Applying Engineering Concepts to the Human Body
TRANSCRIPT
Alison Yurchak (BME, M.S. CHE 5th Year): I knew I was an engineer through and through because I grew up building my own toys, playing with Legos and Lincoln Logs, but I always thought the apparatus of the human body was a really cool way to apply the concepts of engineering.
In BME, you actually have to relate to people who don鈥檛 understand engineering and don鈥檛 understand what goes on in the background.
I don鈥檛 think a lot of people understand how much engineering affects them until you go to something like where it鈥檚 medical, where it鈥檚 like a little bit more direct, a little bit more intimate.
That was one thing I liked about Illinois Tech where this is so engineering heavy it鈥檚 insane compared to other schools for BME where 90 percent of the classes I take are hardcore engineering classes.
The freshmen on the women's lacrosse team they鈥檙e like, 鈥淗ey you鈥檙e from the East Coast, you should join lacrosse.鈥
I picked up a stick and fell completely in love with the sport. I had no idea what I鈥檓 doing, I hit myself in the face 20 times, I鈥檓 covering up the scars right now with makeup.
I鈥檓 a better student when I am in season. It definitely toughened me mentally and physically.
I want to combine the medical side of Pharma. I want to go into injectables and, you know, other therapies that we could use with the drugs we already have. We need to get these drugs out quicker; we need to get these therapies to the patients quicker.
So my whole goal was like I want to picture the stuff I鈥檓 learning, I want to see how this could apply in the real world, and that鈥檚 why I鈥檝e loved all of my internships where I can like see it in front of me and see the other applications of everything that I鈥檓 learning and creating the career that I want.
I still don鈥檛 think that there鈥檚 enough out there for me to accomplish, I still want to shoot for the moon.
