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’t understand engineering and don’t understand what goes on in the background.

I don’t think a lot of people understand how much engineering affects them until you go to something like where it’s medical, where it’s 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’s 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’re like, “Hey you’re from the East Coast, you should join lacrosse.”

I picked up a stick and fell completely in love with the sport. I had no idea what I’m doing, I hit myself in the face 20 times, I’m covering up the scars right now with makeup.

I’m 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’m learning, I want to see how this could apply in the real world, and that’s why I’ve loved all of my internships where I can like see it in front of me and see the other applications of everything that I’m learning and creating the career that I want. 

I still don’t think that there’s enough out there for me to accomplish, I still want to shoot for the moon.