A paid summer internship designed for Weldon School students, (IN)SCRIBE places participants directly in Indianapolis hospitals that serve diverse patient populations. There, students work in teams to identify unmet clinical needs, engage with healthcare professionals and develop design solutions aimed at real-world medical challenges in Indiana.

Now in its fifth year, the 2025 cohort marked the first time students from both Purdue’s West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses could participate. This year’s group included five students from Indianapolis and three from West Lafayette. Gavin Strickland, a recent BSBME graduate from the Weldon School, returned to support the program as the summer teaching assistant.

But the impact runs deeper than the projects.

Gavin Wang, a senior from the Indianapolis campus, said it best:

“Meeting the guest speakers and clinicians during (IN)SCRIBE was incredibly inspiring. Each was a respected expert in their field and hearing their personal journeys and how they’ve navigated their careers was eye-opening. Their insight and experiences will serve as a meaningful guide as I work toward becoming a physician.”

For students like Janina Li, a junior in West Lafayette, the experience reshaped how she sees herself as an engineer.

“The (IN)SCRIBE Program transformed the way I view my role in biomedical engineering and helped me see first-hand the impact our work has on people's lives,” she said. “From the connections made, clinical work observed and medical devices designed, I came out of this experience with confidence in my next steps as a biomedical engineer.”

Throughout the program, students were paired with eight physicians across disciplines ranging from orthopedics and pediatric nephrology to cardiology, neurology, urology, obstetrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation. These shadowing experiences gave students a direct look at clinical challenges and the diverse opportunities for innovation.

Beyond the technical training, the program emphasizes collaboration, social awareness and cross-cultural competency—key traits for future engineers in healthcare. It also offers students a look at the full pipeline of medical device development from problem discovery to early-stage translation.

Led by faculty and staff committed to student development including Sharon Miller, Steve Higbee and Darshini Render, the (IN)SCRIBE Program is funded through an NIH Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education (R25) award (co-PIs: Miller and Higbee). It is part of the Weldon School’s broader mission to prepare engineers who are not only technically skilled but clinically informed and socially conscious.

Whether they go on to work in hospitals, startups or research labs, Purdue BME students leave (IN)SCRIBE with new skills, stronger voices and a clearer sense of the impact they can make in the world.