2019 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Conference

By: Nicole Doles

The 2019 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Conference held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the largest it has been in its history. The conference was kick-started with a Welcome Reception gathering nearly a thousand individuals all interested in the same life changing field of biomedical engineering. Three lengthy days of graduate schools, companies, workshops, posters, and oral presentations followed.

Tyson Ogilvie (left) and myself (right) at the BMES Conference

Most of the FGCU Students and professors that attended the conference at the Dessert BASH

I was surprised to find a much larger ratio of graduate schools from around The United States and Canada attending than those from industry. I spent two days going booth to booth, asking each graduate school about their master’s programs in tissue engineering. Because I still have a year left of my undergraduate degree, I was eager to learn about the summer research internships that many schools offer. These research opportunities allow undergraduate students to work with graduate students on specific research projects to give insight on what pursuing a higher degree would be like. These days ended with mixers held by each university. The mixers allowed students to talk to professors and graduate students from that university on a more personal level without the noise and distraction of a thousand other people filing through the convention center.

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My research partner, Brandon Roche (left) and myself (right) at our poster presentation

Between talking to professional in the field of biomedical engineering, I attended different oral research presentations on topics ranging from injury mechanics to bioprinting. As an undergraduate unsure about what exact path I want to take down the road of bioengineering, it was helpful to see glimpses into each of the different topics bioengineering has to offer. This also helped prepare me for my own research presentation. Although I did not have to give an oral speech, my partner and I were required to stand with our poster for an hour to answer questions people may have about our research. I am learning more and more that the ability to communicate ideas and concepts may be the most important aspect of being an engineer. Without communication, the scientific community cannot advance.

I learned that a large aspect of conference is gaining new insight for research. Between presentations, we all explored the city of Philadelphia (the bitter cold only stopped us a little bit). Being in the center of Philadelphia allowed us to hit most of the famous monuments.

View of Love Park with the Philadelphia City Hall in the background