PELLSTON, Mich. — Many siblings share a special bond of being University of Michigan alumni, but not many can say that their academic journeys also included the immersive experience of taking courses at the largest of U-M’s campuses: the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) in northern Michigan.
However, once one member of the Goyal family jumped into the adventurous classes, hands-on research and scientific discovery in the remote, natural setting eight years ago, the next wasn’t far behind.
“The Biological Station was one of the most important experiences that I’ve had, as it fundamentally changed the way I think about and understand the world around me,” said Dr. Kiran Goyal, a third-year medical resident in vascular surgery at Ohio State University.
When Seeta Goyal followed her brother’s footsteps the next year to the more than 10,000-acre field research station full of forests and surrounded by lakes, she snorkeled for the first time and learned that fish slept — “They keep swimming as they sleep but stay in one place in the river as the river moves” — and in her cabin she developed a friendly rivalry with a chipmunk.
“The Bio Station was such a life-changing experience for both of us,” said Seeta, an assistant attorney general in the environmental bureau of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. “I don’t know where I would be without it.”
Connecting With Nature
Born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, as the children of doctors, the brother and sister grew up intending to follow in the family business and pursue careers in medicine.
During their undergraduate days at the University of Michigan, both Kiran and Seeta were on the similar path to medical school and driven to improve the health and wellbeing of others and explore science.
But taking summer courses at UMBS one year apart in 2017 and 2018 proved career-altering for one sibling and purpose-affirming for the other.
Both flourished in the unfamiliar terrain of the living laboratory about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.
“Our parents aren’t very outdoorsy, so I don’t know where we got it from,” Seeta said.
From UMBS to Medical School
Kiran took General Ecology in spring 2017 at UMBS and returned to the field station in 2018 to serve as a teaching assistant (TA) for the same course.
“It taught me the dangers of climate change and the importance of mitigating carbon emissions,” Kiran said. “It gave me a deep connection to nature and a strong understanding of the importance of protecting the natural world. No other place or experience has taught me so much about myself and about the world around me than UMBS.”
Kiran graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology in 2018 and from U-M Medical School in 2022. He is now a vascular surgeon in his third year as a medical resident at Ohio State University, focused on blood vessels, flow and circulation.
“The way UMBS taught me to think through the scientific process, especially when it comes to approaching a problem or question and problem-solving to find the answer, was very unique and had a really positive impact on my ability to do so in many scenarios,” Kiran said. “Additionally, it gave me a strong desire to work to hopefully have a positive impact on the world around me, which has definitely given me motivation in my career.”
Environmental Law
Kiran urged and inspired his younger sister Seeta to join him at UMBS in 2018. While he served as a TA, Seeta took two courses: Biology and Ecology of Fishes and General Ecology.
Her time living and learning at the remote field station in the Northwoods caused her to switch gears and become an environmental lawyer devoted to the protection of nature and wildlife.
“Being at the Bio Station taught me that environmental justice and preservation and conservation of natural resources are what I’m the most passionate about,” Seeta said. “Biodiversity has a lot of impact on people as climate disasters are getting exacerbated and the spread of disease as we face a future with increased pandemics, so I knew I could still help people and help communities while not necessarily going the medicine route.”
After graduating from U-M in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and environmental science, Seeta went on to the University of Minnesota Law School and is now an assistant attorney general for the State of Illinois in its environmental bureau.
Based out of Springfield, Illinois, she works closely with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and takes on cases ranging from air pollution to drinking water quality.
It’s Seeta’s way of caring for her community, a passion shared by her brother and “amped up” by the transformative experience of learning how ecological systems work together in the wild at UMBS.
"The Bio Station is our happy place and we both reminisce a lot,” Seeta said. “It’s really important to who we are as people, and it really shaped our values."
“We Are So Lucky”
Kiran remembers feeling lost and disoriented during one of his first nights at the remote, rustic campus where laboratories, classrooms and cabins are nestled along Douglas Lake, making up a small portion of the more than 10,000 acres UMBS has stewarded since 1909 to support long-term knowledge and education.
“Our group of four students had just finished designing our field experiment for our General Ecology class, which involved collecting a variety of insects for our study looking at prey size preference in American house spiders,” Kiran said. “The feelings of anxiety over my new surroundings quickly melted away as I looked up at the incredible stars in the night sky, listened to the music of the beautiful insects and the trees, and breathed the pure northern Michigan air—in that moment, I realized that I was in an incredibly special place, and that what my experience there would be more unique and formative than any other I had gone through yet.”
Seeta said when she took the fishes course at UMBS in 2018, she felt it deep in her heart when the students sampled fishes and tried to be “respectful to Anishinaabe customs so the fish wouldn’t feel pain.”
And she talked fondly about how the class followed the Maple River for 24 hours starting at the break of dawn to see bugs on the move, went snorkeling, and saw fish up close in their world.
“We tickled sleeping fish which was surprisingly cute,” Seeta said. “The Bio Station is a really good place to fall in love with organisms that are not as well represented in the cultural zeitgeist. You’re not going to experience polar bears, but maybe you’ll fall in love with insects. Those species are not as charismatic but just as important.”
Both believe that learning from the place in a supportive community of students and scientists from around the world has the power to strengthen the sustainability of ecosystems and the species that inhabit them.
“UMBS gave me incredibly deep and important friendships that I cherish to this day with people that I think are brilliant and are working hard to make the world a better place,” Kiran said.
“A lot of people helped us along this journey,” Seeta said, “It was incredible to meet so many people so passionate about ecology. We are so lucky.”
The University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.
The U-M Biological Station — the largest of U-M's campuses — is one of the nation's largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.
Founded in 1909, the Biological Station supports long-term research and education. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.
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