HELENA — Carroll College’s annual Student Undergraduate Research Festival, or SURF, entered its 10th year this week, all while being able to reconvene after two years of virtual presentations.
SURF is a celebration and presentation of students’ research. 120 presentations this year highlighted the hard work and countless hours of research that has taken place throughout the past few months on various topics.
“I'm really proud of myself and my partner and everything that we've gone through,” says Francie Tupper, a senior at Carroll College.
Students from varying majors participate in the day’s events. Subject matter ranges from pain, disease therapy and treatments, to elemental analysis of Lake Helena sediments.
Tupper presented on her study of the effects of yellow food dye on brain function. As a future researcher, Tupper said that this gave her a lot of great hands-on experience.
“And it really does give you kind of a quick, a little peek into what's to come with all this hard work we’re putting into it. I know, at least for myself, it could be hard to really picture that ending, especially, you know, after 16 years of school. And I've got, you know, 7 more to go to get my doctorate. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” says Tupper.
Rory Bloy, a business management and marketing major, worked with his team to assist the city of Helena with their time-off and leave schedules.
“And it's great that people just actually appreciate the work that you did throughout the semester. Well, this the work that yourself and your teammates did. And I think that this whole SURF thing is really great because you’re allowed to put Carroll talent, I guess, on show,” says Bloy.
You can find the students’ research by following this link: https://www.carroll.edu/surf
