Summer Adventures: Mikayla Donovan

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Mikayla presenting her research

Mikayla Donovan is a rising junior majoring in biology and economics on the pre-veterinary science track at UMass Amherst, and is a member of the iCons program. She sat down to discuss her summer plans!

What are you doing this summer?

This summer, I am working at the Weston Veterinary Clinic and I'm a veterinary assistant, so I support the veterinarians and the technicians. I do things like take patient vitals, monitor vitals during surgeries, prepare medications and vaccines – a lot of just general maintenance and upkeep of the hospital and all of our patients. I'm a pre-vet student, so it works really well. I'm getting hands-on clinical exposure and clinical hours that will really help me in my future.

I also got into the William Lee Science Impact Program (Lee SIP). It's a research fellowship for UMass students during the summer, and we get to conduct research and come up with our own independent research project with faculty on campus. It’s a ten week program that I’m actively involved in throughout the week, alongside my time at the clinic. At the end of the program we will all present our findings from this whole program, and we’ll present that at the UMass Amherst Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. I was also invited to present at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence 2024 Symposium: Elevating Student Voices.

I'm getting hands-on experience in both positions. The lab is great because I'm getting a fundamental understanding of what it's like to work in a lab and really furthering my skill set that I've been developing since I started doing research on campus in my first year at UMass. The research is molecular ecology and conservation, which lines up with my bio major. We do a lot of work with genomics and genetics, and using samples like genetic samples from turtles and fish to understand how climate change is impacting their ecosystems and their ability to function and thrive.

Mikayla checking a patient at the veterinarian clinic where she worked.

What have your experiences been like at the clinic? What skills have you gained?

I've gained a really good understanding of what it's like to have this profession. The only way you can really figure out if this is something that you want to do and something that you're skilled at and passionate about, is to be with the animals, with the clients, with your coworkers, with veterinarians. It’s one of the most valuable things I've learned so far. I've been working this job since I got out of high school and it's honestly given me such good insight into what this profession is.

I've developed such a deep understanding of the science and the medicine behind the procedures that we do, the vaccines that we draw, the drugs that we use, and the medications we prescribe. It's been really fascinating to see cases come in with animals that need help, and being able to see the methodology that goes on to cure them — to diagnose and to treat them. So I would say I've really been learning the ins and outs of what this job is, what it's all about, and what it takes — which is really helpful for me as someone who's strongly considering that future.

I've also developed a lot of skills clinically. A lot of things like animal restraint, a lot of practice with drawing up vaccines, medications, monitoring vitals, taking vitals, general upkeep and maintenance of a clinic. Also a lot of animal behavior and disease. It's been really fascinating to learn about how animals are behaving differently, maybe when they're in different emotional states, when they're stressed out, or when they're interacting with others. Observing what might trigger them, what might set them off. Also what to look for when maybe they have certain hallmark diseases and illnesses, how their behavior could be an indicator of what's wrong with them. So I think it's been awesome to learn that and also to see what I've been learning in the classroom applied to real life. I think that's super, super valuable.

Honors students are encouraged to do research, how has your summer research program been so far?

The lab is great. I started working in that lab this past spring semester, so it's been a really seamless continuation into that lab. It’s great because I've already been trained, and I am very familiar and comfortable with the things we do and who works in that lab. But I would say something I found with this research fellowship over the summer, and being on campus during the summer, is that I have a lot more room to work autonomously, work independently, and really chart my own course in terms of research. It's not just “Get these couple things done and call it a day, and then get back to your classes.” Obviously we all have less time during the academic year to do other things and pursue other things in more depth.

But I found that without the usual stuff that fills up my schedule, I have so much more time to do in depth research on the topics that I'm already looking into, or the topics that I started looking into during the previous semester. So I would say it's been an awesome opportunity for me to further explore this subject that I'm interested in. Also by having me in the lab more, the faculty, my PI, the grad students —– have more time to mentor me, and I have more time to learn from them. So I've been picking up more skills and more understanding of  lab etiquette, methodologies, processes, and learning how to handle new equipment. I’ve also learned how to do more stuff online, like bioinformatics and statistics , which I wasn't able to do the past semester just due to time and being so new to the lab. So I would say that's probably been my favorite thing so far.

What are you doing to relax over the summer?

Well, in the summer, I take total advantage of the warm weather. Most of the year, I go surfing. I go to the beach. I'll go out to the Cape, or I'll go down to Narragansett, or even to Plymouth and Marshfield, sometimes even up to York, Maine. That's my favorite place to surf. 

During the week, I'm working, whether it be one thing or the other, so I really like to use my weekends and just go to the beach, get an early morning to head out and start surfing. I'm taking advantage of the warm weather and the time that I have. I love being outside, being with friends, being with family, and out in the environment – it's a really good mix of things that I love and people that I love.