Forty students stood waiting in the Bowen-Thomson Student Union on campus Friday to explain
what they did instead of a summer vacation.The students had all participated in the SETGO Summer Research
Project program at Bowling Green University, studying everything from star dust to algae blooms.The program
gives the students a chance to engage in specific research projects related to their majors.During the
summer research roundup, students displayed poster explaining their work and were on hand to answer
visitors’questions.Dr. Moira van Staaden, who directs the program, said SETGO "really makes a
difference in their career trajectory."The research project shows students, she said, how what they
learn in the classroom connects to what is done in field and in the laboratory.Biology major Andrew Wagner,
from Perrysburg, identified algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.He was able, using DNA testing,
to confirm the species of bloom. That could help controlling outbreaks in the future."I’d say I learned
more doing this program than I learned in the classroom," Wagner said.Caitlyn Cunningham, a biology
major from Tampa, Fla., studied box turtles in Oak Openings. She wanted to test how often the turtles
movements should be monitored.More frequent monitoring showed the turtles had greater rage than expected,
she said.Cunningham said she was drawn to attend BGSU because she was drawn to herpetology, and BGSU is the
rare school that has a lab devoted to the subject.Both Cunningham and Wagner will be sophomores in
fall.Cunningham said she appreciated having a chance to do field research and get experience using the
equipment so early in her academic career.Joshua Thompson, a technology major who will be a senior in fall,
did his research closer to home.He studied the possibilities for using solar power on campus.He said he was
surprised to learn that there was an array of solar panels on the roof of the ice arena. The installation is
owned by the City of Bowling Green, and was installed back in 2004.He studied other campuses that produced
electricity using solar panels, and surveyed buildings on campus to see which may be suitable.Thompson
decided the best options would be solar canopy arrays in parking lots.A system to power the university using
solar arrays, he said, would cost about $100 million and would pay for itself in 35 to 40 years.BGSU
president Mary Ellen Mazey visited the Summer Research Roundup. "This is what BGSU should more and more
and more of," she said.