New grads aim to make their mark
This spring, the college welcomed more than 1,200 new alumni into the Buckeye engineering family. The 2016-17 undergraduate class, with 1,806 degrees conferred, is the largest ever in the College of Engineering’s history.
Here are just a few who made the most of their education in and out of the classroom.
Ohio State student royalty excels in research
Crowned Ohio State’s Homecoming Queen last fall, the spirited Preethi Chidambaram chose to study biomedical engineering to see where engineering and medicine coincide.
Recently, she worked on a clinical study with Cynthia Roberts, professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology, to explore how corneal biomechanics may differ by race.
Corneal biomechanics involves how the cornea, the clear tissue covering the front of the eye, moves in response to force, said Chidambaram. Variances in a person’s corneal biomechanics can determine disease development, affect response to surgery and confound measurements of intraocular pressure—an important diagnostic tool for many different diseases, including glaucoma.
Chidambaram worked with Roberts since her second year at Ohio State and has had a hand in every step of the research process, from writing the protocol to recruiting subjects and administering tests.
“Ophthalmology is something I’ve been interested in for a while, and this project has shown me more of the intersection of medicine and engineering,” said Chidambaram. “Getting to work in the clinic and seeing how biomechanics, something I have learned about theoretically in my engineering classes, actually looks in the clinic—how it is affecting what diagnoses are being made and how measurements are being interpreted—is incredible.”
During her first year at Ohio State, Chidambaram helped develop a diagnostic tool called OncoFilter that aims to detect ovarian cancer with a single drop of blood.
“Research has been a huge part of my undergraduate experience overall,” she said. “Doing research has taught me how to be more analytical about what I’m reading and learning, not just in class, but in my day-to-day life.”
Next, Chidambaram will attend medical school at Ohio State. Ultimately, she hopes to specialize in ophthalmology and use her engineering background and public health experiences to find sustainable, long-lasting ways to impact blindness in low-income countries.
“Ohio State has shaped me into a scientist and public servant with all the resources it’s provided me and I’m so thankful for that,” she said. Read more…
Well-rounded engineer sets his sights on law school after graduation
Chemical and biomolecular engineering major Brian Kulp discovered a passion for engineering, business and law at Ohio State. Now he’s taking his technical knowledge to one of the top law schools in the country, Harvard Law School.
His dual interest in engineering and business led Kulp to Ohio State to be a part of the pilot class of the Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program. While participating in interdisciplinary courses and extracurricular activities, he became interested in pursuing a career in intellectual property law.
“I kept noticing that I would be running into legal issues wherever we went, so I started getting really excited about intellectual property and the minutia that entails,” he said.
A clinical research internship at Prosoft Software near his hometown in Pennsylvania gave Kulp an up-close look at how law can impact technical research.
“What I did had to do with FDA compliance and with patent law,” said Kulp. “I realized that legal issues are always a factor during these technical processes and in trying to get everything regulated.”
Getting involved on campus also helped validate Kulp’s career ambitions. Recently he was president for both the Science and Engineering Business Club and the STEM Pre-Law Society, the latter of which Kulp founded himself.
The Science and Engineering Business Club sparked an interest in consulting, while the STEM Pre-Law Society allowed Kulp to share the impact of legal processes with fellow engineering majors. Participating in student organizations helped Kulp gain valuable experience beyond what is taught in the classroom.
“Being able to get involved and seeing what things are like in the real world prepared me really well for my internships with ExxonMobil,” he said.
After graduating from Harvard, Kulp plans to open up his own technical consulting firm, utilizing his knowledge of patent law and extensive technical skills to help others achieve success. Read more…
Forging her own path to success
Since her first semester at Ohio State, welding engineer Joan Lee filled her time outside the classroom participating in a variety of research experiences and internships.
Her research involvement has included being a research assistant for Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Gunjan Agarwal, working at Ohio State’s Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS), and spending a semester as a research assistant at the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw, Poland.
As part of the inaugural TEK8 program during her sophomore year, she worked to design challenges for middle school students at KIPP Academy based on her research experience at CEMAS to spread enthusiasm and excitement for engineering.
“I was really inspired by the TEK-8 class,” she said. “As someone who got into engineering because of the education in middle school, I know how important early exposure to engineering is for young students.”
After graduation, Lee will participate in GE Aviation’s Edison Engineering Development Program. The highly selective, multi-year program provides technical and business training for the best and brightest recent graduates, only accepting 40 students.
“The idea is that the program will get you ready with a technical background for GE through various rotations,” she said.
As the first welding engineer in the program, Lee will spend two years in Cincinnati completing rotational projects and an AB course. Then, she will return to Ohio State to complete her master’s degree before her last rotation.
Supplementing her Buckeye engineering education with research positions and internships has allowed Lee to expand upon what she learned in the classroom and gain real-world experience.
“When you are in an internship you have this freedom where people know you are still learning,” she said. “That is the best time to learn as much as you can, make all of the mistakes you can and talk to as many people as you can.” Read more…
Buckeye engineer spreads passion for computer science
When graduating senior Winnie Li first came to campus four years ago, she was unsure of where she wanted her career path to go. Now a successful leader of two student organizations with a series of rewarding internships under her belt, the computer science and engineering trailblazer is ready for the professional world.
"My involvement in student organizations is what really drove me to stay in the major and made me realize that you can use technology to help a lot of people, and solve a lot of problems,” said Li.
For the past two years, Li has served as president of the Association of Computing Machinery Women’s Chapter (ACM-W), working to build a community of women in computer science and equip them with skills to achieve their goals in the classroom and beyond.
“The idea is to empower, encourage and support women in computer science and other STEM fields, because the field is still so heavily dominated by males,” said Li. “It can be hard to see yourself succeeding and find motivation when you are one of two girls in a class.”
She also works to foster tech culture among her fellow students and the Columbus community through her role in OHI/O, Ohio State’s hackathon program. “A hackathon is not just for engineers or computer scientists, it’s for anyone who wants to learn a new skill and maximize their impact in their own field.”
Li has taken the knowledge she acquired in the classroom to several internships during her time at Ohio State. Her experience included teaching young students at tech camps, working as an application developer on JP Morgan Chase’s HR technology team and working at Microsoft’s New England Research Development Center in Boston.
After graduation, Li will continue her work with Microsoft in San Francisco as a product manager in the development division, working within the iOS team on mobile products that will help engineers write code more efficiently. Read more…
From refugee to graduate: one unstoppable engineer’s journey
For electrical and computer engineer Myer Tuolee, the path to the podium has been a long journey—one delayed but not stopped by war, a refugee camp or his immigration to the United States.
“The refugee commission, the UNSERO, was only responsible for relief—food, shelter, medication. They were not providing an education for us,” said Tuolee. “So I was in the camp without school for more than 10 years.”
In September 2009, he left the refugee camp behind and joined his girlfriend and daughter in the United States. Tuolee got a job in a factory, where he made friends with engineers who encouraged him to go back to school.
“Education is important to live a better life, because education is a gateway for a lot of opportunities,” he said.
Returning to school brought new challenges for Tuolee, who was working full-time in order to support his family. He also had to transition from different learning conditions in Liberia to the American school system after spending years out of the classroom.
“It was like leaving from darkness and coming to the light,” Tuolee said. “Here in the United States some of my professors are the authors of the textbooks they teach, so if there is a mistake in the textbook they can make the necessary corrections during lectures. But in Liberia, if there is a mistake in a textbook, nobody knows and you will be learning something that isn’t right.”
Although returning to school has not been easy, Tuolee encourages others to continue to learning and stay on top of research and new developments in their area.
“I am grateful for this country,” said Tuolee. “This country gave everybody freedom no matter their background, no matter where they came from, to do what they want to do, advance their potential and gain what they would like and live how they want to live. Read more…
