Already, she’s built an impressive undergrad resume; her goal is to use her passion and education to make a difference in the field of orthopaedic implants, medical devices and prosthetics.
Title/Degree: Biomedical engineering student, concentration in mechanical engineering
Age: 21
Hometown: Baton Rouge
Now resides in: Bossier City (Ruston during school)
Degree: Biomedical engineering concentration in mechanical engineering (senior year 2011-’12)
Recent honors: Presented her orthopaedic research at a symposium in Long Beach; honored guest/speaker at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association at the AFCEA spring banquet in Bossier City; spent the summer as a selected intern at the National Health Institute in Bethesda, Md., in its Functional and Applied Biomechanics Lab/Rehabilitation Medicine Department.
Share some details about the Long Beach experience and your summer internship: My most recent honor was getting to present my research on the effects of the supracondylar humerus fracture malreduction on the elbow-carrying angle in Long Beach at the Orthopedic Research Symposium. It was a huge honor and I presented each of the four days I was there…I met many people who will be a help to me in the long run. I also just got accepted into the NIH biomedical engineering summer internship program; 173 people applied, and only 16 people were accepted. I worked among other students from schools such as MIT, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers.
What project did you work on there? It involved quantifying patellofemoral contact forces in normal as well as patellar maltrackers. I utilized MATLAB, 3D MRI and MR analysis tools to quantify patellofemoral contact mechanics.
What career will that lead you into? The field of biomechanics, or kinematics. I ultimately want to work in the field of orthopaedic implants, medical devices or prosthetics.
What brought you to Tech? My older sister attended Tech for graphic design. After attending Tech for TECH STEP in high school, I knew it was a great engineering school. I decided on biomedical engineering because my mentor, Dr. Anne Hollister, convinced me it was the perfect route for my desire to work in orthopaedics. Tech was the only school I applied to and it was a great choice.
Tell us about how your choice of major unfolded and what opportunities you expect after graduation: I love Ruston. It is a bit small for my liking, but we still make it enjoyable and a great place to live. I knew I wanted to do engineering after participating in TECH STEP. It was choosing a concentration that was most difficult. After working in orthopaedic surgery for the summer before my freshman year of college, I knew biomedical engineering was where I needed to be to accomplish the goals I had set for myself. I knew it was going to be difficult, but it would be well worth it in the end. I feel that with all the research experience, publications, presentations and internships, it shouldn’t be hard for me to get into a career I will love and appreciate every single day.
Why did you choose this career? Engineering has always been particularly interesting to me. After working at LSU Health Sciences Center in orthopaedic surgery for three summers, I knew that biomedical engineering was where I wanted to be. My uncle has been living life without an arm since he was 18. He is my inspiration in wanting to work in the world of upper extremity prosthetics. If I miss my chance to help him, I want to be able to help the veterans of wars and of wars to come. The field of biomechanics is always going to be an advanced field with a lot of room to grow in.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in the orthopaedic device industry, but I may be attending graduate school. There really is no telling where I will be in five years, but I cannot wait to find out.
Your best memories of Tech: I love walking around campus, running into people you know or haven’t seen in years and striking up a conversation. I love how friendly everyone is, and how everyone is always willing to help when you need it. I love working at S2S Tutoring Company. I feel like they are a family of mine, and I love them all. They have really helped make Tech even better than it already is.
Your advice to Tech freshmen today: You need to live in the dorms as a freshman so you can meet everyone you possibly can and really soak up the true college experience. You don’t get the real deal living off campus. I didn’t really care for the actual dorms, but the people I met my freshman year are still my friends today, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it!
"If there's one thing I've learned, it's":…to always stick together. Especially in your major specific classes! If I hadn’t become best friends with the other students in biomedical engineering, I would have NEVER made it through these years and those classes. These kids are my home away from home and there is no way any of us could succeed without the love, encouragement and help from each other all the time.
