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Cassidy Shaffer is a junior at ����Թ� majoring in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, whose continuous work with Dr. Barikroo in his lab, Swallowing Physiology and Rehabilitation Research (SPARR), on swallowing deficiencies in older populations through ����Թ� State’s SURE program has inspired her to continue her research outside of SURE, with the hope of being able to help others as a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) in the near future. 

����Թ� State’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) 2025 program saw many applications come through that February; Shaffer’s application among them. Prior to SURE, Shaffer and Dr. Barikroo were working together in his lab, specifically focusing on the medical side of speech pathology, which perfectly aligned with Shaffer’s interests. Shaffer’s goal when she joined Barikroo’s lab was to get experience with hands on research outside of a classroom setting. Together, the two of them sought to answer three questions “do higher hand grip strength and faster walking speed correlate with greater tongue strength and swallowing muscle activity”, secondly, are hand grip strength and walking speed negatively related to frailty and swallowing impairment, and can these physical performance measures serve as proxy indicators of swallowing function. Shaffer stated that “not many studies focused on the direct physiological relationship between physical performance and swallowing measures,” making her and Dr. Barikroo’s questions even more exciting to answer.  

After being admitted to the SURE program, participants for their study were needed, so Shaffer helped hang up tear-off-tab posters that Dr. Barikroo had created for the lab to post around campus and in the area. Overwhelmingly, in total they had 31 community dwelling adults over the age of sixty apply as participants. 

That summer, Shaffer was able to work with various tools in relation to the project. Participants were asked to walk at various speeds to measure if there was a negative correlation to frailty, tongue, and swallowing strength that coincided with hand strength as well. The hand strength of the participants was measured using a Dynamometer. Muscle activity in the heads and necks of participants was measured using Surface Electromyography to gauge their swallowing function. This was done by having participants swallow various edible materials such as water, pudding, M&Ms, and their own saliva while the sEMG was attached, along with another device called an IOPI that measured tongue strength and pressure. Throughout all this, Shaffer said that managing these tasks was a learning curve, stating that “the most challenging part was learning how to balance everything that went into the research, such as data entry, data collection, data extraction, and participant recruitment.” 

The conclusion of Shaffer’s research indicated that hand grip strength and walking speed measures indicated a positive relation to tongue pressures and sEMG measures, while higher frailty measures indicated a negative correlation with swallowing related muscle activity. Through a participant form filled prior to the experiments, it was found that two of the study participants had difficulty swallowing. Dysphagia is a medical term for when a patient has difficulty swallowing, and while none of the participants were clinically diagnosed with dysphagia, this study could open the door for those participants who struggled with swallowing to be further evaluated by a professional by their own accord.  

Shaffer stated that the most rewarding aspect of her research was “knowing that the research we were doing could potentially benefit a lot of people and give them a better quality of life,” and that the SURE program gave her the opportunity to see how medical research is conducted in real time and gain hands on experience. Shaffer also stated that “these tests are low cost for physicians and can serve as valuable screening metrics for patients,” with early screening for dysphagia being a possible preventative for future swallowing impairment. 

Shaffer said she would like to thank Dr. Barikroo for his dedication to helping her learn and grow as a student, and for agreeing to be her mentor for the SURE program. She plans to enroll in ����Թ� State’s graduate program in Speech Pathology after completing her undergraduate degree and plans to work in a hospital setting as an SLP after she graduates with her Master’s. 

_{Written by Isabella Emerick}