My Major

1.   In the most basic terms, biomedical engineers learn how to apply engineering to medicine. They apply the physical sciences (physics, mathematics, and chemistry) to biology and medicine. Biomedical engineers learn how to apply other engineering fields (such as mechanical) to the human body. Through this, we are able to improve the human condition. An example of something that is made from a BME is the artificial heart. This device was created using physics, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering in order to create something that a living organism thrives off of.

2.    There are tons of fields a biomedical engineer can go in to. For one, they can go off to graduate school to further their education. This can lead to being a professor at a university. A degree in BME can also lead to research. One example of research is finding out how to incorporate lab-grown organs in to the human body.
 
   Graduates can also go on to work with medical practitioners in order to develop new medical technologies (such as instruments, sensors and synthetic materials). This can also lead to the development of imaging techniques like MRIs and X-Rays.
 
    Biomedical engineers can also go on to medical school or go to work at a BME company (such as MedTronic).

3. BME brought together my two greatest interests: medicine and engineering. Ever since I was a little kid, I loved building skateboard ramps, bike racks, etc. I was always curious with how things worked, so I would take things like speakers and skateboards apart to see how they worked.

   How could this apply to medicine? If you think about it, surgery/medicine in general is just figuring out how to put the pieces back together in order for it to work. Not only did I like the carpentry aspect of medicine, but I also love the role it plays in your life. To me, the greatest part about life is the feeling that you get from helping others. Knowing that I cured someone's injury or illness would be the greatest reward of all. With that being said, I decided to go in to a field where I could better understand the world and help people.

4. One of the most interesting individuals in BME is an individual named David Narrow. There are multiple reasons as to why this 25 year-old is one of the most exciting. For one, he started his own company named Sonavex. They are a biomedical engineering company that developed an imaging technology called EchoSure. This device allows nurses to detect blood clots before they actually occur/become a problem. Not only did he invent a life-saving device, but he has now raised $11 million to develop the technology.

    With that being said, he also won the 2013 Biomedical Engineering Innovations, Design, and Entrepreneurship Awards competition. He also runs a company called MonoMano Cycling, which makes bikes for stroke victims. All of this while only being 25 makes him in the top three most exciting individuals.

UCI UC Irvine. "Stroke Stem Cell" 09/26/2011 via flickr
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

   The next individual is named Martin Yarmush. He is a leader in tissue engineering and fabrication. He is a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering at Rutgers University. He has published over 400 articles in biomedical engineering.
 
    He has been accredited with the development of artificial organs, stem cell and tumor therapies. He has also received over 25 awards, one of which is is the Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award in 2015 (a very prestigious award). Dr. Yarmush's awards and accomplishments put him in the top three most exciting BME.

   The last person is named Conor Walsh. He is an associate professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at Harvard. The reason why he is one of the most exciting engineers is because of the research that he is conducting.

        Dr. Walsh founded the Harvard Biodesign Lab. In this lab, he leads a team of researchers on what is called the DARPA Warrior Web project. There have been companies that have developed exoskeleton's that help the disabled walk again. As Dr. Walsh and his team found, this device is extremely rigid and too bulky to wear for every day use. So, he set out develop a soft exosuit. This suit would assist with small levels of movement to the wearer.

     The reason I find this so fascinating is because he is exploring the true relationship between man and machine. The question is, can we truly coincide without tyranny? Dr. Walsh is proving that machines could some day become a part of us in ways we never knew were possible.

      Not only is he developing this technology, but he has also received the MIT business plan competition, the Whitaker Health Sciences Fund Fellowship, and the MIT Graduate Student Mentor of the Year. With his life-changing research, Dr. Walsh placed in the top three most exciting engineers.

5. The first is IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems and it is published in the U.S. The second is the Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering and it is published in the United States. The third is ACS Synthetic Biology and is published in the U.S.