SIU graduate student Chloe Hillyer (left) mentors Carterville High School student Mollie Mandell (middle) as she works on her thesis evaluating the concentration of heavy metals in smokable hemp products. Mandell is contributing to the research through a pilot program through the Garwin Family Foundation, with SIU’s Mary Kinsel (right) providing faculty oversight. (Photo by Brooke Keltner)
August 07, 2026
SIU welcomes local high school student through Garwin Family Foundation pilot program
CARBONDALE, Ill. — A Carterville High School student is the first to participate in a new summer pilot research program between Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the Garwin Family Foundation (GFF).
Mollie Mandell is participating in SIU’s R1 research program working alongside faculty and a graduate student in evaluating the concentration of heavy metals in smokable hemp products. The metals are harmful to humans and have limited regulatory oversight.
Garwin Family Foundation
Mandell’s opportunity came through the GFF. Each year, the Carbondale-based nonprofit foundation selects outstanding freshmen, sophomores, and juniors from Carbondale, Carterville, Herrin and Murphysboro high schools and provides scholarships to attend highly selective enrichment programs in STEM and the arts at universities throughout the country.
This is the first year of the foundation’s partnership with SIU, marking a full-circle moment for foundation president Marsha Ryan and her brother, Mark Garwin, who is foundation vice president. Their parents founded the organization, and Ryan and Garwin each graduated from the SIU Simmons Law School.
“The mission of the GFF is to broaden the academic horizons of rural Southern Illinois public high school students,” said Ryan, who practiced as a general surgeon in Carbondale in association with the SIU School of Medicine.
SIU’s recent R1 status by the Carnegie Classification for Institutions of Higher Education supported the foundation’s decision to partner with the university. This designation ranks SIU among the top 5% universities in the country for research.
“Our local high schools don’t have the resources of an R1 university like SIU,” Ryan said. “Thus, this partnership allows typical high-achieving, self-directed, and hard-working STEM students like Mollie to do very high-quality, hands-on research over the summer.”
Mandell’s own SIU experience
As a foundation recipient, Mandell walked into the new Gower Translational Research Center’s mass spectrometry lab on June 23 feeling a bit worried about making a good first impression.
“I was nervous, but I was mostly excited because I knew it would be a good opportunity and I like working in labs,” said Mandell, who will be a high school junior this year.
She spent the first week becoming familiar with the lab’s state-of-the art equipment and safety procedures before learning her role in the research, which centered on evaluating filter washing procedures to reduce trace metals contamination leftover from the manufacturing process.
“The filters are used in a machine that essentially smokes the hemp products,” she said. “The filters are then collected to test for particles of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and chromium. These heavy metals are unsafe to consume and when people smoke hemp products, they could be inhaling them. But the filters are testing for heavy metals already in them, so it’s skewing the results.”
Mandell is responsible for examining ways to wash the filters before they’re used in the smoking machine, including soaking them in different types of diluted acids. Despite only having one year of high school chemistry, she’s gaining independence in the lab by repeating experiments until she achieves consistent results.
“This week, I got to work on my own batch of filters,” she said. “I’m being trusted to perform these experiments with supervision and share my findings. The results determine the research’s next steps, so it’s having a real impact.”
Lab guidance
Chloe Hillyer is the graduate student guiding Mandell through this research for her thesis. She’s utilizing the same traditional techniques that researchers used to analyze tobacco smoke but with the Gower Center’s modern technology.
“The world of hemp and cannabis is evolving,” said Hillyer, who is working toward a master’s degree in analytical chemistry. “I’m noticing firsthand with all my testing that there needs to be more work in this industry going forward.”
Hillyer has watched Mandell’s confidence grow over the past several weeks, entrusting her to contribute to this research.
“She’s gaining knowledge working with different acids and materials, and the repetitive nature of the experiment has allowed the skills to become ingrained,” Hillyer said. “She’s worked up some samples on her own and I know that she’s carrying out the process correctly.”
Mary Kinsel, director of BioLaunch Core Instrumentation, is the faculty member providing oversight.
“We have graduate and undergraduate students working in the mass spectrometry core, so it seemed reasonable to have our first high school student as part of the foundation’s pilot program here at SIU,” said Kinsel, whose son was an early GFF scholar.
Kinsel believes that Mandell will conclude her time in the SIU lab with several foundational skills that will help her succeed in any science field she decides to pursue in the future.
“She’s getting better at understanding what a research project entails, including conducting background research,” Kinsel said. “She’s improved at conveying her results through weekly report writing, and she’s much more comfortable finding her own way in the lab.”
More opportunities ahead
Each week, Mandell is required to write a summary so foundation leadership can follow her progress through the program. Vanessa Sneed, the GFF program manager, said Kinsel and Hillyer have provided Mandell with an exceptional experience.
“Mollie has been fully immersed in the laboratory environment,” Sneed said. “In addition to gaining hands-on experience with sophisticated research instruments that are often operated only by graduate students, she is learning how research projects are designed, how scientists respond to unexpected results, the importance of adapting experimental approaches, and the realities of day-to-day laboratory operations.”
The success of this summer pilot program has opened new opportunities for local Southern Illinois high students as the foundation looks to expand its partnership with SIU providing participants with a wide range of academic experiences in the future.
“One of our primary goals is to help local students recognize that groundbreaking research is happening right here in Southern Illinois and that they have access to an R1 research institution where they can begin building the skills, confidence, and experiences needed to pursue meaningful careers,” Sneed said.