Name: Karen Wei

Brown Affiliation: Alum '04

School: UC-San Diego

Position: incoming PhD student

Degree(s) Earned:

BS Biomedical Engineering, Brown University

Contact: Karen_Wei@brown.edu

What experiences were you able to gain in biotechnology during your undergraduate years at Brown?

Research in controlled-release drug delivery system. Familiarized with a lot of lab equipment (SEM, FTIR, DSC, UVSPEC, microsphere fabrication, etc.)
 

What advice do you have for undergraduates seeking summer positions?

Either get an internship with a company or try to do academic research both here at brown or elsewhere. It does help you especially if you build good relationships.  These are the people who will write you recommendations and help you network!
 

What are your plans after graduation?

PhD program at UCSD in Bioengineering

What graduate schools did you apply to?

UCSD, Columbia, University of Washington, Stanford, HST, Duke, Berkeley

What features impacted your decisions?

Rapport with faculty/current grad students, research at the institutions, location, facilities, funding, flexibility of program, student support, reputation of program, relationship to industry

What advice would you give seniors applying to grad school?
 
Start early. It helps to apply as soon as possible. Start writing essays in the summer. Do a lot of research beforehand to see which schools fit you. Email professors with interest in the program - it couldn't hurt.