Humans of UW Bioengineering

Alex Ochs is a first year PhD student. Read more to learn about how he found his passion for biology and human health, despite facing challenges coming to BioE with a background in mechanics gained during his Master’s studies, and how he finds work-life balance at school.

After wrapping up the second year of the Humans of UW Bioengineering blog, recent B.S. grads Vanessa Nguyen and Samantha Sun reflect on their motivation to become involved in the project and how they found inspiration in working with their fellow students to share their stories.

Senior Timothy Bi, part of the Daggett lab, talks about his experience in UW BioE and UW Academy. He sees med school in his future, but is planning to work for a few years and figure out his next steps.

Senior Yiming Li talks about her research investigating the blood protein Von Willebrand factor (VWF) to better understand how to better control blood clotting, and how a sports injury led her to discover bioengineering. She reflects on how the BioE undergrad cohort system enhanced her experience in the major, and her hopes to pursue health care solutions for low-resource settings in her master's degree study at Cornell.

Senior Robyn Langevin talks about her work in the Seelig synthetic biology lab on a new diagnostic that detects differential gene expression associated with cancer or autoimmune disorders. She also discusses the importance of academic outreach and giving back to the community, and how personal struggles helped her gain perspective on her experience in BioE.