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Junior Alyssa Grim and Professor Brad Bauer, Ph.D. take a colorful approach to scientific research 

By Sarah Matarella

For most people, a pile of LEGO bricks might inspire a leisurely afternoon of building. For junior chemistry major Alyssa Grim '28, they became the starting point for something much bigger: her first experience as a scientific researcher and a glimpse into her future. 

Over 10 weeks this summer, Grim traded staying home for the summer for devoting time on campus to explore an open-ended research question. She worked alongside Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Brad Bauer in the lab through 17c��ݺ���’s Student Undergraduate Research Fellows (S.U.R.F.) Program. 

The S.U.R.F. program promotes and rewards undergraduate Student Fellow and Faculty Scholar research or creative projects that yield publication and presentations. It includes a rigorous process of professional development modeled by faculty, career development opportunities, workshops, and experiential learning.  

Their subject? The small, colorful, plastic bricks. 

The project FUN-damentals  

Grim and Bauer’s project, Distinguishing Plastic Building Block Brands Using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, examined LEGO bricks and compatible off-brand building blocks to determine whether they could distinguish between seemingly similar plastic products based on their chemical composition.  

Using 17c��ݺ���’s chemistry lab equipment to perform attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, Grim and Bauer analyzed blocks based on manufacturers, colors and piece types.  

"Gaining that experience with the IR spectrometer was really cool because I got to actually see the workarounds. This was my first steppingstone into research and seeing research as a potential future for me," said Grim. “Coming up with a method collaboratively, having the trial-and-error process, that's something new that I wasn't used to. This has sparked my interest to pursue research as a career.” 

All of the building blocks they examined were made primarily from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, commonly known as ABS plastic, but the analysis revealed subtle differences between manufacturers and even among some products from the same manufacturer. 

Those differences could have implications extending far beyond the toy aisle. 

“Plastics are an ongoing concern in society. Understanding the materials we work with could inform better consumer habits. Even just knowing what’s in those materials and what differentiates one versus the other is an important consideration for applications like recycling,” said Bauer. “We wanted to put a lens on plastics, but in a fun way. I think LEGO bricks are a good way to do that. Everyone recognizes them.” 

The toy building blocks offered Grim and Bauer a familiar and accessible way to investigate those larger questions. Their availability and variety allowed the pair to control variables while exploring how the chemical makeup of plastic can differ from one product to another. 

In addition to recycling practices, the project could ultimately have applications in areas including waste sorting, quality assurance, product authentication, and consumer safety. 

Finding confidence and community 

For Grim, however, some of the most meaningful results of the summer cannot be found on a graph. 

When Bauer first approached her about conducting this research, she wasn't immediately convinced. She was a sophomore at the time and had never conducted scientific research before. 

The experience quickly pushed her beyond what she had encountered in her chemistry courses. Rather than following a predetermined laboratory procedure designed to produce an expected result, Grim had to help develop a method, test it, encounter error, and decide what to do next. 

There were moments when she questioned whether she had enough knowledge or experience to succeed. 

“Working with Dr. Bauer has been very rewarding. He guided me through the whole process and broke down hard concepts with me so that I could understand it better,” said Grim. "He’s been a big help in pushing me forward because there were times that I thought, ‘I don’t think I’m good enough to do this.’ But he helped me overcome those moments, recenter myself, and re-approach what I was working on.” 

Bauer had already seen Grim’s potential in the classroom. The summer gave him an opportunity to watch her apply it in a new environment. Research also required Grim to develop skills that are difficult to replicate through coursework alone. 

"This gave me an opportunity to work with an excellent student outside of the regular classroom setting. In addition to just doing the research, which was pretty intense and involved a lot of work, we got to work on some of those skills that you don't necessarily teach in the classroom," said Associate Professor of Chemistry, Brad Bauer, Ph.D. "Those skills include getting to think like a scientist, being able to tackle problems, and reason your way through 'should I do this or that?' Those kinds of little decisions pop up all the time in research, and until you actually do it, you don't get a full appreciation for what it involves." 

In addition to Dr. Bauer’s mentorship, Grim spent the summer alongside eight other students conducting research across a variety of disciplines. That interdisciplinary community also helped Grim become more comfortable communicating science to audiences outside her field. 

“I think the biggest thing I got from it was gaining new friendships and bonds, especially with the SURF students,” Grim said. “I love being able to hear about their projects and their interests and also have them hear about what I was doing and receive feedback. I was able to learn a lot about myself as a researcher and gain new skills in the laboratory and analytically that I’ll use in the future.” 

She also strengthened her critical-thinking and problem-solving skills — particularly when experiments didn't work as expected. Exploring ways to overcome setbacks and learning to speak scientifically while communicating complex concepts to a broader audience was also a meaningful lesson, according to Grim. 

That process of exploration and building relationships among the cohort and faculty mentors is at the heart of the S.U.R.F. experience, according to Associate Professor of Psychology & Counseling Erin Way, Ph.D. who leads the S.U.R.F. program. 

“I think Dr. Bauer and Alyssa work very well together and really complement one another,” said Way. “And she really took a lot of different variables and kind of distilled it down into a project that I think is going to be meaningful. She’s got a lot of potential avenues for this project to continue.” 

Grim and Bauer plan to continue building upon their findings in future semesters and will share their research at upcoming conferences. 

For Grim, it’s another opportunity to put learning into practice and an example of how experiential learning at 17c��ݺ��� extends beyond the classroom, giving students the skills, confidence and experience to explore where their education can take them.