threshold for exercise is associated with improving symptoms of PAD. This can be presented in the form of an essay, scientific research paper, poster, or abstract. Additionally, analogous projects can be created with ideas similar to this one (ie looking at the impacts of exercise on stress, grades, other diseases, etc.).
Biology, Surgery, Public Health
