High school students were busy learning about viruses, waste water treatment and yogurt during one of MTU's several Summer Youth Explorations.

Led by graduate student Tracy Curtis (photos upper left), students spent a week doing hands-on activities in the Dow Building's teaching lab and going on several local field trips. Students used microscopes and biochemical tests to observe, characterize and classify microbes found in the soil, food, water and the human body.

In photos at middle left and lower left, Heidi Monaghans (top left at right in photo), '04, supervises students in solving a mystery 'crime' using forensics and microbiology skills during the SYP exploration Medical Physiology. Students also studied human anatomy, took turns measuring EKG’s and learned what it takes to be a medical professional.

Genetic Engineering (photos lower left) focused on the building block of inheritance, the gene, and its primary controlling agent DNA. The week was spent extracting, processing and modifying DNA including “creating” glow-in-the-dark bacteria. Students also learned about one of the hottest new fields in science called bioinformatics, a merging of biology, chemistry and computer science that compares genetic code characterized in the lab with large existing data bases.

The Department of Biological Sciences has been a long time supporter of Youth Programs providing space in our Dow and RL Smith (MEEM) Building teaching labs, the latest in modern equipment and faculty mentoring. Further information about these and other explorations can be found by contacting Summer Youth Programs.

More about Summer Youth Programs
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Summer Youth Programs Win Award