I spent the summer working with the Woodrow Wilson Center's Synthetic Biology Project. I collected data on companies and research institutions doing synthetic biology and wrote a brief report on the growth of the synthetic biology field worldwide. Ultimately my data will be turned into a public database that will help track the expansion of synthetic biology from academia to industry . Hopefully my work at the Wilson Center will help increase public awareness about the applications and benefits of synthetic biology and encourage the safe growth of the field.