Two students from northwestern Iowa and one from eastern Iowa have been named as recipients of the Hygienic Laboratory's Student Mentorship Program for the 2011-2012 school year.

Alex Halverson (left) with Dennis Heimdal

Through the Student Mentorship Program, Hygienic Laboratory staff members work with students and teachers to provide project guidance and testing for science projects that have a laboratory component. Previous projects have included testing for pesticides in plant roots, measuring the level of bacteria on doorknobs and testing for pharmaceuticals in water.

Alex Halverson, Spencer High School senior, is working with Dennis Heimdahl, a chemist at the Lakeside Lab at Milford in northwestern Iowa. Halverson will collect and help test water samples from the watersheds that empty into Little Miller's Bay of West Okoboji Lake. His findings will be compared to those of Mary Krull (2009-2010) and John Labernik and Andrew Smith (2010-2011), who took part in the Student Mentorship Program in past years. This project is being funded by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, IOWATER and Stream Monitoring Program.

Abby Walling, a ninth-grader at Iowa City West High School, is a second-time recipient of the grant. In seventh grade she studied the difference between the germs in a dog's mouth and those in a human's. This year she is researching various methods to extract ethanol from grass. Her Hygienic Lab mentor is Terry Cain, environmental lab supervisor.

Maren Gabor, a seventh-grader at Algona Middle School, is working with chemist Jason Badgett at the Hygienic Lab's Ankeny facility to investigate the question of whether Kentucky Blue Grass or Sunny Mix grass seed will filter fertilizer from water.

Abby Walling with Terry Cain

To learn more about the Student Mentorship Program and other educational opportunities offered by the lab, visit the Student Opportunities page.