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On August 3, students, faculty, staff, and friends celebrated the end-of-summer conclusion of the 2022 Summer Scholars program, showcasing collaborative research they had undertaken with faculty. Topics ranged from mechanochemistry, the relationship between the arts and public health, the influence of COVID-19 on parental mental health, to editing genes needed for spermatogenesis.

Bella Norcross ’25, psychology major, conducted research for the occupational therapy program. “Barriers and Facilitators to Mental and Behavioral Health in a Primary Care Setting” focused on demographic groups who may be ineligible for insurance, including Hispanic communities, and the barriers that can prevent these individuals from accessing mental and behavioral health services.

“We found that different barriers — access, culture, and racial bias — make accessing mental health services difficult,” said Norcross, who collaborated with Kimberley Persons, DHS, associate professor of occupational therapy.  “Cultural relevance or sensitivity and collaborative care helps promote mental and behavioral health services in this population.” This research found that many Hispanic or Latinx people somatize their symptoms, or manifest psychological distress as physical symptoms, which could be an indicator as to why mental illness can often go undetected in these communities. 

“I plan on going into therapy, so promoting mental health is something I’m very passionate about. In the future I might have Hispanic clients so knowing what helps make therapy more effective will be useful,” Norcross says. “St. Mary’s Medical and Rehabilitation Therapies (SMMART) clinic hopes to open mental and behavioral health services in the fall, so this research will actually help us inform what can be done to put that into practice.”

“Welcoming the Dear Neighbor?: A History of Housing Inequality in Ramsey County,” an inter-department project that recently shared project findings with the community, was also represented at the closing ceremony. Sophie Gibson ’25 and Maya Isabel Villafuerte ’24 worked with Rachel Neiwert, PhD, associate professor of history and Sister Mona Riley Endowed Professor in Humanities, to understand specific local history and its economic and housing impacts. Working with oral history interviews, the team worked to better understand how residents of Como Park remember and experience their time in the neighborhood, noting that many residents observed very little change in the neighborhood’s racial demographics over the decades. 

“The takeaway of the work we did this summer was that one’s identity is very, very influential on how they experience a physical space,” said Gibson. The team worked in tandem with another Summer Scholars team from the economics department who examined the relationship between upward economic mobility and the presence of racially covenanted homes in a neighborhood. 

Summer Scholars is a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to gain hands-on research experience in their areas of study and work closely with faculty, while contributing to current scholarship. Many of these student teams will continue the work into the fall semester to help complete current projects, presenting their work on campus again during the 2022–23 school year. Scholars will apply to present their research at conferences, one opportunity being the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), a showcase of the nation’s best in baccalaureate-level scholarly work held each spring.

Summer Scholars 2022 Teams

Biology

Editing Rasd1 and Cdkn1a in a Cell Culture System

Stephanie Nguyen ’23; Kellie Agrimson, PhD

Editing Genes Important for Spermatogenesis in a Cell Culture System

Cassandra Norbeck ’24; Kellie Agrimson, PhD

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Determining the impact of phosphorylation on the dilated cardiomyopathy linked phospholamban mutants R9H and R9L

Eyerusalem Alene ’23; Naddi Jillo ’23; Kim N. Ha, PhD

Access to Unique Products From a Mechanochemical Synthesis

Katharine Bendel ’24; Daron E. Janzen, PhD

Synthesizing, Characterizing, and Modeling Hybrid Polyoxometalate Enzyme Inhibitors

Samantha Erickson ’25; Christopher D. Jordan, PhD

Economics

Welcoming the Dear Neighbor? In Ramsey County

Mikaela Campbell ’23; Hailey Sexton ’23; Kristine Lamm West, PhD

Economics and Political Science

Pedagogical shift and parental mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the United States

Isabel Honzay ’24; Abigail Nachreiner ’24; Lacey Chu, PhD

Exercise and Sports Science

The Impact of Far-Infrared Technology on Quality of Life in Older Adults

Arianna Balingit ’24; Shavonnye Rath ’24; Joshua Guggenheimer, PhD

The Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence in Female Collegiate Athletes

Whitney Wenner ’23; Emma McAfee ’25; Lana Prokop, DPT

History

Welcoming the Dear Neighbor?: A History of Housing Inequality in Ramsey County

Sophie Gibson ’25; Maya Isabel Villafuerte ’24; Rachel Neiwert, PhD

Nutrition and Dietetics

Culturally Appropriate Fruits & Vegetables For Cardiovascular Disease In Hispanic/Latinx Populations

Kerrie Roozen ’23; Ambria Crusan, PhD

Occupational Therapy

Barriers and Facilitators to Mental and Behavioral Health in a Primary Care Setting

Bella Norcross ’25; Kimberley Persons, DHS

Psychology

Healthcare Experience of Transgender Individuals by Race and Location

Hannah C. Bladow ’23; Alvin Akibar, PhD

Sociology

Public Health Implications of Arts in Urban Ethiopia: A Qualitative Case Study

Iyat Al-Jayashi ’26; Hui Wilcox, PhD