Ted Schultz, sports information director, is among many Grinnellians who regularly trek across Iowa each summer. He could only fit in part of RAGBRAI this year, but he's blogging from the road. Read about his adventures. Updated Thu July 24

Schultz might bump into several other Grinnellians, including the first College-supported team of student cyclists. The nine-person team is part of a campus cycling club of 40-50 students that formed this spring. The club, known around campus as the Mating Slugs, organizes local rides as well as competing in U.S. Collegiate Cycling events.

Before January, Jordan Allison '09 had never played the popular computer game The Sims.

That was before she designed her summer Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) — a project that asks participants to play the game an hour a day, three times a week. "I may have taken a copy home and installed it on my computer," she sighs. "I'm good at it now."

Allison calls her project Simulating Personality, a title she admits is "a corny pun." Participants guide computer-simulated characters through various activities, while Allison records their actions and reactions.

Allison, along with Elizabeth Jach '09, Sarah Luetzow '09, and Kathleen Connolley '10, is spending her summer in Grinnell researching variations and changes in personality under the guidance of Professor Laura Sinnett, psychology. The majority of the projects are part of studies that other students began months or years ago. Though all four projects focus on the psychology of personality, they differ in approach.

Luetzow, like Allison, uses a game in her research — the strategy-based Settlers of Catan. For eight hours every week, she sits in a psychology classroom, watches people play, and takes notes.

"She's very good at it," whispers Jach. Luetzow laughs off the compliment, but she admits it's difficult to play the game for so long without picking up the strategy. "But I'm not as good as people would think I am," says Luetzow. "The only thing that sticks out is when people are doing things that are just totally strategically wrong."

While the projects differ in their specifics — Jach uses short stories instead of games and Connolley focuses more on data analysis than hands-on experimentation — the students still help each other through research, reading, and the occasional statistical minefield. "[Data analysis] is not something I'm interested in and it's not something that comes naturally to me, but I really enjoy it in a 'fun, excruciatingly painful way,'" Jach jokes.

The studies ask for a significant time commitment from participants and researchers, but Luetzow thinks volunteers enjoy the process. "It's really fun, but I think it sounds daunting," she says. Her research, like Allison's, involves over 10 hours of potential participation.

Luetzow will finish her project at the end of the summer, while others, like Jach, will continue into the school year. "Basically I'm just doing another step of the process, because people have come before I have and people will come after I do," Jach says. The four students will each write a paper to report their findings, but their research will be kept private to ensure that future results are unbiased.

Jach adds that the most rewarding part of her MAP is the discipline required for a personal research project. "It's really cool to have this kind of responsibility," she says. "[Sinnett] has high expectations, but she doesn't pressure me. It's been really cool to build this relationship and feel like I'm doing something worthwhile."

Of course, even a summer MAP can be dangerous at times. Settlers of Catan is an intense game, Luetzow says, and even laid-back Grinnell students have something of a competitive edge. "We've had mild problems in the past with name-calling," she laughs, "but as long as it's all in good fun, we're pretty flexible."