In April 2024, Daniel Fologea’s summer was up in the air. Fologea, a professor of physics at Boise State, had been running a summer research program for local high school students, undergraduates and graduate students since 2012. But this year, there was no funding to support those young research assistants.
When summer started two months later, Fologea’s lab was overflowing with 24 student researchers. All thanks to a meeting with local donor Chris Honcik, organized by Melanie Bannister of the University Foundation.
“He gets so excited that the listeners also get excited,” Honcik said of his first tour through Fologea’s lab. “Who wouldn’t be? He’s working on cures for cancer and a rapid test for heart attack victims. These are big, important topics.”
Groundbreaking research
Fologea’s lab works in biophysics – using tools and techniques common in physics labs to tackle challenges in biology. This may be a physics lab, but Fologea’s work with his student research assistants has significant implications for modern medicine.
“I had to dust off a number of old projects,” he said, thanks to the surge of research assistants. There were so many compared to previous years that Physics Department Chair Charles Hanna had to find a second lab on campus for the team to use.
The team broke up into subgroups working on seven research projects in total. They include new methods for delivering cancer treatment, projects to improve our understanding of cell membranes and a partnership with local company Sapidyne Instruments to detect heart failure biomarkers in minutes.
Transformative experiences
Fologea’s summer research program takes students at three very different levels of educational experience: high schoolers, undergraduates and physics graduate students. No matter where students are when they enter the program, everyone leaves with something unique and valuable.
Graduate students expand on their research experience, taking leadership roles in the lab and getting their names on publications in professional journals – a critical step as they look to lab work after graduate school.
Undergraduates also get lab experience that’s necessary as they look to the future. Fologea estimates that 95% of the undergraduates who pass through his lab go on to prestigious graduate school programs. That includes Boise State alum Pangaea Finn, a 2022 Goldwater Scholar who’s currently pursuing a physics Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Idaho high school students like Thoren Honcik, a junior at Boise High and the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, receive lab experience far beyond a standard high school classroom. “There are so many instruments we’re taught how to use,” Thoren said. “I know I’m going to use quite a few of them when I’m in university or if I take on another research job in the future.”
The program’s had a significant impact on Thoren’s college plans. He’s eyeing schools like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, but says that this past summer in Fologea’s lab “puts Boise State on the map.”
Looking to the future
So what does the future hold for Fologea’s lab? “I want to see the program continue growing,” he said. “That includes reaching out to more local high school students and attracting undergraduates from institutions outside Idaho.”
He’d like to see more students coming to Boise State after their summer research experience. According to Fologea, more scholarships to motivate top students could help with that.
Thoren, for one, delivers a ringing endorsement. “Dr. Fologea is great at helping people,” he said. “Going into the internship I was slightly worried because physics and biology aren’t my strong suits. But he’s a great teacher and you pick up things along the way. If you’re willing to learn and commit your time to the lab, then it’s a great experience for pretty much anyone.”