PULLMAN, Wash. — Last month, Dr. Gülhan Ünlü and her lab ran a Dairy Microbiology Workshop for ten high school students from around the area, introducing them to fundamental concepts and techniques in dairy microbiology while providing an immersive experience in a university laboratory and dairy food science environment.
Graduate students, Seng Jar, Jayden Scott, and Emma Vandervort from the Ünlü lab all assisted in the workshop. In addition, two high school students, who had previously participated in the workshop, returned as instructional assistants, providing an important near-peer mentoring component. An undergraduate student, Luke Gao, working in the PI’s laboratory during the summer also assisted with instruction and laboratory activities. This multi-level instructional team provided students with access to mentors at different stages of the STEM education and career pathway.
The workshop integrated hands-on laboratory experimentation, fermented dairy food preparation, sensory evaluation, molecular biology, microbial identification, facility tours, and career exploration. Students actively engaged in experiments, made observations, interpreted results, asked questions, and collaborated with their peers and instructors. These activities provided students with opportunities to connect scientific concepts with practical applications while gaining firsthand experience in dairy food science and microbiology.
The Dairy Microbiology Workshop was offered to participants free of charge thanks to the generous support of an NSF Convergence Accelerator grant focused on food and nutrition security where Ünlü is a co-investigator with the Dairy NutriSols team, and the Pacific Coast Coalition – Dairy Business Innovation Initiative / USDA AMS grant. Dr. Ünlü and her lab are also grateful to Crystal Lawson, Dr. Jennifer Watts, Dr. Wei Yan, Director, and Dr. Dori Borjesson, Dean, for their support.
