Since graduating from the Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering until early July of this year, I worked for a company in Indianapolis called Resultant, a consulting firm that does private and public sector work. My work was mostly centered around helping State government agencies understand how to use data as a predictive tool to serve their citizens better. A specific example of this was helping the Indiana Department of Health track COVID-19 virus concentration in wastewater sewer sheds as a method to predict which regions of the State were more prone to disease outbreaks. This allowed public health officials enough of a time buffer to implement key guidelines to mitigate disease spread. Additionally, I spent a little over a year in the Orr Fellowship. Named after former Indiana Governor Robert Orr, the organization serves to personally and professionally develop future business leaders and entrepreneurs in various industries. I was accepted into the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lillington, North Carolina in January of this year. I was also accepted into the United States Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program in March and was sworn in as a Second Lieutenant on June 30th.

My three years in the Weldon School of BME pushed me to grow personally, professionally, and academically in a way I had never experienced before. Being surrounded by hundreds of brilliant students and professors with wide-ranging career experience in industry, medicine, and academia created a learning environment second to none. The competitive yet collaborative curriculum provided pertinent experience in solving wide-ranging problems encountered by people from all walks of life. The Weldon School of BME also provided opportunities to work with individuals from different professional backgrounds on real-world projects, equipping us with the tools necessary to work effectively with individuals with differing skill sets from numerous industries.

BME 48901 (Senior Design) with Dr. Hugh Lee was the class that stretched me the most professionally. I worked with a peripheral nerve medical device company and a team with four other students to create a microfluidic device mimicking the nerve vasculature in the human hand. Collaborating simultaneously with project engineers, professors, surgeons, and company stakeholders provided real-world experience and insight into the iterative design process of medical device prototype creation. Additionally, working with individuals from diverse professional backgrounds helped me learn how to balance the needs of each group when creating design criteria.

Taking a non-linear path to your dream career is not a bad thing. In fact, it can open doors you never thought possible. During my time as an undergrad, I was sold on preparing myself for medical school and for life as a physician. As I was going through the medical school application process my senior year, I also decided to apply to Resultant. I ended up not getting a medical school offer but landed a job offer with Resultant. Initially, I was discouraged that I did not get into medical school and was a little nervous about how my education as a BME would translate to the consulting world. I quickly learned, however, that consulting is mainly working with a team to solve complex problems that clients face in their everyday work. At the Weldon School of BME, we are taught from the very beginning of the curriculum how to gather stakeholder needs and work with multi-disciplined teams to solve complex problems. My time in the Weldon School of BME ultimately prepared me for my time at Resultant. While working for Resultant, I fell in love with consulting and got to work closely with governing public health agencies in Indiana and Iowa, ultimately bolstering my medical school application and opening the doors of multiple schools. Not only did I end up on the trajectory of my dream career path, but I discovered a completely different industry that I might end up pursuing again in the future. You're more than an engineer. You're a problem solver. The world needs more people like each of you. No matter what industry you end up in, the Weldon School of BME equips you with the critical thinking skills necessary to thrive.

During my time at Purdue, I was a member of the Alpha Chi Chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX). Since January 2023, I have served on the fraternity's Alumni Chapter Board as the Secretary and Treasurer. I also have been fortunate enough to come back for a few football and basketball home games. There is truly no place like Ross-Ade Stadium or Mackey Arena!

Connect with me via LinkedIn