| Principal Investigator(s) | Study Title | Description |
| Adams & Tolan | The Great Minnesota Earwax Study | Come see what is in your ears and try different earwax removal tools to see what difference they make! Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Anderson | Dive into the MCEDR Research Pool! | The Minnesota Center for Eating Disorders Research studies eating disorders in a variety of ways, including brain imaging studies! With our variety of studies, we need participants from many ages, genders, and backgrounds, including healthy volunteers. Complete a brief survey to see if you are eligible and earn a prize of your choice! Eligibility: Age 18+, Open to men and women |
| Benbenek & Smith | STORI | The purpose of this study is to add to current knowledge by obtaining perspectives from adult fairgoers (18 years and older who can read and speak English) on reproductive health issues relative to reproductive health choices, reproductive healthcare oversight and access and reproductive health issues unique to vulnerable populations such as women and LGBTQ individuals. Specific Aims include: 1. Describe individuals’ views on the overturn of Roe v Wade (a woman’s right to abortion); 2. Obtain insight into reproductive health care services deemed necessary for populations; 3. Identify perceived barriers to reproductive healthcare access; 4. Describe views on beliefs about governmental and religious roles in determining health care rights and access; 5. Describe views on reproductive healthcare topics relative to LGBTQ and non-binary health. |
| Bensignor & Raatz | Weighing the Options | A brief survey for parents with kids age 12 to 17 years asking their opinions on medications for weight loss and medications to treat diseases related to extra weight in teenagers. Eligibility: Parents of kids ages 12-17 |
| Boissoneault | Bottoms Up! | Come help us develop a new way of measuring alcohol drinking using a smart watch! We are developing new tools that will make it easier to understand how people use alcohol in their day-to-day lives and to design new ways to assist people who want to reduce their drinking. Eligibility: Age 21+, Consumed alcohol at least once in the past year |
| Burke | Are you a Health Maven? | Someone who really knows about a topic, has special knowledge, or is skilled in seeking or sharing information is a maven. Do you like thinking about wellness? Do you like telling other people about ways to be healthy? Are you interested in communication about health and wellness? Are you a Health Maven? If health and wellness interest you, please fill out our survey. If you participate, you will receive a UMN Morris string backpack, and will help us better understand Health Influencers. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Churchill | A pinch, a dollop, a scoop or smidge … how much do you think this is?” | Food is love. Snacks and treats are key ways pet owners love and care for their pets, but foods are also used for training or administering medications. Collecting a diet history of everything a pet eats in a day is a valuable tool allowing veterinarians to complete a nutrition assessment and recommendation to improve pet health. It’s challenging to collect accurate diet information because pet owners use portions of variable sizes when offering foods to their pet. This study assesses dog owners’ perceptions of common food amounts to develop a tool to make collecting diet information more efficient and accurate. Eligibility: Age 18+, Dog owner |
| Covington | Navigating Recovery: What Would You Choose? | We want to understand how people make choices about healthcare options. You will read descriptions of available treatments for brain injury and make choices about which approaches seem best to you. Help us improve how rehabilitation specialists communicate about available treatment options! Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Delehanty & Toomey | The highs and lows of THC gummies | Hemp-based edible THC products are now legal and have gained in popularity in Minnesota. Have you seen it in stores? Have you tried it? Does your work have rules about it? What do you think about the legality and safety of it? We want to hear from you! Eligibility: Age 18+, MN resident |
| Dimian & Simacek | Tele us about it! | Have you or your child used telehealth? ‘Tele’ us about it! The goal of this study is to better understand caregivers’ experiences with tele-related supports and assess early repetitive behavior patterns. Eligibility: Parent or caregiver of a child 0-12 years old |
| Finestack | Kid Talk | The University of Minnesota’s Child Language Intervention Lab is seeking participants for a language research study. Children 5-8 years of age who are English speakers and typically developing are eligible. The research study involves one, 20-minute session that will be conducted at this year’s county and state fairs. Child participants will be compensated with a prize values no more than $5 for their time. For more information, contact Liza Finestack, Ph.D., CCC-SLP: finestack@umn.edu; 612-624-6090. Eligibility: Children ages 5-8 |
| Firestone | What’s in Your Freezer? | Come tell us all about what’s in your freezer! We want to learn what frozen foods you have and how you prepare them. Eligibility: Age 18+, MN resident |
| Fonkoue | Women’s Heart Health | Eligibility: Women ages 18-40 |
| Griffin | Lend a Hand for 3D Scans | Get your hand 3D scanned! YOUR HAND is crucial to improving the fit, function, and innovation of products for hands! Help us improve the design of gloves, tools, and the countless products that your hand touches daily. Eligibility: Ages 5 to 100 |
| Harms | How Do You Learn? | The Learning, Emotion, and Development (LEAD) Lab at UMN-Duluth is seeking participants, both children and teenagers, to participate in research studies. Participants will engage in computer tasks and assessments, and fill out a brief survey. Our lab offers both in-person and online research opportunities. Eligibility: Kids and teens ages 8-17, and their parents |
| Hawe & Guy | Within Arms Reach | We use both of our arms to complete activities all the time. But how do we coordinate our movements? Play a video game by moving your arms in different ways so we can measure how you reach. This information will help us understand what might be different in individuals with neurologic conditions such as cerebral palsy. Eligibility: Ages 5-18, No injuries/conditions that would impair ability to move arms |
| Hearst | AMEND: Improving Food and Nutrition Security Assessment in Minnesota | Have you ever been asked to fill out a survey and thought the questions were confusing or made you feel bad? We want to hear your thoughts on survey questions about access to food and good nutrition. Participants will be asked to answer questions about your access to food, your feelings and impressions about the survey questions, and your thoughts about your ability to access nutritional foods. Your information will help us create better questions for future research! Eligibility: Age 18+, Living independently (either alone or in a household), English or Spanish |
| Hendrickson, Marmet & Pitt | Doc Talk – Help Doctors Communicate Gooder | Help us improve the way doctors and patients communicate with each other. In our study, you will complete a short survey to determine your understanding of medical terms and phrases. Eligibility: Adults and kids can participate! Adults must not work in healthcare in a clinical setting |
| Hooke & Tucker | How Do You Moove? | We want to learn about coordination in pre-teens and teens and how it relates to time periods of rapid growth. We also want to learn about their physical activity and what they like to do. Eligibility: Pre-teens and Teens, Ages 9 to 18 |
| Keller-Ross | Menopause perspectives and beliefs in the community | We are conducting two surveys. One survey is specifically for females and will ask questions regarding menopause, menopause symptoms, treatments women choose and their perspectives and beliefs on different available therapies for menopause symptoms. The second survey will be open to males and will ask questions regarding the male perspective on menopause, symptoms of menopause and treatments. Eligibility: Assigned female at birth, age 35+ and self-identify as experiencing menopausal symptoms OR Assigned male at birth, age 18+ |
| Khoruts & Balbo | Can Silent Hitchhikers Spread Colon Cancer? | Eligibility: Everyone is eligible! |
| Kringle | Are you Back in ACTION? | We want to know how your daily activities have changed since just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Are you back to all the activities that you previously enjoyed? We will ask you to look at pictures of different activities and tell us how much you do that activity today compared with January 2020. We will also ask a few questions about your health and function. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Lee & Munson | Simon Says: Say this Sentence! | Language is one of the most fascinating human behaviors. We are interested in developing tasks to study language development that are quick, engaging, and fun. In this brief experiment, we examine how children repeat sentences when they can see the person talking, versus just hearing them. We are also interested in whether children repeat sentences better when listening to a person they perceive to be engaging and fun. Eligibility: Children aged 3-8, Acquired English from birth, No history of speech, language, hearing, or other cognitive impairments |
| Lieberz, Watkins & Johnson | What you say (and what you do) | Self-report is often used to guide referral to physical therapy for further objective testing. The ability to detect preclinical mobility and mobility disability with subjective screening is unknown. We want to look at how your physical performance test results match what you report. Eligibility: Age 55+, Able to walk independently with or without an assistive device, Able to stand independently without an assistive device |
| Looman & Geiger-Simpson | What’s Strong with You? | We want to know how kids are feeling about their life in general, and how much this changes over time. We’re asking teens and kids to draw a line to show us the ups and downs of their quality of life over the past year, and to answer a few survey questions about how they think and feel in general. Eligibility: Kids and teens ages 8-17 (kids under 16 must have a parent present) |
| Mann & Debes | Help Us Reduce the Burden of Liver Cancer in Minnesota Ayúdenos a reducir la carga del cáncer de hígado en Minnesota |
Help us reduce the burden of liver cancer in Minnesota! Complete a short survey about liver cancer risks and prevention and share your feedback on awareness campaign messaging. Eligibility: 18 years +, Ability to read in English or Spanish ¡Ayúdenos a reducir la carga del cáncer de hígado en Minnesota! Complete una breve encuesta sobre los riesgos y la prevención del cáncer de hígado y comparta sus opiniones sobre mensajes de campañas de concientización. Elegibilidad: 18 años +, Habilidad para leer en inglés o español |
| Martin & Whipple | The D2D WEAR IT! Study | The purpose of the WEAR IT! Study is to examine individual and societal predictors of sedentary behavior and physical activity. We will also explore how people use and adopt wearable fitness trackers. Anyone age 13 or older is eligible to participate. Eligibility: Age 13+ |
| MCC | Goldy vs. Cancer | Let’s defeat cancer! This year at the Minnesota State Fair the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota wants all Minnesotans to learn about treatment and prevention for cancer which affects nearly half of the state’s population. Discover leading-edge treatments, meet the doctors and scientists researching the latest breakthroughs and ask experts your questions. Eligibility: Everyone |
| McCarty & Anderson | Health in the Heartland | The conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age, affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. This survey project will ask you to answer questions about the strengths of your communities and how they contribute to your overall health. Eligibility: Age 16+, MN resident |
| McGee | Get a Grip! | Test your hand strength with the new GripAble(TM) mobile app-based measurement and strengthening device. It’s painless, quick, easy and fun! Eligibility: Adults 18+, No known hand problems |
| McGovern | I Like to Move It, Move It” | Wearable sensors offer the potential for a more quantitative assessment of gait and balance in the setting where falls actually occur. There have been very few studies demonstrating that information derived from wearable sensors can be used to monitor or predict the development of different aspects of Parkinsons Disease. Recent work in our lab has demonstrated the feasibility of transforming the only clinically relevant measure of postural instability in use – the pull test – from a numerical rating on an ordinal scale into a quantitative, kinematic outcome measure using wearable inertial monitoring units (IMUs). Eligibility: Age 18+, No known neurological issues |
| Mills | MN MathTok | How do kids feel while learning math? Participants will watch videos of math influencers and respond to questions about emotion, engagement, and mind wandering. Participants’ gaze will also be recorded using a web-cam based eye tracker. Eligibility: Youth entering any grade of middle or high school in Fall 2023 |
| Misono &Weinstein | Your VOICE matters! | Our voice is our identity, and issues with it can affect our lives in a big way. Unfortunately, studies have had a hard time figuring out who is having voice issues. By filling out a brief survey, you will help us know how people use their voice from day to day, and if and when their voices are giving them trouble. Whether you like to sing in a choir, or prefer to be quiet, we want to hear from you! This information can help us learn to identify those with voice disorders so they can get the care they need. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Olson & Eder | Unmasking COVID: To vaccines and beyond! | We are surveying people to learn about their perspectives on vaccines and their safety. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Quick & Narvaez | 911: How’s it working for Minnesota? | Complete a 5-minute survey and enter to win a $500 gift card. Share your opinions about 911 and emergency responders — fire, police, or emergency medical technicians – in Minnesota. What are your priorities and values for emergency response? Eligibility: Age 18+, MN resident |
| Rajamani, Austin & Marquard | Got Online Medical Record Access? | Our objective is to understand how patients, parents, and caregivers access and use medical records electronically, which is typically through patient portals. The study intends to collect information on individuals’ portal access, frequency of use, reasons for use, ease of use and to identify unmet data needs that could be provided through patient portals. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Ricke & Nguyen | To Boost or Not to Boost | We want to know what you think about COVID and flu vaccines. Specifically, we want to know if you have received, or plan to receive, the recommended vaccines this year. Regardless of your answers, we want to research what influences your decision making about vaccines. Eligibility: Age 18+ |
| Rogers & Pratt | Colon Cancer: iPrevent iBeat iTreat 2 | The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of a walk-through inflatable colon (“”Super Colon””) on masculine norms, knowledge, attitudes, and colorectal screening behaviors among men in Minnesota. Eligibility: Men ages 18-75, MN resident |
| Shannon | SKOAP Knee Osteoarthritis Study | Do you suffer from knee pain? We are looking for adults with knee osteoarthritis for a study exploring non-surgical methods for reducing knee pain. Eligibility: Ages 18-90, Diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis, Have knee pain for 4 or more days per week for at least 3 months |
| Spector | 10,000 Families Study” | 10,000 Families (10KFS) is a study of family health in Minnesota. 10KFS invites families to participate over time with the purpose of understanding the influences of genetics, lifestyle, and environment on health and illness. We are committed to welcoming families from every community across Minnesota and to taking participation opportunities on the road to greater Minnesota. Come find out about our environmental exposures project, and join us in this discovery adventure that will improve health for future generations! Eligibility: 1st participant: 18+ living in MN, Other family members must live in MN, ND, SD, IA, or WI and can be any age. |
| Thielen | Got Snot? | What’s in your snot? “Got Snot” is a longitudinal study looking at what respiratory pathogens are occurring in Minnesota households over a year. Got Snot is for any person or family that is curious what respiratory infections they are getting throughout the year. We will ask you to complete a survey and collect a swab from your nose when you have a suspected new respiratory infection at home or when you got snot! You will mail the swab back to us and we will test it for viruses, bacteria and antibiotic resistance. We will share and explain the results with you so you and your family can understand what respiratory infections are in your home throughout the year! Eligibility: Age 18+, able to self-collect nasal swab, Less than age 18 within the same household of an adult participant in study, Self or parent/guardian able to collect nasal swabs in kids less than 10 years old |
| Van Heest & Bohn | Thumbs Up – measure size and strength! | Our study aims to determine standard values for different hand measurements. This data can be used by hand surgeons to optimize outcomes for hand reconstruction surgeries. Stop by our booth to learn more! All participants will get a free drawstring bag! Eligibility: All ages |
| Weyer | Create a Healthier Future! | Have you ever participated in a health research study? Volunteers play a key role in research and make new discoveries possible. Advancing health and healthcare for everyone means that we need people from different backgrounds, ages, genders, races, and ethnicities to participate. Some research studies need volunteers with certain conditions and some are open to healthy volunteers. Talk with us about how to get involved in University of Minnesota research, learn more about our StudyFinder website, and spin the wheel for a prize! Eligibility: Everyone is welcome to learn about research! |
| Yarosh | Is Your Family Ready for Virtual Reality? | Is Virtual Reality (VR) the future? We are inviting kids ages 7-13 and their grown-ups to use VR to travel to the International Space Station and then share their perspectives on possible uses of VR. Will VR create a utopian or dystopian future? You and your kids get to decide! Eligibility: Kids ages 7-13 and their grown-up |
| Zilverstand & Wilson | Babies, Brains, and Developmental Gains!” | Calling all expectant mothers! Join us in helping uncover how early life experiences can shape our children’s futures! Come visit us at the UMN D2D building to learn more about the HBCD study, the largest long-term study of early brain and child development in the US. Find out how YOU can help make a difference in the lives of children for generations to come! Eligibility: Age 18+, Pregnant |