Photos by Caitlin Abrams
entrence to Driven to discover
Add “participating in U of M research” to your State Fair bucket list.
If you’re thirsting for knowledge beyond the nuances of mini donut beer vs. funnel cake beer and corn dogs vs. Pronto Pups at the Great Minnesota Get-Together this year, University of Minnesota researchers have you covered. Since 2014, more than 100,000 fairgoers have contributed to 251 studies on topics ranging from texting while driving to concussions in kids to erectile dysfunction—really!
Cancer researcher Logan Spector and epidemiology researcher Ellen Demerath developed the idea after they each landed jobs at the U and realized that the St. Paul campus abutted the fairgrounds. They quickly noted the level of loyalty and esteem that fairgoers seem to hold for the U.
“It seems to be part of being Minnesotan, that affiliation with the fair and the U,” Demerath says. “It’s a unique recipe we have because of the contiguous nature of the fair and the U. That’s probably our secret sauce.”
Spector and Demerath decided to try a pilot study at the university’s building on Dan Patch Avenue. When over 600 families eagerly participated in a saliva collection for genetic analysis, only one question remained: Why hadn’t anyone done this sooner? Other universities have presences at fairs, but there’s nothing approaching the magnitude of the research that now takes place on Cosgrove Street.
“It’s a unique recipe we have because of the contiguous nature of the fair and the U. That’s probably our secret sauce.”
U of M epidemiology researcher Ellen Demerath
There’s always been an educational element to the Minnesota State Fair, Demerath says, pointing to Machinery Hill, where farmers have long gathered to see the best new combines and tractors. Still, she was surprised when 15 minutes before they opened the doors the first year in the Driven to Discover (D2D) building, their permanent home on Cosgrove, “you could just see a sea of legs.
“We had to hold them off,” she says. “There was a flood of people when we opened the doors. Of all the things you can do at the fair, you wouldn’t think it would be research! But Minnesotans see the fair as educational as well as a place to eat a corn dog.”
The enthusiasm runs both ways. Researchers from the U and other institutions vie for booths at D2D while there’s still snow on the ground. Those coveted half-day slots are golden opportunities, they say, because they can often recruit as many participants as they need for a study in a day or two compared to the weeks it would take under normal circumstances. And the fair crowd usually offers a more diverse demographic slice than other recruitment methods. Every principal investigator surveyed after the 2019 fair said they were either very satisfied or satisfied with the experience. Data gathered at the fair has contributed to 88 peer-reviewed articles, 31 dissertations and theses, and 25 conference posters and presentations.
two people working with virtual reality
Research subjects get a taste of virtual reality at the 2019 State Fair.
In 2019, Dr. Hyun Soo Park set up a large stage with HD cameras in one corner of the building that proved to be the hit study of the day, with a steady line of people waiting for their turn to create a 3D avatar. Park wasn’t interested in creating new video game graphics; he was working on an artificial intelligence system that would help robots interact with humans. Previous research built up a database of how robots should respond to human facial cues, and his team wanted to expand on that work to record full-body gestures. Eventually, robots may be able to use the database of reactions to gain insights into human behavior, including diagnosing degrees of mental disorders. The challenge of this type of research? You need a lot of subjects.
Park’s team scanned 160 fairgoers at D2D in 2018 and tripled that in 2019. In 2020, he published the data set. Since then, it’s been used by other projects, including an initiative with the Toyota Research Institute.
In the opposite corner of the building, each participant donned virtual reality goggles as a partner helped them navigate through a maze in a virtual building, relying solely on directions from a partner (via visual prompts or an audio component). It would have taken three weeks to complete the participant portion of the now-published study on audio and visual cues in virtual reality on campus, researcher Evan Rosenberg says, but it took just two shifts at D2D. Studies average 160 subjects per six-hour slot at D2D.
“It was fun,” participant Tiffany Senkow says.
“We got out in time!” Maryam Nikpasand adds.
The friends say they wanted to support research. For others, there’s a different motivating factor. U of M students Wade and Tiana Krueger participated in a study analyzing customer perceptions of dietitians in grocery stores. They said they’d come back—for another maroon-and-gold string backpack.
“It’s a super opportunity for people to come into our building to engage with the U and research, and to earn their trust in science with a positive experience,” says D2D research manager Annie Hotop. “They see that research isn’t so scary and how important it is for the times we live in.”
Last September, Demerath gave a presentation of the D2D model to the Society of Clinical Research Associates. The U’s team surveyed the top 100 U.S. fairs last year to gauge interest. The majority of those who responded (92 percent) said they thought a research university partnership would be beneficial to their fairs, and 79 percent requested more information on the U of M/Minnesota State Fair partnership. But so far, no one has duplicated it; D2D remains as unique to the Minnesota State Fair as the Princess Kay of the Milky Way butter sculpture.
If you visit this year, you could get your ear photographed for a study on earwax, have your hands swabbed for foodborne illness–causing bacteria after visiting an animal exhibit, be screened for peripheral artery disease, or become a citizen scientist who looks for freshwater sponges around Minnesota, to name a few research opportunities.
Along with investigators’ eternal gratitude, you may just leave with a new appreciation for research. Oh, and that backpack.
