Faces of SRAP: John Lopez

The Summer Research Apprentice Program has officially come to a close, but we will still be featuring a few SRAP participants on our blog! Stay tuned! 

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Dr. Brant Schumaker, left, and John Lopez, right

John Lopez, a senior from Colorado hopes to gain a more clear idea of what he wants to do after high school from participating in SRAP.

“I want to learn whether or not the science field is something that I would like to pursue,” he says. “So far, I’m enjoying it.”

During his time at the University of Wyoming, John studied brucellosis in Dr. Brant Schumaker’s lab, at the Wyoming State VeterinaryLaboratory.

“We’re working on finding a good diagnostic kit for a disease that is in the greater Yellowstone area," John says.

Dr. Schumaker adds, “John will be evaluating different extraction kits for DNA, trying to detect the organism in tissues of infected animals.”

John’s favorite part of his project, he says, is working in the lab.

“I like that it involves a lot of hands-on work in the lab. I like learning all of this new information.”

Dr. Schumaker is glad that John got experience conducting research at the University of Wyoming.

“I hope he gets a real sense for what we do in research, in the biological sciences,” Dr. Schumaker says. “He can use that as a way to jumpstart his career, whatever that might be.”

SRAP is a six-week, intensive research program for high school students. It is based at the University of Wyoming and is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR. To learn more about the program, click here, or search “SRAP” in the archives. 

By Robin Rasmussen
Photo by Robert Waggener