Mechanical Engineering-- GW vs Stevens Institute of Technology

chabura
Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:10:50 +0000

Hey Indecision,

My name is Cassandra, and I am a 4/4 Biomedical Engineering student at Stevens. After reading through all of the posts following yours, I have a couple of my own inputs to add.
I actually live only a 22 minute train ride from campus, and to be honest, I only go home when necessary. It is convenient to be near home, but in no way do I consider myself a “suitcase student” by any means. There is always so many activities going on campus, that it is hard to pry yourself away from it all. From the festivals, to Greek life, to charity events held on campus, you can always find something to do. The Movie Club shows a new movie one of the lecture halls three nights a week. The Entertainment Committee makes pricey events affordable for college students. There are Registered Student Organizations ranging from The Ski Club to Habitat for Humanity. Getting involved on campus in these clubs is the best way to not only meet people, but to keep your interests alive. I personally have gotten incredibly involved over the past few years, and could not imagine my college experience any other way. Stevens is a close knit community that really promotes an involved campus, starting from your very first day in Orientation. Once off campus, the town of Hoboken has much to offer to us as well. The Italian Festivals in the summer and fall are favorites of Stevens Students, as well as the Hoboken Art and Music Festival. In the warm weather, one of the Piers in town offers free kayaking on the Hudson. New York City is so close to us, and that can not be beat. For less than two dollars, you can be in the culture center of the country. I am in New York City multiple times during the week whether it be for a research conference, a music concert of a favorite band, or even just to walk through Central Park and grab dinner. As you can see, there is so much to keep you occupied during your college years at Stevens. The only thing that needs to be taken care of is managing the time you do have to be able to do everything that is available.

As for academics, I feel that Amith and Erica truly went into detail with regards to the Biomedical engineering curriculum, and how it applies to your future goals. I did not participate in the co-op program, but I like to think that I made my own little path at Stevens. As a member of the Scholars Program here, I have had the chance to take up to four free classes every summer. I used this opportunity to work towards a Masters Degree in Engineering Management with a Graduate Certificate in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Practices. I have also been heavily involved in research in the Biomedical Engineering department. The projects that I have worked on have mostly been led by the Biomechanics professor (due to the fact that my interests largely lie in this field). My most recent project was from this past summer, in which my two team mates and I worked with indentation testing on the vertebral endplate. I loved doing research at Stevens because the project was truly our own, and we were simply guided by the advisor. It was such a hands on experience. After initial meetings with our advisor, we were provided with bovine spine specimens, and spent hours in the cadaver lab preparing them for testing. We performed all of the fatigue tests ourselves, and compiled hours of data to write our final abstract. I was so excited about this project, because the abstract actually got accepted to the Orthopedic Research Society Conference which took place in New Orleans this year! My team mates and I were able to go for a week to present our summer work in poster presentations at this prestigious conference. About 80 thousand scientists, orthopedic surgeons, and PhD students were in attendance at this conference. This experience was one that I would not trade for the world, and it all started with just asking my professor if he needed any help with a project. Senior Design has also been an incredible experience in my college career. From the first day of freshman year, we are in labs working on various projects. Every semester we do have a Design course built into our curriculum, in which we build projects that utilize our engineering knowledge. These can range from building and programming a robot with sensors, to designing and soldering a small scale truss. Getting those hands on lab experiences is something that really drew me to Stevens. This design spine in our curriculum cumulates in Senior Design, in which we design, build, test, and present a working prototype of an invention that our groups actually develop. We chose projects provided to Stevens by outside advisors, and work alongside these professionals throughout the year to build these products. Many of these projects are granted patents, and some actually spark companies. Senior Design is really an incredible part of our curriculum!

Stevens not only provided me with a great education, but given me incredible memories that will last a lifetime. It is a smaller school, but that does not belittle the opportunities that you will have here. On the contrary, I felt that attending a school with a smaller student body made me more inclined to become active and get involved, whether within my sorority, the student body, or in the Biomedical Engineering Department. There is something for everyone here, with clubs, activities, and events catered towards all types of interests. I could go on and on about how much Stevens has given me, but I think I am going to stop here and recommend you come up to visit campus again. You mentioned that you came in winter time, I think you should fully experience what Stevens has to offer on a beautiful spring day!

Feel free to answer with any questions,
Cassandra