Undergraduate Summer Scholar plans to make a difference through healthcare imagery research
‘I think I can save and help many lives, and I find great fulfillment in that’
Undergraduate Summer Scholar plans to make a difference through healthcare imagery research
‘I think I can save and help many lives, and I find great fulfillment in that’
Videography by Zach Burnett and Cameron Johnson
Choosing the right university sometimes comes down to one thing: that certain feeling you get when you step foot on campus. For Will Donovan ’27, a Biomedical Engineering major at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University, it was the openness and nature here — something he takes great pride in seeing each day.
He feels that what’s special about ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú is the community — and one of the strongest avenues he’s found that has been through being a member of the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University Men’s Glee Club, which he joined during his sophomore year. “Dr. Jeremy Jones is an incredible director for the group. I really appreciate his professionalism while enabling us, the boys, to really grow and flourish as friends and as choir mates,” he said.
His current roommate is also a Biomedical Engineering major — a friend he made during his second day of classes — and he credits ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú with helping him make that connection. “I think ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú has a very good program for finding friends and finding like-minded people, especially within your major,” Donovan said.
Helping others through research
By choosing Biomedical Engineering as his major, Donovan has a specific goal: to make a difference. He mentioned, “I feel like I can best apply what I like to do most, which is look at us as people and see places where we can always make our lives better. I really want to go into cancer research and cancer screening. That's why I am currently doing research on imaging and imaging technology, and I'd love to really be a key player in enhancing that field in the future. I think I can save and help many lives, and I find great fulfillment in that.”
In September 2025, Donovan began conducting research with his faculty mentor Shuying Li, assistant professor of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering, and that research has continued this summer as part of the Undergraduate Summer Scholars program — a 10-week program offering research experiences for undergraduate students at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú. The program offers a $7,000 fellowship and faculty-mentored research experiences for up to 45 undergraduate students at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú each summer. “I'd really like to shout out my research professor, Dr. Shuying Li, for really facilitating everything I've been able to do this recent year at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú — with all the research I've been getting done and really found my place within the academic scene,” he said.
Donovan recognizes the value of the research he’s conducting and the impact it can potentially make in healthcare. “My research is making sure that our machine learning programs can accurately and quickly be able to process and enhance an image so that they could be used in real time by doctors and surgeons during surgery or otherwise,” he said.
He finds this work very exciting and enjoys being able to contribute his ideas. Donovan said, “I finally get to be the person that is the expert in that field. I'm doing research that not many people have done before, and I'm combining certain aspects of computer science and engineering and imaging in such a way that is new and novel.”
Crafting connections
What’s helped him the most in his academic career has been the expertise of his professors.
In addition to his research professor, Shuying Li, Donovan also praised Hui Wang, associate professor of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering, for helping him learn the practices that will aid in his research efforts.
It’s those connections — and the coursework and research experience that came along with it — that Donovan feels have allowed him to push himself in new areas, setting him up for the work that he wants to do in the future. “I will likely be working in a lab or working on software remotely for a company that values my work and some of the novel things that I've done. And so having access to professors who want me to succeed and really push me to learn more and do more has been very incredible in helping me prepare for the future and for the workforce,” he said.
Embracing real-world challenges and preparing for the future
Donovan offered some sage advice for others at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú based on his own experience in joining various clubs and identifying the right research path for him. “It's okay to not have it figured out right away. Sometimes it just takes time to really identify where you want to take yourself, and you have to try things along the way,” he said.
For Donovan, leadership means leading by example — and he takes great pride in sharing the lessons he’s learned with his peers to support them in their growth. “ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú, especially the glee club, has given me a place to really be a part of a community that allows me to not only learn from others but to teach them the things that I have learned,” he said.
Traveling to Italy and Switzerland in summer 2025 as part of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Engineering in Europe program, Donovan got to apply his skills in the real world — as well as take in the beautiful sights. He said, “It was always really interesting to see where engineers are working in the real world, in real time, in a country that I'm not very familiar with. And I thought I gained a lot of valuable experience from being abroad and getting to see exactly where people are working and what they're doing.”
Donovan noted, “Because of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú, I have not only found my place as a member of a strong community and a strong band of brothers — I have found my place in the impact that I want to make on the future and on the people around me.”
