If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering as either a first-year or transfer applicant, please discuss why you want to study engineering and why you would like to study at Duke. [/150 words]
Whether programming my Lego Mindstorms robot or prototyping a catapult for my robotics team, I loved building my own solutions to problems. But I began to gravitate towards biology. From my internship researching protein-polymer conjugates and drug nanocarriers, I saw how engineering principles could apply to the life sciences. Biomedical engineering marries my favorite parts of each discipline: the applied problem solving of engineering and the human impact of biology.
Duke provides unique opportunities that complement my interests in biology, medicine, and engineering. In the Focus program’s Genome Science cluster, I can explore multidisciplinary approaches to epigenetics and genomics, learning both the biology and the social impact of the subject. Not only can I expand the breadth of my knowledge at Duke, through research I can find depth in my area of interest. Under Professor Charles Gersbach, I could build on my prior research experience, developing biomaterials for gene delivery.