Characterizing Staphylococcus aureus from Healthy Individuals: an Authentic Research Experience for Undergraduates

This article describes the implementation of the Staph Study, a sustainable, ongoing, scalable research study conducted with undergraduate students. The study characterizes Staphylococcus aureus specimens collected from the anterior nares of healthy members of our campus community. The ease with which we have been able to involve many students in the project has resulted in a significant increase in the research opportunities for undergraduates in our Science Department.