This year's Frost Summer Research Program (SURP) has started strong, with studies underway across the various Bailey College disciplines. Research is taking place in labs, field environments, and cutting-edge, technologically advanced classrooms.

About 300 Bailey College students are dedicating their summers to immerse themselves in research, 200 of which are Frost Research Fellows, with the rest of the students receiving grant funding or volunteering their time.

Most SURP students work full time, participating in hands-on research with faculty mentors.

On Thursday, July 10, the dedicated students gathered to celebrate their research and watch the San Luis Obispo Blues baseball game as part of an annual social event designed to bring research groups together to get to know each other in a social setting. Students enjoyed the fun event with their teams and networked with peers working on different projects.

Each student is conducting research fine-tuned to their passions and interests.

“I've been really enjoying having everyone in the lab at once because I feel like during the school year we come and go, but it's really nice to be all together and work together,” said Megan Wong, a biochemistry major. “It's a community.”

Tasha Grote, a rising junior and public health major, is working on an infant baby study with Dr. Alison Ventura, a public health professor and the director of the Center for Health Research. Grote is learning how to code mother-infant feeding to gather more data specific to behavioral patterns. Grote also works with the families in their homes.

“There’s an emphasis on interacting with people and patients,” Grote said. “This has been my first introduction into research, and Dr. Ventura has just been an amazing mentor.”

Danica Brinkman, a rising junior, is researching enzyme stabilization for paper-based, point-of-care diagnostic tests. Her team is exploring ways to improve paper tests that aid in disease diagnosis, with the goal to help find ways of extending the shelf life of the tests.

“This is meant for places that don’t have as great access to technology, so with a stabilized enzyme these diagnostic tests can last much longer,” Brinkman explains.

Currently, Brinkman and her team are focusing on researching sucralose as a candidate for enhancing enzyme stability in paper diagnostics tests.

Rising senior Kaitlyn Calligan, a microbiology major, spends her time in the summer program studying ancient bacteria, examining strains that are millions of years old.

Currently, her team is focused on examining the ancient bacteria strains, looking for indicators regarding whether the strains might be “antibiotic resistant or produce any antibiotics.”