While everyone knows that grad schoo
l is most certainly an emotional roller coaster ride, I enjoyed my time at ISU. Within the MSE department, I had the resources to become an expert in my research field and the coursework to expand my knowledge in additional areas. Dr. Bratlie was a very knowledgeable mentor who pushed me to become a better researcher by giving me opportunities to work on several different projects and mentor a significant number of other students. I also developed strong relationships with many other faculty members as well as the staff. The updated graduate student office spaces are great for prompting collaboration between labs but also allow for interactions between labmates. Everything that I took from my grad school experience prepared me well for my future career in the medical device industry. I am currently an Innovation Fellow within the Medical Devices Center at The University of Minnesota. This fellowship gives me the start to finish experience of developing new medical devices to address unmet clinical needs.