ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Thousands of University of Michigan students are wearing surgical masks around campus these days as part of a study to determine whether masks can help prevent the spread of influenza.

Some students volunteered for educational reasons, others received a $100 for participating in the study.

The study will last a maximum of six weeks.

"This is the first time the mask theory has been studied in a residence hall setting," Allison Aiello, a professor of epidemiology and a co-principal investigator of the School of Public Health study, along with fellow professor Arnold Monto, told the Ann Arbor News.

Residence halls, where students room together and share hallways, bathrooms and dining areas, are an ideal setting to study the spread of such an airborne virus, the researchers said.

The study is funded by a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and coincides with the seasonal arrival of influenza on the UM campus.

Seven residence halls are taking part in the study.

Residents in Alice Lloyd, Couzens, Betsey Barbour and Helen Newberry are wearing masks, and residents in Bursley Hall on North Campus are wearing masks and using a hand sanitizer. A control group in East Quad and Stockwell is not using either measure, but subjects will participate in regular online surveys if they start to show flu symptoms.

Participating students are expected to wear the masks around their dorms.

Aiello told the Ann Arbor News that the study could help researchers know how do deal with a flu pandemic.

"We're looking forward to getting this data and studying it, '' she said. "It's nice to be part of something that could make history.''