James Beltz worked with Jon Efsthathiou at Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc. Jim’s goal was to find a way to insure that E. coli will not contaminate products. Jim was particularly interested in this project because of the widely publicized problems of E coli in fast food restaurants. Jim was given a great deal of independence to set up his experiments and tests and worked independently to define the processing parameters. Jim talks with pride about his ability to take this project from library research to a result that was confirmed by the Sunny Fresh food scientists.
Margit Louis worked with Dr. David Boyd in the Chemistry Department of the University of St. Thomas. Margit’s goal was to make a catalyst similar to the one that had been made by another group of students which might be used someday to produce hydrogen gas from water. Margit was able to make a catalyst which was as successful as the one synthesized by the former students. While she did not find the elusive hydrogen liberating catalyst, she did find a new compound which met most of the theoretical conditions and had a material makeup significantly different from those previously tried. Margit found the study particularly exciting since the results of this research may someday lead to a method of producing hydrogen for use as an environmentally safe and inexpensive fuel source. Margit enjoyed the program because it allowed her to experience science in a very personal way that school could not. She also learned a bit abut the sometimes serendipitous nature of scientific research when an apparent mistake produced the most significant result.
Rebeka Ndosi was accepted into the Apprenticeship Program of Health Sciences Minority Program at the University of Minnesota. She worked with Dr. Robert Miller in the Department of Physiology. Her project was to test the accuracy of the activity dependent dye 4-Di-2-ASP on individual retinal cells. As a result of her work, the dye will be used in the future for intercellular research of retinal cells.
Joe Springrose got a chance to work in the labs of Minntech Corporation under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Stanley and Dr. Robert Hall. Joe’s research centered on sterilization procedures for medical equipment that were developed at Minntech. He tested a new method of sterilization and compared that method with previously used techniques. Joe was interested in the micro-biochemistry aspects of the study because he was able to grow and work with bacteria. He also appreciated the practical and environmentally sound aspects of the study. He was proud to be able to participate in the project which will enable the medical community to reuse expensive medical tools that are currently thrown away after the first use because of fear of contamination.
Peter Ritter worked with Dr. Gary Reineccius in the Food Science and Nutrition Department at the University of Minnesota. Peter studied a method for preserving the flavor of packaged food. Peter used artificial flavorings for his study. He coated the flavorings and tested to see how durable the coating was over time. Peter liked learning to is a variety of sophisticated scientific techniques and equipment including hyrodistillations, toluene distillations, and a gas chromatography. Peter also enjoyed sharing his techniques and results with his mother who is a chemist at the University.
