UM research labs are an important incubator for Montana’s young scientists and offer valuable peer mentorship opportunities to students involved.

Mila McKay is a Hellgate High School student in Ms. Willow Affleck’s Advanced Problems in Science class. She has conducted research for two years in Professor Monica Serban’s lab at UM.

At the Montana Tech Regional Science and Engineering Fair for high school students from MT, ID, UT, & NV in March 2023, Mila won Division 1 Top Scoring 12^th Grade Project, Division 1 ISEF 1^st Place Grand Award (International Science and Engineering Fair Attendee) and Blue Ribbon – Gold Medal, for her paper on veterinary applications for silk sutures, entitled “Silk Fibroin-Coated Drug-Eluting Sutures”. 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!