For the first time, all three State Hygienic Laboratory sites hosted college interns and student employees during the summer of 2017. Here’s a look at the 11 students who contributed to the work of Iowa’s environmental and public health laboratory.

Katie Petersen (left) and Emily Adam

Emily Adam, a recent graduate from Grinnell College with a degree in biology, worked in Ankeny’s Nutrient Demand section as a student employee. In addition to practicing and learning new laboratory skills, Adam shadowed scientists in Newborn Screening and Limnology.

“I have gained an appreciation for how public health and environmental information are gathered and analyzed in the lab, an appreciation for quality control measures that help ensure reliable data, and an appreciation for the role of a state laboratory in protecting public health,” Adam said. She is now a student employee in the GC Analysis section of the Coralville lab while studying epidemiology in the University of Iowa College of Public Health master’s program.

Meredith Arpey, a senior at Luther College majoring in environmental science (pre-med), contributed to the organic analysis section this summer by working with glassware and disposal. She also shadowed a number of scientists in both the Environmental Health and Disease Control divisions. Arpey praised her mentors for being “welcoming, understanding and helpful.”

Lindsey Floryance has a background in chemistry and is a senior at the University of Iowa. This summer, she worked as a student employee in the Environmental Health Division. After graduation, Floryance plans to attend graduate school for radiochemistry or to attend pharmacy school. She will continue working at the Hygienic Lab this school year in the Radiochemistry, Sample Prep and Inorganic Chemistry sections where her newly gained knowledge of several analytical methods can be put to use.

Lindsey’s advice to other students who will intern at the Hygienic Laboratory is to “Always ask questions and always ask to observe. You never know what you’ll learn or get to be a part of.”

Students working in Coralville are (back row, from left) Marija Pritchard, Brenna Parke, Lindsey Floryance, Meredith Arpey and Elizabeth Pritchard. In front row are Lucas Latimer and Cathy Vanhxay.

Lucas Latimer is a student in the University of Iowa in the College of Liberal Arts and is working in the Hygienic Lab’s Central Accessioning section. He plans to graduate in May 2019 with dual bachelor degrees in biology and chemistry.

In his biology classroom work, he has participated in projects using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis, and other work with genotypes and phenotypes. Latimer’s classroom chemistry work included experiments involving the creation of solutions, titrations and fuel cells.

Brenna Parke utilized her chemistry background during an internship and then as a student employee. From chopping and processing foliage specimens prior to analysis, she moved on to performing disinfection byproduct extractions, biochemical oxygen demand analyses and other higher level laboratory procedures.

Parke, who plans to enter medical school after graduation, said that her favorite part was learning from experienced chemists “research and analytical techniques on the gas chromatography-mass spectrometer and the liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer.” She continues working into the fall with Michele Yacopucci, environmental lab scientist, who said, “We’ll be looking at developing a new method for microcystin analysis in surface and drinking water.”

Katie Petersen, a junior in biology from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., also worked in the Ankeny Nutrient Demand lab. She called her summer “a very well rounded experience that gave me a real taste of what it was like to work in a lab.” As an intern she not only used her college science skills, but was able to “expand upon them and learn how [these skills] relate to public health and environmental testing.”

Elizabeth Pritchard worked in Environmental Microbiology. She is a junior at UI working on a Bachelor of Science degree in human physiology and biology. The lab is a great opportunity to take classroom learning into the real world, according to Pritchard. She plans to become a pediatric pulmonologist specializing in air quality and public health.

Marija Pritchard, Elizabeth’s twin sister, also worked in Environmental Microbiology. She is also a junior at UI working on a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies. As an intern, Prichard gained knowledge of the importance of public health laboratories’ testing and surveillance to the work of epidemiologists. She plans to go on to graduate school in public health.

Both Pritchards are members of the UI Women’s Rowing Team and Hawkeye Health C.A.R.E. (Career and Research Exposure), which is a partnership between Iowa Athletics and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics that matches student athletes with an interest in health careers with university departments that specialize in the field.

Kyle Read

Kyle Read, a graduate of Wartburg College in environmental studies, came back to Lakeside Lab for his second year as an intern with Dennis Heimdal, environmental laboratory specialist. Read said that he experienced more than just a working internship in the water lab, but also had opportunities to interact with students from across the country and the world who were at the UI’s Lakeside Laboratory. “I also learned a lot about what goes into water testing and the importance of being very precise with it,” he said.

Cathy Vanhxay is a senior studying health and human physiology at the University of Iowa. She plans to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in the College of Liberal Arts in December.

She is working in Central Accessing, and said that her time at the Hygienic Lab “reinforced what I have learned in the classroom and in books. What I did here was more in depth than my classes.

“I’m a hands-on learner, so seeing stuff in action reinforces what I’ve learned. It stimulates my curiosity and interest, seeing samples that come through the lab so that I would learn a little more.”

Derrick Shostrom

Derrick Shostrom, a practicum student, currently is enrolled in the Master of Public Health program with an emphasis in epidemiology. He has been working with Lorelei Kurimski, director of the Office of Organizational Development, since March on a project to measure the return on investment by a environmental and public health laboratory.

“The work that he has done has really helped us move this initiative ahead,” Kurimski said.