Though he's normally a quiet and mild-mannered person, junior Patrick McMillen's eyes light up when he begins to talk about his research. Speaking a mile a minute about tadpole embryos and mRNA, McMillen unveils his passion - and reveals his unique opportunity to pursue it.
After winning a prestigious Neubauer Scholarship at the end of high school, McMillen has been able to jumpstart his career as a biological researcher as an undergraduate at Tufts.
"[The Neubauer Scholarship offers] you a $10,000 research grant to pretty much spend on whatever you want to fund your own research," said McMillen, who has been studying frog development for almost a year in the lab of Kelly McLaughlin, an assistant professor in the biology department.
"People know you're actually serious about research when you're a Neubauer Scholar. If I weren't a Neubauer Scholar, I probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to work there," McMillen said.
At the lab, McMillen has been working on high-level molecular research concerning kidney development and notch signaling in frogs.
"We induce the frogs to lay eggs, and we take the eggs and we fertilize them in vitro in a dish," McMillen said. "Then, I'll actually take an incredibly thin needle and microinject into them. I take one gene and try to figure out what role that gene plays during the development of the kidney in the frogs that we study.
"It's very 'Jurassic Park,'" he added.
Through his scholarship, McMillen will have the opportunity to present his research to nationally acclaimed scientists, which is a rare opportunity for undergraduates.
"I intend to go to different conferences around the nation to present my work," McMillen said. "That's something I just wouldn't be able to do [without the scholarship], because it's maybe $1,000 to go to a seminar, and the lab probably wouldn't be able to pay for that."
McMillen's plans are still open-ended: He may use the scholarship as an aid in "purchasing reagents or kits to allow me to do something that's not exactly what our lab does but is related. Maybe it will fund my ability to do that so I can branch out into a particular focus or interest," he said.
Having received a head start from his scholarship, McMillen hopes to continue with molecular research and earn a Ph.D. so that he can eventually become a professor in a university setting.
"The thing about biology research is, you really have to spend a lot of time getting the background to do useful things with your money," he said. "There's not really that much that a sophomore or freshman in biology can do, so I've been building up to a point where I can actually spend my money for a purpose."
While his professional career is still far off, McMillen said his experience has been incredibly valuable.
"The road to become a professor is at least 10 years ... so I would definitely get specified into one category, which may or may not be what I'm doing now," he said. "I'm studying development now, but I'm getting trained to go into other fields that are molecular-based. It could be anything: It could be cancer research, it could be disease research, it could be human genetics."
According to McMillen, all of these fields are cutting-edge, worthwhile endeavors.
"Biology is such a fascinating field to be in right now; it's changing so much and it's really shaping the world," he said. "I like to think my research is as much work and as important as my academics, and there's so much advantage to that."
McMillen won the Neubauer Scholarship after displaying leadership and scientific interest as a member of his high school's National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB) team.
"We were national champions during my junior year of high school," McMillen said. "I took kind of a leadership position in that team, and because of that, I kind of differentiated myself and attracted the attention of the Neubauer program."
According to McMillen, that gave him opportunities he would otherwise not have had.
"I went to a public school ... but still, they managed to see something in me, even though it wasn't really a magnet school or a fancy private school or anything," McMillen said of being recruited by the Neubauer board. "They were able to go through the effort to kind of find special things about me."
At Tufts, McMillen became interested in McLaughlin's lab work after listening to her lecture in her Biology 13 class.
"I was really impressed by her emphasis on actually wanting undergraduates to really come forward," he said. "I'm not saying that other labs don't, but she really came out there looking for undergraduates, and that got me interested."
McMillen has been working in McLaughlin's lab since last spring. He worked there over the summer and plans to continue next semester.
When he's not doing research or studying, McMillen enjoys fencing, playing the flute and "Frisbee golf," a unique hybrid sport which he and his friends first learned about on the popular TV show "Seinfeld."
In addition, McMillen has worked as a tutor for his high school's current NOSB team and was a teaching assistant for Bio 13 and 14. These experiences, he said, have helped him gain skills he'll use later in life.
"It sort of goes along with my career goal of being a professor," he said, "because I can combine the research and the teaching, which makes it kind of interesting."
"In 14 or so years," McMillen added, "I'd like to be a biology professor at a university like Tufts."
