Science research program teaches junior life lessons

Junior Andrew Zheng approached the corner of the dorm hallway this past summer surrounded by other teens who had become some of his closest friends. They were all gripping cardboard shields and hastily made “Axe bombs” — cans of spray deodorant.

The entire hallway reeked of men’s deodorant. Zheng and his friends were embroiled in the midst of an intense dorm war against another group of students, which started after a broken promise about Oreos.

Looking at this scene, few would have guessed that Zheng was in his third week at the Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP), an intense academic research program at the University of Iowa.

Zheng along with 44 other students from all around America and Asia spent the next six weeks diving deeper into STEM subjects.

Like many other vigorous STEM camps, the SSTP application has rigorous requirements, including a 2,700-word essay and several teacher recommendations.

The camp offers a wide variety of STEM subjects for students to explore, ranging from cancer research to drug creation testing. Zheng chose to study astrophysics, mostly because he has loved watching sci-fi movies involving space ever since he was young.

“I chose this camp mainly because online it looked like such an interesting experience for me,” Zheng said. “This research opportunity allowed for me to expand my boundaries of sciences and try something I have never done before.”

After choosing a subject to study, students were paired with a professor and a collegiate research team that has already been at SSTP before. With the guidance of the professor, they not only learned how to write a research paper and deliver a research presentation, but also practiced the techniques of collecting data. At the end of the five weeks, the students’ lab research culminated into a final research poster.

Zheng’s research project was about identifying different types of galaxies, more specifically Lyman Alpha Emitters, or galaxies that emit most of their light through hydrogen transitions.

“My research was on the importance of these Lyman Alpha Emitters because the way the galaxies’ light are transmitted can maybe explain why we see the universe as it is today,” Zheng said.

Zheng studied Lyman Alpha Emitters by using an X-ray astronomy program to analyze the observation of a galaxy taken about a year ago and tried to determine if the energy came from a single source or multiple sources in the galaxy.

Though he was, ultimately, at an academic program, Zheng gained more than just research experience. Because Zheng lived with two other people in a cramped dorm room during the program, Zheng was forced to improve his communication  skills.

“There would be times when some of my friends were getting on each other's nerves,” Zheng said. “ Learning how to resolve these conflicts, either by communication or when we needed to bring help, was emphasized by living together.”

Outside the classroom, the program organized various  activities such as visiting a waterpark, bowling, and exploring  downtown Iowa. At the end of the program, a public poster fair was held where the students’ research papers were on display for their peers, families and mentors to see.

Even now, three months after SSTP ended, Zheng still remembers everything, from staying up until 6 a.m. doing yoga exercises to messing his peers up during their presentation to making music videos of songs that Zheng would never listen to again.

“The people that I became close friends with and still keep in contact with are those that found a healthy balance between academics and having fun,” Zheng said.