For Indiana State University student Dana Ping, enrolling as an Indiana State Sycamore had been in her thoughts for as long as she could remember. In a way, she’d always expected that Indiana State was going to be part of her story.
“I’m a third-generation Sycamore,” Ping explains. “My grandma and both my parents graduated from Indiana State. My grandparents worked here, and my mom [Associate Director of Financial Aid Laura Ping] works here now. I knew it was going to be right for me.”
Still, legacy alone wasn’t enough. Ping had to see for herself if she could succeed at Indiana State. That’s why she registered for the Sycamore Summer Scholars program, a weeklong residential program for high school students to take college classes, meet friends, and earn college credit. While in the program, Ping took a seminar in genome science, and that’s when she knew she was in the right place.
“I came for genome science, and I fell in love immediately. It was a great chance for me to see what an actual lab looks like,” she says. “The labs, the biology department… Everything just clicked.”
That summer program sealed the deal. Now a sophomore majoring in Biology with Medical Laboratory Science Specialization, Ping is already preparing for a career working behind the scenes – analyzing blood, fluids, and tissue to support doctors and medical professors in clinical labs. The program allows Ping to explore her passion in immunology research – a field she calls “her jam.”
“I like being able to look at the human body at a microscopic level. I love understanding why our body has inflammation and what it actually does for us,” she says.
That curiosity has already taken her far beyond the typical undergraduate experience. In Indiana State’s Department of Biology, Ping is conducting research often reserved for graduate students. Her work focuses on lactoferrin, a protein found in fluids like saliva and blood, and how it behaves during inflammation. She discovered something surprising about how the protein behaves under stress.
“It completely loses its ability to bind to zinc but can still bind to iron,” she explains. “That [research] has led me into the field of protein studies and to look at what components are in a protein. It also opens up a lot of questions about what’s actually happening in the body.”
That early access to research is something Ping doesn’t take lightly. Through programs like the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE), she has spent weeks immersed in lab work, guided by faculty members who engage with their students as collaborators.
But Ping didn’t want her college experience to live only inside the biology lab. She wanted to be involved on campus, and she’s been shaping the culture of the Biology department as a leader in the Biology Club and founder of the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Club. She formed the MLS club after noticing some students felt uncertain about what is involved in the medical laboratory science field. In the club, students ask questions, share their experiences, and better understand what lies ahead after graduation.
“I wanted people to know what to expect in medical laboratory science,” she explains. “We talk about internships, interviews, clinicals, what it’s like to work in a hospital lab, and everything else. The club is a great way to keep students in the MLS program and let them know what’s coming for them in clinicals.”
The clubs are all about connection, Ping says. Through both clubs, she has helped create something just as important as academic success: community.
“My peers have helped me achieve the goals I was looking for at Indiana State,” she says. “They’ve helped me reach out to people in other classes and spread the message that we’re trying to come together as one unit in the program. We’re all here for each other.”
Looking ahead, Ping sees a future rooted in more research – first in a hospital lab and eventually moving into private-sector research focused on vaccines or rare diseases.
“There’s so much we still don’t understand,” she says. “I’d love to work on rare and autoimmune diseases. Those are diseases that I find really fascinating, and I think there is a lot more that we can learn about them.”
It’s that sense of possibility—the idea that there are still questions waiting to be answered—that keeps her moving forward. It’s also what she hopes other students will find when they arrive at Indiana State.
“Indiana State gives you the chance to step into your field before you graduate,” Ping comments. “I’ve had so many opportunities to lead, to research, and to really do what I love.”
For Ping, that combination has made all the difference. Because finding your place isn’t always about following a path that’s already been laid out for you. Sometimes, it’s about building one yourself—experiment by experiment—and encouraging others to join you on the journey.