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Name: Kate Saul Holzbaur Brown Affiliation: Alumni '00 Company/School: Stanford Position: PhD Candidate in Biomechanical Engineering Degree(s) Earned: BS Biomedical Engineering, Brown University
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What is your background in biotechnology? I worked in sports biomechanics research in Prof. Crisco's lab at the National Institute for Sports Science and Safety (during junior summer and senior year/summer at Brown) and have worked in bioengineering/biomechanics/biodesign as a graduate student at Stanford. The curriculum at Stanford includes many courses in the fields of medical device design and my research uses computational methods to investigate the biomechanics of the upper limb. Do you have any advice for undergraduates looking for summer positions?
I got my summer position by talking to my academic advisor at Brown, who steered me toward Prof. Crisco due to my biomechanics interest. Then I contacted him to ask for a project, we met and he let me choose a project from among several he had in progress. I don't really have advice, since I didn't have to apply or anything. Just ask your academic advisor, he/she probably has ideas for which professors best match your interests.
What did you do after graduating from Brown? I went directly
to graduate school in Mechanical Engineering at What graduate schools did you apply to? I applied to Stanford and MIT Mechanical Engineering Departments, UC-Berkeley/San Francisco joint program in Bioengineering, and University of Washington, UC-Davis, and UC-San Diego Bioengineering Departments. What features impacted your decisions?
I applied based on recommendations from advisors at Brown, research that matched my interests, and acceptable climate (weather). I chose the school based on the most compatible school in terms of research and that had an academic climate (social) that was friendly and collaborative. In the end, I also felt that a mechanical engineering department better matched my needs.
What advice would you give to seniors applying to graduate school? Talk to your advisors at Brown for recommendations of outstanding schools in your particular field or area of research, contact professors at schools you are interested in during the application process, attend all admit weekends that you are able to, apply for independent sources of funding (DoD, NSF, etc). Also take the GREs early rather than later so you can apply earlier to schools that have rolling admissions.
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