On Tuesday, we heard from Dr. Tsyusko-Unrine about her career journey and research. On Wednesday, we worked through a community building circle on mental health and also learned about how similar we all are to each other. We then learned about environmental exposures to neurotoxicants such as lead and methylmercury, worked through case studies for each exposure, and even worked through simulations of common symptoms of these exposures! We also got to show off some of our final products of our tie-dyed lab coats.
This blog describes the events and activities associated with SURES, our ten week summer undergraduate research environmental health sciences program.
Monday, July 7, 2025
SURES 2025 (Week of June 9th)
On Tuesday morning, we met Dr. Patrick Hannon. Dr. Hannon told us about the professor who changed his career plans from being a vet to becoming a reproductive toxicologist. He also described why identifying why phthalate esters negatively impact female reproduction is a complex and fascinating problem to be solved.
On Wednesday, we learned about the origins and uses of medicinal plants and got to pot them in the planters we designed last week.
We also had a blast tie-dying lab coats (and socks) and getting some sun!
SURES 2025 (Week of June 2nd)
Our SURES activities started on Tuesday morning with Dr. Cetewayo Rashid. He told us about how he got inspired by scientists and the key people in his life who played important roles in his career journey. He also talked to us about his research on organophosphate flame retardants and their contribution to metabolic dysregulation.
We also met other undergraduate researchers, had some Kona Ice, and played lots of Jenga!