Despite tanning well in the summer thanks to his Italian genes, Anthony Frederick (junior-sociology) has light skin. He is white, and so are his parents and all of his close relatives.

So, naturally, when a DNA test came back showing he is 14 percent African and 6 percent East Asian, he was shocked.

"When I got my results I was like, there's no way they were mine," he said. "I thought it was just an example of what the test was supposed to look like. Then I was just like, oh my God, that's me."

Last semester, about 120 students volunteered to take a DNA test under the direction of Mark Shriver, associate professor of anthropology and genetics. The test, called "AncestrybyDNA," is the first of its kind since it allows the possibility of mixed race results. These results are divided into percentages of European, sub-Saharan African, East Asian and Native American.

The results, as well as other questions about race, were presented last night in a panel discussion titled "What is Race?" in Thomas Building to about 40 students and professors.

Ron Jackson, associate professor of communication arts and sciences, said that race is really just a social construct -- something we create.

"Race is what we say it is because the language we use consistently confines us as individuals," he said. "We define our realities, but are we ready to redefine our reality with respect to race?"

Shriver, on the other hand, discussed race from a biological perspective. He presented results of DNA tests from people all over the country to show that there is often an overlap between people who identify as "black" but have white DNA, and vice versa.

"There is no such thing as 'real racial divisions,' " Shriver said. "Races don't exist in the way people think; [DNA tests] highlight the flexibility of social categories."

During the discussion, students who had surprising DNA results shared their stories.

Chassity Wells (sophomore-communication arts and sciences) discovered she was 21 percent European despite having very dark skin.

She said she was most surprised because some of her lighter friends had more African DNA than she did.

"I was surprised because I'm all into Black Caucus and knowing about black culture," she said, after which sociology professor Sam Richards chimed, "You gotta catch up on your white culture!"

Frederick said his results caused him to see the world from a broader frame.

"Everyone becomes 'one' more than they did before," he said. "I used to look at people being 'black', but now I'm a part of it, too. It puts the world in a different perspective. Even if we don't know it, we're all linked somehow or another."

The discussion is a compliment to the Human Race Machine, both of which were sponsored by Eberly College of Science, the College of Liberal Arts and Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.

Bryson Nobles, project coordinator for the Race Relations Project, said that DNA tests and the Human Race Machine will help people open their minds a little more.

"The point is for people to decide what race really means," he said. "Most people try to determine a person's race by looking at them. The reality is, it's easy to be very, very wrong."

Richards said he will use Shriver's material to back up what he has always said in class -- it is impossible to clearly define race.

"Race is a nebulous concept," he said. "We create race, we create the categories of race, and this just clarifies this. The Human Race Machine and panel discussion both sort of highlight the grayness of race."