Teens Find the 'Right Chemistry' at USU Summer Gathering

With a stack of lab coats, safety goggles and gloves at the ready, Utah State University professor Lisa Berreau welcomed 12 teens to her lab at USU’s fifth annual High School Internship in Chemistry and Biochemistry held June 7-10 on Utah State’s Logan campus.

“We’re going to make some chemical compounds and heat the living daylights out of them — ready?” said Berreau, as she led students in a lab session entitled “Ouch! The Chemistry of Kidney Stones.”

While teaching the students about metal oxalate compounds, including calcium oxalate that causes painful kidney stones, Berreau introduced the teens to the tools of a chemist’s trade, guided them through safe laboratory practices and encouraged curious, critical thinking.

“What are you seeing as you mix the metal salts with water?” she asked. “Your observations as you conduct your experiment are very important.”

“It looks like orange juice,” said Weber High School senior Kyleen Grissom.

“I see a little bit of pink,” said Satin Tashnizi of Utah’s Logan High School.

“Very perceptive!” said Berreau, whose lab session was just one of the projects the aspiring scientists undertook as participants in the four-day gathering that’s designed to introduce high school students to science at the university level and offer a glimpse of college life. Beyond days spent in the lab, participants stayed in USU’s Living Learning Community and enjoyed evening recreational activities.

The teen interns gathered for other group seminars on such topics as environmental health and safety, DNA sequencing and protein purification, along with a molecular modeling seminar where participants used cutting-edge software similar to that employed by chemists to design antiviral medicines to combat 2009’s H1N1 influenza outbreak. But most of the students’ time was spent working one-on-one with faculty mentors on research projects of their choice.

“I didn’t know about all this research until I got here,” said Jayme Warner, who worked on a biofuels project in professor Lance Seefeldt’s lab during the internship. “It’s just so cool.”

A junior at Utah’s InTech Collegiate High School, Warner is already an accomplished scholar. The new driver (“Oh, yeah, I got my license — stay off the sidewalks!”) won the national senior division of the 2011 DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition Award. Warner’s paper, “Salt: Enhancing Lives One Breath at a Time,” detailed innovations in cystic fibrosis research. The topic is near and dear to Warner, whose sister copes with the disease.

“I decided to participate in the USU internship because I love biochemistry,” she said. “I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

Logan High School student Philip Cutler and Skyler Turner, a senior at Utah’s Mountain Crest High School, chose theoretical chemistry projects in professor Alex Boldyrev’s lab.

“I looked at the list of projects available and decided, ‘I need to be there,’” Cutler said. “I like everything about computers and chemistry.”

“I absolutely love chemistry and thought, ‘Wow, working in Dr. Boldyrev’s lab would be an excellent opportunity to manipulate atoms in three-dimensional software,” said Turner, who plans to pursue college study in nuclear engineering.

Esteban Hernandez, a self-described inventor from Utah’s Pleasant Grove High School, said his parents made a big sacrifice to get him to the USU internship.

“My goal is to start my own corporation,” Hernandez said. “I want to learn all I can about the scientific process.”

Alvan Hengge, head of USU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and internship coordinator, said the department received more than twice as many applicants as it could place for the 2011 internship. Participants are selected based on academic achievements and a written statement of interest.

“Each year the program has grown through word of mouth,” he said. “Most of our applicants are referred by high school chemistry teachers or parents.”

The purpose of the internship, he said, is to introduce teens to the fun of scientific discovery.

“We want to show the students that science is a lot more than ‘cookbook chemistry,’” Hengge said. “It’s about new discoveries and learning things no one has known before.”

A highlight of the week, he said, is the students’ final presentations. The students’ families are invited to attend and enjoy the outdoor barbecue that follows.

And this year, Hengge, whose daughter, Caitlin, is an intern, will be among the admiring parents.

“I haven’t seen her all week,” he said. “She’s been very busy.”

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