High School Student Successes
UM research labs are an important incubator for Montana鈥檚 young scientists and offer valuable peer mentorship opportunities to students involved.
Mila McKay is a Hellgate High School student in Ms. Willow Affleck鈥檚 Advanced Problems in Science class. She has conducted research for two years in Professor Monica Serban鈥檚 lab at UM.
At the聽Montana Tech Regional Science and Engineering Fair聽for high school students from聽MT, ID, UT, & NV in聽March 2023, Mila won Division 1 Top Scoring 12th聽Grade Project, Division 1 ISEF 1st聽Place Grand Award (International Science and Engineering Fair Attendee) and Blue Ribbon 鈥 Gold Medal, for聽聽on veterinary applications for silk sutures, entitled 鈥淪ilk Fibroin-Coated Drug-Eluting Sutures鈥. She will attend ISEF for the second year in a row, representing Montana. Thank you to Professor Serban and her lab for supporting young scientists!