A scientist in the pet food industry finds a program flexible enough to fit her career and develop new passions and opportunities.
Madison Amundson always knew she’d go further. After earning her undergraduate degree and landing a role as an associate scientist in the pet food industry, she had the career but she also had questions. Questions about nutrition, about processing, about all the science happening beneath the surface of the pet food products she helped bring to market. What she needed was a program that could keep pace with her curiosity without asking her to put her life on hold.
She found it in the Veterinary Biomedical Sciences master's program offered at Kansas State University Olathe in partnership with the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
"I always knew I wanted to pursue a master's or Ph.D. in the animal health space," she said. "This program was perfect, allowing me to tailor my classes to my interests and complete my degree while I worked full time."
A degree she could make her own
What drew Amundson to the program was not just flexibility but the ability to build something that was genuinely hers. She enrolled in courses covering a wide variety of spaces and every class connected directly to her career or to where she wanted her career to go.
"This program allowed me to enroll in courses that actually aligned with what I was doing professionally and what I wanted to understand more deeply," she said.
The course that opened new doors
If there is one experience that reshaped Amundson's sense of what she wanted, it’s her pet food processing class. She expected it to be useful. She did not expect it to spark a new passion.
"Processing is both a science and an art. Every chance I get now, I am trying to learn about different processing techniques and how they affect palatability, the final product and the nutritional composition."
That shift opened Amundson to career possibilities she had not previously considered. She describes it as the kind of change that only happens when you stumble into something you did not know you loved.
The class she almost talked herself out of
Not every breakthrough came easily. When Amundson enrolled in nutritional physiology, she was nervous. The course was dense, technical and required a different kind of thinking. She took it anyway.
"It was one of the best experiences for building my technical knowledge," she said. "But it was also a personal growth opportunity. I took on an intimidating challenge, applied myself fully and excelled. I learned not to doubt myself and to take each challenge day by day."
Making it work
Balancing graduate school with a demanding career is not a casual undertaking. For Amundson, the key has been structure and starting early. At the beginning of every semester, she maps out due dates and plans her weeks around them. She reaches out to instructors proactively when conflicts arise rather than scrambling at the last minute.
This experience has also shaped how she thinks about leadership, specifically about encouraging others to try new experiences before deciding whether they are passionate about them.
"It can be difficult to know if you are truly passionate about something unless you get the opportunity to experience it first-hand," she said.
What comes next
Amundson plans to continue in the pet food industry after finishing her degree, but with a wider sense of what is possible. New interests have emerged, new questions have formed and new doors have opened that did not exist before she started.
"Every class I have taken, I have been able to take away important skills or knowledge that created new perspectives," she said. "I will strive to use the skills I have developed frequently and seek out new learning opportunities every chance I get."
She has already started telling colleagues about the program to encourage those around her to pursue their passions. What started as a goal to expand her expertise has become something larger, a renewed curiosity, a broadened professional vision and the confidence that she can take on a hard challenge and thrive.
