Professor Shukla, Center for Biomedical Engineering


For the second seminar from We-Lab this year, Professor Anita Shukla at the Center for Biomedical Engineering at Brown University presented on her work in biomaterial surfaces. As a person who does not follow biomedical engineering, I was enlightened by her talk and learned a lot about health issues and the need for biomaterial products.

She received her BS from Carnegie Mellon in chemical/biomedical engineering and then went on to pursue a graduate degree -- actually two -- from MIT (MS in Chemical Eng. Practice and a PhD in ChemE). I was surprised to hear of her postdoc studies at Rice, as I haven't heard of many engineers and physicists discuss such opportunities.

Her discussion of drug delivery methods and how it is still an interesting issue for health professionals as well as bleeding relief methods. I enjoyed the detail she had her explanation of her grad research in layer-by-layer films and sequential absorption mechanisms. How she went about the chemical combinations and architecture to form such a product also intrigued me. (I forgot how much I actually liked chemistry for a moment.)

More importantly, I found her tips on summer research really helpful. As a first-year it was nice to hear of how others went about their careers in science: finding research opps, landing an internship or job, exploring grad schools, etc. Talking with her afterwards also helped motivate my own journey. All in all, the talk was informative and inspiring.

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