Teen spirit in the lab

Although still in high school, VanDommelen has logged hundreds of hours in a lab headed by biomedical engineer Melissa Skala at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The experience has sent the teenager down a career path that will probably include many more hours at the bench. “At first, I wasn’t sure that research was something that I wanted to do in my future,” VanDommelen says. “But after all of the positive experiences that I’ve had, I definitely want to continue this.”