Launching a summer of discovery at the CURI opening symposium
Job Del Yai ’29, David Males ’27 and Mads Hockmuth ’27 present “Exploring the neuroendocrine basis of heightened auditory sensitivity in gravid female Ormia ochracea”. Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Cynthia Budiyanto ’28 and Mariem Elkhouly ’29 present “Functional Characterization of Novel Lipid Droplet-Associated Proteins in Tetrahymena thermophila.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Garang Dau Akur ’28, Foblas Joseph ’29, and Emily Schmersal ’28 present “Moves on Higher Rank Graphs”. Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Angela Sanchez ’28 presents “Culturing live coral with deuterium isotope labeled skeleton to trace the matter inside the skeleton.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Sofie Hamilton ’27 and Eugene Kiepeeh ’27 present “Bird Abundance.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Sam Gering ’27 and Tiana Pay ’29 present “Japanese Crepe-paper book project.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt.
“ Society needs citizens who can address complex health and environmental challenges, and who understand not only what they teach, but are able to teach interconnected thinking — as a way to shape students’ attitudes, behaviors, and actions,” Lilliana Frost ’27 says. “We need people with interdisciplinary education in our world.”
This sentiment, shared during Frost’s presentation of her research project, Connecting Human, Animal, and Environmental Health: A Mixed-Methods Study to Strengthen One Health Interdisciplinary Education, set the tone for St. Olaf College’s Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (CURI) Opening Symposium. Throughout the event in Regents Hall of Natural Science, students invited faculty, staff, and peers into the earliest stages of discovery, sharing projects that ask questions from how people construct their identities to how bird populations can help researchers monitor ecosystem health.
This summer, 116 students are participating in CURI, collaborating with 37 faculty mentors on projects that span the natural sciences, humanities, mathematics, and the arts. The Opening Symposium offers a sneak peek into the work Oles will pursue over the coming 10 weeks, highlighting the curiosity, creativity, and cross-disciplinary thinking that characterizes undergraduate research at St. Olaf.
“Students gain an in-depth understanding of particular subjects through working closely with the faculty,” CURI Coordinator Erin Eltonga explains. “They gain real life experience and mentorship to develop skills for graduate school and for their future professions. Many of the projects have a cross-disciplinary emphasis, which is important when it comes to solving world issues from a holistic approach.”
Questions about human and environmental health emerged as a common thread throughout the symposium. The research team behind the Connecting Human, Animal, and Environmental Health: A Mixed-Methods Study to Strengthen One Health Interdisciplinary Education project are investigating how colleges and universities teach the One Health framework, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of people, animals, and ecosystems.
“ Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend, and protect, and celebrate,” Eva Ronshaugen ’29 said. “But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that relationship transforms from a one-way street to a sacred bond. One Health is a unifying approach that sustainably balances and optimizes the health of people, animals, and ecosystems. This term has been adopted worldwide, yet it’s actually not taught very often at a higher education level, and that’s what we want to explore more — why it might not be taught.”
Other students are examining the products people encounter every day. The team analyzing Environmental Toxins from Common Products will assess chemicals released by candles and e-cigarettes to better understand potential indoor air quality risks.
“Regular tobacco smoke has had a lot of research done into why it’s bad for you — you may have heard this — but similar research is fairly lacking on e-cigarettes because of their novelty,” Samuel Freimuth ’28 explained. “Different kinds of candle wax bases are sometimes advertised as healthier for you than others — we’re going to be examining to see if that’s really the case.”
Maddy Bergey ’27, Katie McManus ’28, and Pili Rocha ’28 present “The Art of Abolition Feminism.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Emily Holden ’27 and Jess Olson ’27 present “Narrative Meaning-Making, Identity, and Well-Being Among Emerging Adults.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Abby Briese ’27 (and Mara Caldwell ’27) presents “Tolerance and Sensitivity to Alcohol in Adolescence.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Sadé Brooks-Robinson ’28 and Adam Rickman ’27 present “Using Differential Equations to Understand Competition Outcomes Under Fragmented Habitats and Disturbed Environments.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt. 
Sophia Grocholski ’27 and Mars Moberg ’28 present “Dissecting the Molecular Function of PLIN2 Through Biochemical Characterization of Point Mutants.” Photo by Olivia Schmidt.
Friemuth’s is just one of the teams that will be utilizing labs across campus to probe questions at the molecular level. Students presented projects exploring proteins involved in inflammation and metabolism, including studies of lipid droplet-associated proteins and the biochemical characterization of PLIN2 mutants. Another team will cultivate live coral using deuterium isotope-labeled skeletons to better understand how water becomes incorporated into coral structures, research that may help scientists reconstruct past environmental conditions.
The humanities and social sciences will be equally represented over the summer. Students working on the Japanese Crepe Paper Book Project are expanding a publicly accessible database documenting illustrated books produced during Japan’s Meiji era in the St. Olaf collection.
“[These books] let us see into the Westernization and globalization process that occurred in Japan, as without Westernization these books wouldn’t be created, because the translators wouldn’t have been in Japan and translating the fairy tales or folktales into English and other languages,” Sam Gering ’27 said.
Students studying Narrative Meaning-Making, Identity, and Well-Being Among Emerging Adults will analyze more than 1,300 personal narratives to better understand how individuals construct identities and derive meaning from significant life experiences.
“A narrative identity is a way in which one can look at how an individual constructs an internal sense of self through reflection, integration, as well as retelling past experiences,” Jess Olson ’27 explained. “Often these past experiences and self-narratives hold significant emotional ties, which makes them more memorable. Certain characteristics of self-narratives are crucial in understanding our identity, as well as our psychological well-being — specifically, different themes or journeys, such as reframing a negative experience or finding meaning from a past event, have been linked and correlated with well-being, as well as a decrease in psychopathology.”
For the students behind The Art of Abolition Feminism, research extends beyond the classroom and into the community. The team hopes to translate dense theoretical texts into accessible artistic experiences through collage, printmaking, quilting, painting, film, and other mediums that promote participation and dialogue.
“Abolition feminism refers to a movement demanding the abolition of prisons, while also demanding justice and empowerment for women within the carceral system,” Maddy Bergey ’27 said. “ Art is handmade, and it provides an opportunity to not only reflect on the present and past, but also to envision and imagine a future. Specifically, we understand this as having power to bring people together to create, envision, and imagine a world beyond carcerality, which is what we’re seeking to do by hosting community art-making events.
Students also introduced projects focused on animal behavior, conservation, and mathematics. Research teams will investigate how reproductive state influences auditory sensitivity in parasitic flies, develop statistical methods for estimating bird abundance using autonomous recording units, and employ graph theory and differential equations to model species competition and other complex systems.
Together, the presentations underscored one of the hallmarks on the CURI experience: students are not simply gaining established knowledge, but contributing to it. Whether studying proteins, stories, ecosystems, social movements, or mathematical structures, the 48 research teams left the symposium with a summer of discovery ahead.