4 answers
Kaylee
Student
Louisville, Kentucky
2
Questions
Updated
831 views
I was wondering if anyone could answer these questions for me. I am interested in becoming a biomedical engineer, and need these questions answered for a school project. 1. What is the best part of the job 2. What is the most difficult aspect of the job? 3. What most surprised you about your job, good or bad? 4. What advice do you have for someone interested in this job? 5. What is the coolest thing you have helped engineer? If you could also provide your name for me that would be great! ?
Any more information you have about biomedical engineering would be great. Also feel free to share your experience and where you work!
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4 answers
Steve Akilan
Software Architecture
20
Answers
Cincinnati, Ohio
Updated
Steve’s Answer
Biommedical engineering is an exciting field because it combines engineering with medical knowledge as the business domain. You can be involved in how instruments and machines work to help us get better diagnostics and care. It is a broad field so it can serve as a good base to branch out from.
William Vvuko
Retired engineer
239
Answers
Moyo, Northern Region
Updated
William’s Answer
Hi Kaylee,
I do appreciate your desire to become a biomedical engineer. I'm sure you will find it very exciting.
My name is Vvuko William Luga, a retired mechanical engineer and a Ugandan by nationality. I spent most of my career in the beer industry and mostly in maintenance roles.
Engineering, throughout the ages, has always focused on meeting human needs: roads, housing, equipment/machines, home appliances, automobiles, aeroplanes, railways, home appliances, hand tools etc. In the medical field, it's impact is seen in equipment for diagnostics and operations: radiology, ultrasound, orthopedics, robotics for surgery, sample analysis equipment etc.
The most important aspect of our work is wowing the customer (consumer) with our outputs - it's about making a difference in people's lives.
Providing leadership for the team you are responsible for can be very challenging - human beings have feelings, sometimes behave irrationally and often cause conflicts due to strong differences in opinion and beliefs. Being able to successfully keep the team moving in the same direction in the pursuit of their common goal/vision in a conducive work environment can be very gratifying. Emotional Intelligence plays a major role in such a success.
The profession has taken me into areas I had never envisioned during my school days. I'm a brewer, facilitator of performance management, trainer of world class manufacturing best practices and technical training specialist. I have expertise in human resources management, quality management, occupational health & safety management and talent management - in practice, you can add secondary competencies to your core profession.
Having curiosity and an open mind is essential for us to progressively move towards the attainment of our full potential.
The most interesting project I got involved in was the manufacture of clear (sparkling) beer out of non-traditional grains (sorghum). Barley malt is the traditional source of extract for beer. Other sources of extract come as adjuncts. Uganda was the first country to do so. Project was eventually implemented in sister companies in countries such as Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe.
Tens of thousands of rural farmers in Uganda are now involved in sorghum growing for industrial use.
Success in your career requires a drive for excellence, passion, commitment, diligence, positive mindset, perseverance, attention to detail, assertiveness, curiosity, self-control, self-drive, empathy etc. Demonstrating these personal qualities in your daily routines significantly improve your emotional intelligence - the single most important contributor to success at the place of work.
I hope this sheds some light on your queries.
Best of luck in your studies.
I do appreciate your desire to become a biomedical engineer. I'm sure you will find it very exciting.
My name is Vvuko William Luga, a retired mechanical engineer and a Ugandan by nationality. I spent most of my career in the beer industry and mostly in maintenance roles.
Engineering, throughout the ages, has always focused on meeting human needs: roads, housing, equipment/machines, home appliances, automobiles, aeroplanes, railways, home appliances, hand tools etc. In the medical field, it's impact is seen in equipment for diagnostics and operations: radiology, ultrasound, orthopedics, robotics for surgery, sample analysis equipment etc.
The most important aspect of our work is wowing the customer (consumer) with our outputs - it's about making a difference in people's lives.
Providing leadership for the team you are responsible for can be very challenging - human beings have feelings, sometimes behave irrationally and often cause conflicts due to strong differences in opinion and beliefs. Being able to successfully keep the team moving in the same direction in the pursuit of their common goal/vision in a conducive work environment can be very gratifying. Emotional Intelligence plays a major role in such a success.
The profession has taken me into areas I had never envisioned during my school days. I'm a brewer, facilitator of performance management, trainer of world class manufacturing best practices and technical training specialist. I have expertise in human resources management, quality management, occupational health & safety management and talent management - in practice, you can add secondary competencies to your core profession.
Having curiosity and an open mind is essential for us to progressively move towards the attainment of our full potential.
The most interesting project I got involved in was the manufacture of clear (sparkling) beer out of non-traditional grains (sorghum). Barley malt is the traditional source of extract for beer. Other sources of extract come as adjuncts. Uganda was the first country to do so. Project was eventually implemented in sister companies in countries such as Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe.
Tens of thousands of rural farmers in Uganda are now involved in sorghum growing for industrial use.
Success in your career requires a drive for excellence, passion, commitment, diligence, positive mindset, perseverance, attention to detail, assertiveness, curiosity, self-control, self-drive, empathy etc. Demonstrating these personal qualities in your daily routines significantly improve your emotional intelligence - the single most important contributor to success at the place of work.
I hope this sheds some light on your queries.
Best of luck in your studies.
Philip Pisczak
Mechanical Engineer
1
Answer
Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Updated
Philip’s Answer
The best part of being a Biomedical Engineer is making contributions to health improvements of others. Also contributing to the medical state-of-the-art which provides now and future benefits.
Engineering can be challenging. While schooling and grades are first good initial indicators, they do not predict success. One has to have education, skills, experience, ability and (un) common sense.
The best part is making a meaningful contribution to the tasks and programs at hand. Customer and Vendor interactions. The less pleasing and more difficult is navigating corporate, department and interdepartmental politics.
If for you Kaylee, you need to have inner drive and persistence. Unlike college, there are no hard solutions. A couple of sayings: ‘There easy solutions to complex problems that are convenient, and wrong’. And, ‘ There are no solutions, just compromises’. Your job, and measure of success, is what is the best, most beneficial, combination of those compromises. Please remember, persistence trumps all.
As to the most exciting? When I designed an Industrial Disk Drive. It required knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering, materials, temperature and humidity, fluid flow, vibration and shock, and a few others while maintaining high performance.
Biomedical Engineering is ultimately a combination of all those disciplines mentioned above. On a personal note, I have benefitted from having a titanium, ceramic coated (2007) hip replacement. It took a lot of engineering, material science, trial and error, physical failure, group studies and thoughtful insight for this design to happen. I have benefitted from those noble efforts.
Total Immersion - read, watch, review, listen and discuss everything you can.
Closing the Information Loop - Join and volunteer at organizations (Red Cross, local hospitals, BioEngineering groups) where you can observe, experience and contribute
Engineering can be challenging. While schooling and grades are first good initial indicators, they do not predict success. One has to have education, skills, experience, ability and (un) common sense.
The best part is making a meaningful contribution to the tasks and programs at hand. Customer and Vendor interactions. The less pleasing and more difficult is navigating corporate, department and interdepartmental politics.
If for you Kaylee, you need to have inner drive and persistence. Unlike college, there are no hard solutions. A couple of sayings: ‘There easy solutions to complex problems that are convenient, and wrong’. And, ‘ There are no solutions, just compromises’. Your job, and measure of success, is what is the best, most beneficial, combination of those compromises. Please remember, persistence trumps all.
As to the most exciting? When I designed an Industrial Disk Drive. It required knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering, materials, temperature and humidity, fluid flow, vibration and shock, and a few others while maintaining high performance.
Biomedical Engineering is ultimately a combination of all those disciplines mentioned above. On a personal note, I have benefitted from having a titanium, ceramic coated (2007) hip replacement. It took a lot of engineering, material science, trial and error, physical failure, group studies and thoughtful insight for this design to happen. I have benefitted from those noble efforts.
Philip recommends the following next steps:
Jamie Mathews
Construction and Engineering Administration
38
Answers
Fort Worth, Texas
Updated
Jamie’s Answer
My son is in his final year of college and exploring a new role, which is exciting. I also know someone from Portugal who is a computational biologist working on Parkinson's Disease. My son used to work in a lab with Bambu and RNA sequencing, which I initially confused with bamboo and pandas! Now, he works part-time at a medical lab doing basic specimen testing, which he finds more thrilling because he feels he's directly impacting people's lives. He was pleasantly surprised by how relaxed the lab environment is, describing it as "hurry up and wait."
The computational biologist I know has done something incredible by combining her biology major with a computer science minor. She creates computer models to study Parkinson's effects and how medications interact, which is truly amazing. Currently, she's focused on protecting patient records from AI data collection, a big concern in the medical field. She's leading efforts to ensure patient privacy is respected. Even though my background is in telecommunications engineering, I've found myself drawn into the world of bio-engineering through these connections.
The computational biologist I know has done something incredible by combining her biology major with a computer science minor. She creates computer models to study Parkinson's effects and how medications interact, which is truly amazing. Currently, she's focused on protecting patient records from AI data collection, a big concern in the medical field. She's leading efforts to ensure patient privacy is respected. Even though my background is in telecommunications engineering, I've found myself drawn into the world of bio-engineering through these connections.