Biological Engineering - Interview With Alondra Rosario

Biological Engineering is our final major we will highlight here on VIEW. In this episode we explore what Bio-engineering is and how two women used it to win the Noble Prize in 2020.  We talk with current student, Alondra about her experience as a first-generation student and how her interest in engineering and love for biology led her to this field.  Finally, Scott and I catch up to talk about if the type of high school affects your admissions decision, and we discuss how reading college newspapers can be a great way to learn more about the university.

https://visit.engineering.cornell.edu/
https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/research-and-faculty/strategic-areas-research/bioengineering
https://cals.cornell.edu/education/degrees-programs/biological-engineering-major

Transcript

Intro Credits:

Teri:

Hi, I'm Teri Carey and welcome to VIEW, Voices of Incredible Engineering Women. Are you interested in math and science? Are you curious about the world? Are you an engineer? Well, maybe you don't know yet! The world of engineering is huge and we want girls to be included in the future of it. So grab a cup of coffee, get your curiosity going and listen in as we talk to real women studying engineering at Cornell.

We hope you enjoy our view.

Intro Segment:

Teri: Hi everyone! Welcome back to VIEW - Voices of Incredible Engineering Women.  I’m your host Teri Carey and today we are closing out our series of majors offered here at Cornell Engineering, with our final major - Biological Engineering. And I think this was a good one to save for the end because it is really an umbrella major. Bioengineering covers many of the other majors we have discussed including biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, chemical engineering, and works hand in hand with majors like mechanical, computer science, material science, and so many more. It is a diverse and integrated major that helps you solve problems from the molecular level all the way to a huge ecosystem level.

So what exactly is bio-engineering? Well, Biological engineering is a biology based engineering discipline that combines life sciences with engineering to solve complex problems in the world.  Basically anywhere you find living things you will find Biological Engineers. They are able to bring together the worlds of cool gadgets, technology, and engineering systems and combine it with plants, animals, and tiny organisms. So what kinds of problems do they solve? Well they can help grow more food to feed people. Or create tiny robots that travel inside the human body to deliver medicine exactly where it is needed. They help our environment too, like how they are trying to figure out how to clean up pollution by creating bacteria that can eat plastic. Biological engineers use the amazing power of nature and living things and combine it with technology to make the world a better place. 

Like I said in the beginning, biological engineering has its hand in many fields. Some great examples of this is how they assist in biomedical engineering in helping to understand how to grow new tissues and organs in a lab, they help environmental engineers by making new materials like biodegradable plastics, biological engineers help with agriculture in a big way making processes more efficient with designing systems like vertical farming (growing crops in stacked layers indoors conserving space), or growing meat in a lab from animal cells to reduce the need for livestock helping lower the impact on the environment. These are all beautiful examples of how engineering is never done alone, in a vacuum, that it is interdisciplinary and covers many other fields within it. Biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, material science, environmental engineering, and so many more partner with biological engineering to create innovative solutions in our world. 

One of those amazing innovative solutions is a technology called CRISPR. CRISPR which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (I promise I’ll help explain this in easier to understand terms shortly…) is a revolutionary technology for gene editing that allows scientists to make precise, targeted changes to the DNA of living organisms.  In 2012 two women, Dr. Jennifer Dounda and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier took this technology and created the CRISPR-Cas9 system, publishing some really groundbreaking research. They demonstrated how bacterial immune systems could be adapted for precise gene editing in other organisms, including humans. So what does this actually mean? Let’s break this all down a bit. Think of it this way, CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that they use to change DNA in living things. DNA is the set of instructions that tells every part of a living thing how to grow and work.  Now imagine your DNA is a big book filled with instructions. Sometimes there can be typos or mistakes in the book that cause problems. CRISPR-Cas9 works like a GPS and a pair of scissors to fix these mistakes. The CRISPR part acts like a GPS and finds the exact spot in the DNA where there is a mistake. Once it is found the Cas9 part (the scissors) cuts the DNA in that spot. After the DNA is cut, scientists can add, remove, or change the DNA to fix the mistake.  It means Dr. Dounda and Dr. Charpentier found a way to easily and affordably make precise changes to DNA that could be implemented to solve problems in medicine, agriculture, and so much more. This process can be used to make crops larger and more resistant to pests or help correct mutations caused by genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia. Its impact is profound, and in 2020 these two women made history by winning the Nobel Prize for their work with CRISPR-Cas9 system. The first time two women shared the prize in Chemistry.  Like I said this technology is really changing the game when it comes to helping people, and one recent paper published from University of California San Diego has used this technology to help in the fight against Malaria. In the paper the scientists talk about how Malaria kills a child every minute. Malaria is spread through mosquitos and insecticides have not been effective in helping stop the spread of this disease because these insects have become resistant to the chemicals. But with this new technology their scientists have found a way to use the CRISPR-Cas9 system to help in the fight. They are able to edit the genes of mosquitos so that when they mate, the males are sterile and the females die. Using math models and cage trials, scientists predict that releasing these genetically modified mosquitos could eliminate the specific wild mosquito population that spread Malaria without harming other species, saving millions of lives. Dr. Dounda and Dr. Charpentier really opened the door to helping solve so many problems in the world with their CRISPR-Cas9 system. I have a feeling this is going to continue to grow and more labs will use this technology to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.

And so let’s transition as I introduce our final student interview for this season, current bioengineering student, Alondra.

Interview Segment:

Teri 

Hey Alondra, how are you doing?

Alondra

Great. How are you?

Teri 

I'm good. Thank you so much for coming on. We're really excited to have you. Alondra is actually one of our new team members. She's our student worker, one of our newest student workers in the office. So I'm excited to get to know you a bit better, but also to hear about your engineering journey. So can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you.

Alondra 

Yeah, of course. So my name is Alondra Rosario. I am a bioengineer going into my senior year. I am from Allentown, PA, so about like three hours away from here. I am also in Society of Women Engineers currently. As the career development co -director. This is my second year running.

Teri

Very cool. We love SWE. I think SWE is an awesome organization. So tell me a little bit about when you first got interested in engineering.

Alondra 

I first got interested in biology. I think it was around high school when I first got my proper, my first proper biology course. And so I remember I liked the science, but I didn't particularly like the career paths of doctor or nurse. And it wasn't until I participated in PJAS or Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science that I got to explore the engineering process. And I really fell in love with it. I got to go to Penn State and present my project and I truly liked the experience overall. So then I started looking into the combination of biology, which was my favorite science and the engineering process and learned that there is a career out there for that. There's bioengineering. And so then the more I learned about it, the more I kind of fell in love with it. And so then I decided to pursue it when applying to colleges. And then now that I'm at Cornell, I kind of solidified my love for it. I don't have any regret.

Teri 

That's great. Can you tell me what your project was? What was the presentation that you did at Penn State?

Alondra 

So the project at the time was a little about circuitry, so I wanted to make a more sustainable kind of… power source for at the moment my goal was to power or charge a phone. I didn't succeed, but the process behind it was really cool. I got to work with a local college professor to do so which was a really nice experience because it made me feel like what I was doing was of substance and so then when I presented I believe I got a first place score

Teri

Awesome!

Alondra

And so then I Yeah, so like the experience of making my own project and it was very much, I led it and he just aided a little bit and I really loved it so much. And so then the presentation as well, cause it was like a PowerPoint presentation as opposed to like the science fair trifolds, which I also participated in. So I liked the entire beginning and ending of that.

Teri 

Very cool. So it brought you into engineering a little bit further and the fact that you could kind of discover what that was like. That's really awesome. So why did you come to Cornell? How did you find us? What was that process like? And then tell me what it was like when you got in, when you received the email that said that you were admitted.

Alondra 

Yes, so I'm a first gen student, my parents did not know much about college, so therefore I was not given much information to go off of. I knew very little about the reputations about colleges as well. I only knew about the local ones, because a lot of my friends would talk about them or upperclassmen would attend them. So when it came time for me to apply to colleges, I kind of looked at what other people were doing. There were a lot of colleges I did not know of or their existence. So then I kind of took their list and I researched them. And amazingly, Cornell was on one of them. Very fortunate about that. I looked into it and I saw it had the major I wanted. It had a really great reputation for engineering. And so I applied because I decided why not, you know? And so then it was, I did not apply early decision. Early decision was a very scary thing for me at the time, a very scary concept. So I applied regular decision. And then I received a likely letter and that was also very new to me. I've never heard of likly letters. I thought it was kind of like a like raising my hopes kind of scam. 

Teri 

Oh no!

Alondra

I was like what do you mean? But is this even official? Is it like tentative? Like we kind of like you maybe potentially you'll get in, but no like once I went back to my school counselor they confirmed yes this is actually legit. You are in and I got really excited. I told my mom, I explained to my mom what Cornell was and then obviously my mom went and told the rest of the family and it was a big deal for us because I'm also the first out of my cousins to go to college and I'm the older sister as well so I was really traveling this road, paving it.

Teri 

Yeah, no, that's incredible to be the first in your family. And an institution like Cornell too is really, really awesome that you're here. Likely letters, I think, are things that a lot of people don't know about. And so even me as an admissions professional, I feel like that's not something that's necessarily in the culture. People just don't hear about them very much. So I would totally be like you and be a little skeptical of what does this mean? This is not an official letter, but they're saying that I'm in. I don't really get it. So yeah, that must have been so fun to celebrate with your family and they must have been so proud. And you weren't that far from home, right? You're only, said three hours. So you're still able to get back home and not be too, far from them.

Alondra 

Yeah. Yeah, I like, I appreciate the transportation system here a lot. I, the way that I go home, every break that I can to visit. And then now that my sister has a car, I force her to come visit me as well. She's actually here right now visiting me. Yeah.

Teri 

Yeah. Very cool. Awesome. OK. So you're here at Cornell. You're majoring in biological engineering. Can you tell me in your own words what biological engineering is? And I know you said you liked biology. You kind of discovered engineering, and you put them together. And that's why you decided to be in biological engineering. But can you tell me a little bit about that and maybe what other fields bioengineering works with?

Alondra

Yes, the way that I think about bioengineering is, well first off, engineering. It's such an overarching umbrella term. So then the way that I think about it is similar to making art. So you can make art, but there's different mediums that you can use. You can use pastels, colored pencils, paint. And I think of the science disciplines as the mediums, or the medias. So the media of choice for me for me was biology. So for bioengineering, I use biology at the center. I either am inspired by biological systems, I manipulate them, I imitate them. So anything, all of my work, all my project is derived from biology. So some similar like majors or career paths are biomedical engineering and environmental engineering. I think those are the two closest. So biomedical engineering is a little bit more niche than bioengineering because bioengineering is very overarching umbrella as well because it touches different biological systems. But biomedical engineering is more centered on the human body. So medicine for the humans or like the human biological system. While bioengineering can touch on medicine, drug delivery, any of those topics, we're not restricted to it. So if at any point I decide, I want to switch it up, I can touch marine life, I can do plants, I can do microbiology, I can do a lot of other systems that I'm not confined to. Environmental engineering is also a subcategory of bioengineering. But it also kind of lends itself to a bit of civil engineering because it's on a bigger scale. It has an aspect of sustainability but also it's like more, more like agricultural. It touches like on the larger scale like it doesn't do the smaller or more animal based kind of topics. So I think that's the biggest difference between those three, and those are the most related.

Teri 

Yeah, no, that's really interesting and a great way to put that because biological engineering, feel is, like you said, it's like bigger. It's not restricted. I like that word restricted saying that you're able to go free and pass some other things. Whereas BME is very much the human body and medicine. So yeah, that was a great way to describe that. That was good. So tell me about your classes here and what you're learning in bioengineering.

Alondra 

I've taken like three years of classes now because I'm a junior. Well, I was a junior going to senior. So I think that the most bioengineering classes were taken last semester. I was enrolled in biomaterials, which spoke about kind of the synthesis of materials, but based on biology, so either inspired by it or the use of it. So like they would do hydrogels or like the analysis of them as well, kind of like seeing how they perform when you place them in different environments. Or even within drug delivery as well. How does a drug go through the human body? When does it dissolve? How fast does it dissolve? All of those aspects of it. I would say that I really liked that class a lot. That's actually what inspired me to kind of pursue that topic within bioengineering. So my class is this year, very bio material focused. And another thing that I liked about that class was that we got to do a, like everybody got assigned a group and we had to do a project where we had to research different, novel ideas for biomaterials and so then at the very end we got to present and I got to see so many different ideas, so many innovative things that we can apply to the real world. Some were sustainable, some were just for convenience, some were medical -based, so I like the range of them and just how like new these ideas were to the world and some of them are incredibly necessary.

Teri

That's really awesome. So you've kind of discovered what you wanted to do within bioengineering. Like you said, it's pretty big. So taking academics and putting them aside for a little bit, you said you're in SWE, but do you have other co -curriculars that you're interested in and participate in here at Cornell?

Alondra 

So the main club that I attend is SWE, but I have attended other clubs, for example, NSBE, which is the National Society of Black Engineers. I go to a couple of their events a year. Another one is the Beehive, which is the biological and environmental engineering kind of club on campus. 

Teri 

That's a cute name. I like that.

Alondra 

Yeah, really like I also like a little like logo will have a little bee and like the the hexagons and then we have. 

Teri 

Cute. Yep.

Alondra

Yeah, sometimes like we'll speak to students who are thinking of bioengineering as their major or they just entered the the major as well. I used to be in a project team on campus. I was part Cornell University Sustainable Design, specifically the sub -team of Soil Factory where we worked with properly understanding biochar and then enhancing its abilities in the agricultural field and then also kind of just exposing that information to farmers, especially local farmers, so that they can incorporate it into their farming methods. But I think that those are like the main co -curriculars. Apart from that, I work at the Cornell Engineering Career Center. I speak to a lot of students about their resumes, their behavioral interview skills, their cover letters, and then I also get to speak to some of the companies that come into campus and host their interviews in their office. So I think that's also a really cool thing that I do.

Teri

That is, that's really interesting to be able to have that insight and you're helping other students who maybe don't have as much experience, like with resumes and like mock interviews and stuff like that. So speaking of that, you're going to be senior in your senior year. What are you planning for after graduation? What is your future career outlook after you're done here at Cornell?

Alondra 

That is something that I'm still kind of deciding on. There's kind of in my mind, there's two paths that I'm thinking about. So there's very much going to continue education, like go after my master's in engineering, stay a few more semesters, either at Cornell or maybe another learning institution. But there's also the idea that I could potentially go straight into the workforce. If I were to do that, I don't want to limit myself yet and decide exactly what types of projects I want. I know that I'm focusing on biomaterials right now, but not exactly what purpose I want them to kind of give for the world to see. So I don't know if I want to do biomedical or I don't know if I want to do something more on the sustainable side. That's something that I guess is going to… be decided once I look into the companies that offer.

Teri 

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And the fact that you have the choices and the time you have some time, you still have all of senior year to kind of figure out and maybe, you know, going to grad school, you can then kind of explore more too with all of that. I like that you have options and I have no doubt that you will be successful in whatever pathway you go down. But that'll be a cool thing to watch happen over the next year and see where you what you decide to do at the very end. Can you tell me about your experience being a female here in engineering and here at Cornell, what you think you contribute to bioengineering specifically as a female? Like what do you bring to the field and what positives that you think you have in having this unique voice?

Alondra 

Being a female engineer here at Cornell is actually such a great experience because I know that there are other spaces where the number of women isn’t incredibly high but I feel like Cornell does a really good job of balancing everything out. I don't feel like I'm alone ever. And so then it also helps that I am part of SWE, so I have a community that will help me and back me up, but I have never once felt the like...or thought about my gender when it comes to my classes or anything like that. I am very aware of it in the back of my head, because while Cornell is doing a great job providing this comfortable environment for women, I know that if I were to go out into the workforce, I'm not guaranteed the same environment. But I think I contribute to bioengineering, or engineering in general, I think is the ability to kind of bring that comfort out in the world. So I now know what it feels to be included, to kind of belong. So now that I'm, if I were to go into an industry the number of women is a little lower, or there's a smaller community of us. I know what I need to do to step up and make us feel empowered. And I do so as well here on campus. My position as a career development director, I provide as many resources as I can to the women here. I try and get them ready for what is out there, making sure that they establish connections here so that they can continue having them outside.

Teri 

Yeah, and it's such an important part of it. And I love that you're a part of the support. Like, you know, we as Cornell support staff, we are trying to make sure that these students are feeling supported going through, but you as a student, you're doing that already and giving back and having this really great place for people to land where they may not feel that they're on their feet yet. So that's really good. So speaking of support, who's your support? Who do you talk to when you have a tough day, when the rigor is just a little bit more than you thought? Who do you go to to get a pep talk?

Alondra 

The person that has had my back the most throughout my college career is definitely my mother. And the thing is, she might not have experienced college or the difficulties that I might go through, but that is irrelevant to her. She's here to support me. She knows and reassures me about my potential, how far I've come. And so then she kind of like makes sure that I still stand up with my head held high. And then people in terms of wanting to kind of relate. I have my friends here as well. They're also going through the same things, similar classes, the same stress that college applies to all students. I kind of, it's like comfort in numbers. Like we will laugh, we will cry together. So like I think that that's a great thing. But I think those are my two main sources, it's my mom and then my friends here.

Teri 

That's beautiful. I love that you have a network of people here. Obviously you have SWE behind you always to really help you through it. And then I'm sure you have people within your major as well that can sit there after that exam and think, wow, that was much harder than we had all thought or whatever it is. But the fact that you highlight your mom, who maybe didn't have the same experience, but she knows you probably better than most anyone. She has seen you from a child, a baby, a child growing up and to have this journey that you can share with her. That's just beautiful. I love that. I love that she's there for you, that you have that connection, that she can support you. And I think she should be really proud of the daughter that she raised. And I'm sure she is. And everything you've done for your family, it's really, really awesome. So my very last question for you is to tell me your view of bioengineering and why girls should explore it.

Alondra 

That is such a good question, actually, because I think that bioengineering is something that has so much depth to it. It has so much to contribute to the world. I think that if we just observe biological systems, they're incredibly intricate. The way that they're able to just prosper in our world, the way that they just function, they just go about existing, like just thinking of how plants get water from the roots up to the top, some of the tallest trees defying gravity, the way that the human body is just so, it works together to allow us to kind of just be and walk and talk and think. Then seeing that and then being inspired by just how amazing, because honestly, biology is a masterpiece. So just even thinking of imitating it or being inspired by it, trying to enhance it, I think that is so incredibly cool and interesting. Not only that, it's that whatever we come about from these projects, whatever devices or materials we make, they enhance the world. Because there is a level of sustainability in it as well. It's just, and sometimes the products that make are better than what we've had in the past. Like they're stronger, they're more durable. And so then I'm just, I'm just in awe sometimes by what we're inspired by living life. And so then I think that a lot of girls should look into it because of the potential that it holds. I think that there's a lot of untapped potential. We've explored a lot, but there's so much more that we can do. And I think that the more minds we have on it, the more we can discover within the major, the career path.

Teri

Very well put. I think nature is such a really cool engineer in itself, right? You're saying, like, you know, trees and plants being able to operate the way they do, like, it is all engineered, you know, not necessarily by a person, but, like, you know, biology did that somehow and created this functioning plant or, whatever system you're looking at. So that's a really great way to put that, and I agree. It's something to really be in awe of. And then, if you can contribute to that field, I think would be really awesome. So thank you so much, Alondra. I really appreciate your time, your experience letting us get to know you a bit better. And I appreciate you being here.

Alondra 

Thank you. Thank you for having me here. It was a pleasure.

Admissions Segment:

Teri 

Hey Scott, how are you doing?

Scott 

Hey Terry, I'm doing pretty well. How are you today?

Teri 

I'm doing really well. So today my question for you is, does the type of high school that I attend affect my admissions decision? We have students applying from all over the world, right? And there's many different high schools. You can go to a public high school, you can go to a private high school, magnet high school. We have homeschooled people as well. Can you tell us a little bit about if that matters in the admissions decision?

Scott 

What a great question. It's kind of a fascinating one because of what you just said, which is we do see applicants and students coming to Cornell from virtually every type of high school you can imagine that's out there. So I think in general, would say it doesn't matter is probably the operative word. It's not a major part of any admissions decision where a student particularly goes to high school. I think what's probably more important in that space is wherever you go to high school, what have you taken advantage of in terms of what's available to you at that high school? And by that, I mean the academic offerings, how challenging the courses or curriculum might be, but also extracurricular and community activities to see, you know, have you engaged in the high school community that's around you socially and for the benefit of your community. So really, does it matter what type of high school I go to? Probably not necessarily, although we'll admit and enroll students from a really broad array of different high schools, but really how you engage in the high school environment, that's the much more operative piece.

Teri

Yeah, I agree with that and thinking that we always say it's within the context of your high school and what they offer, what you're doing there, making the most of it. So yeah, that's awesome. Thanks. All right, what do you have for a tip for us today?

Scott 

for sure.

Scott 

This is gonna seem like a, I don't know, maybe a self -evident tip. I don't know, but it's one that I think is maybe missed, but certainly should be taken advantage of, and that is to say that almost every college and university that's out there, at least in the United States, usually offers their own student -run newspaper. And that can be a gold mine of information, everything from what's the social scene like down to what speakers and musical acts are coming to campus, all the way through the students' opinion pieces on what it's like to be a student or what the key issues are at that particular college or university. So I urge anyone that's out there, if you really want to drive into understanding what a college or university particularly is, what that community is like, student -run newspapers are really kind of a gold mine of information. And to take it a step further, every college and university has a news media organization that's embedded within their college and university. And those are also good sources of information if they offer a weekly or monthly newspaper. They're great to read. You get sort of a deeper, broader view of the institution from their own perspective. And that can be super helpful in understanding colleges and universities. And one step further, a lot of departments offer their own newsletters, which if you really want to find out what it's like to be in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering or any of our other departments, look for their newsletters and you'll see all kinds of really good granular information that's coming out of that department that's specific to that major, that department that you might be interested in.So putting on the board an array of different information resources that may be overlooked or under looked. But certainly I don't see a lot of prospective students or families utilizing them to gather information. And I think they can be super insightful and helpful.

Teri 

Yeah, you can definitely get a feel for the culture of the university. Like you'd said, figuring out what's going on here. We know what kind of musical acts or what kind of speakers are coming. And also just like the voice of what a student may be, you know, hearing what they're writing about and things like that to see if you are happy with, know, that wasn't good. I'll end with that where they may be. So yeah, I think that's an excellent resource to use. I think a lot of students

can utilize that and understanding what it's like to be at that university and using that as another note to find where you think your fit will be.

Scott 

Yeah, and in engineering, it's not unusual for us, at least at Cornell, to have some of our engineering students writing for the Daily Sun, which is the Cornell Engineering Student Newspaper. That's not unusual. And it's a great opportunity, I think, for students that are interested in a broader voice when they come to a college or university is to be a writer for some of these publications as well.

Teri 

Mmm.

Teri 

Yeah, it's a great skill set to have and practice. Cool. Well, thank you, Scott. We have come to an end of another episode of VIEW, Voices of Incredible Engineering Women. I want to thank our guest, Alondra, for giving her insight into biological engineering. Thank you again, Scott, for always answering our questions and giving us some great tips. And finally, thank all of you for joining us. I hope you learned something today, and maybe it was that you're an engineer.

Closing Credits:

Teri

VIEW, Voices of Incredible Engineering Women Is a podcast produced and written by the Cornell Engineering Admissions Office. Please remember to like, follow, subscribe and share our podcast and help us bring engineering to the ears of young women everywhere. To find out more information about Cornell engineering please visit our website visit.engineering.cornell.edu.