Student Profile: Cara Young

Why did you choose to undertake the Biomedical Engineering degree?

I was good at Maths and Physics at school, and really enjoyed the anatomy and biomechanics part of PE when I did the ¾ subject in yr 11. I have had exposure to a clinical setting, Mum is an occupational therapist so I have always been around people with disabilities and all the equipment that is always around the house!

I had thought about Medicine but was always worried that I would miss the analytical parts of maths and physics.

I found the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at the Monash Open day when I was in year 11 and decided Biomedical engineering combined my interests and would let me have some face to face patient contact if I wanted to take that direction, and also be creative in designing products. As I was not completely sure of what I wanted to be doing, I felt this was directed but not closed in like many health related degrees.

As I am from inner Melbourne and had always thought I'd end up at Melbourne Uni, I didn't really want to have to travel across town but at the time there was no course or research going on in the field at Melbourne. So I went to Monash and started Science/Engineering in 2004. I enjoyed this however the biology was very separate from the engineering, so when I discovered the new course at Melbourne starting in 2005 I decided it was definitely for me and couldn't wait to transfer!

What do you like most about the degree?

I like how the biology, maths, engineering and medicine is integrated right from the beginning. We get a firm grounding in the biological sciences so we are able to "speak the language" with doctors and health professionals and then go on to build on our engineering skills.

It's a small course so far, so we have got to know each other fairly well, but we also have subjects with other engineering and biomedical science students so get the best of both worlds!

Is it what you expected it to be?

Having already experienced university I had a fairly good idea of what to expect in terms of learning styles etc.

Most subjects were fairly standard and what I expected but 'Introduction to Biomedical Engineering', a new subject run specifically for this course was really different. It covered topics from Evolution and History of Medicine to Mathematical modelling and Regulation procedures for medical devices. The guest lecturers, (including the Head of medicine at a major hospital; Rob Wilkins, an experienced biomedical engineer), were also a surprise. It was something different to what I had experienced before, but very interesting to get those different perspectives on the course and discipline in general.

We were also thrown in the deep end with an assignment to design a new or improved biomedical device! This was challenging to say the least but gave us a bit of insight right from the start as to what we might end up doing once we have graduated.

Where do you hope the degree will lead you in the future?

I will be continuing in the Biomechanics stream and am inspired by some of the research being done by Marcus Pandy, a new Professor in the department of Mechanical engineering. He is using mathematical models to determine forces on joints and in muscles, and study gait patterns. This is definitely an area that interests me.

I'm looking at going on exchange, as while this is a new course here, in the US there are extensive programs that are well established and so much more going on in industry. I'd like to work overseas at some point, both in the US and Europe. I will probably do postgraduate studies. Possibly work in research.

One of the best things is because this is still such a new and developing area, especially in Australia, I will be able to go in many different directions and work in so many different areas that possibly don't even exist yet.

Would you recommend the degree to other students?  If yes, why?

Definitely. Its such a new and exciting area that combines many of the traditional disciplines. The way the course is set up is unique with the very biological emphasis early on, and a very integrated approach rather than just doing traditional engineering with some biology on the side.

The people involved are very excited about the course and willing to discuss anything with you from course plans to career options to something interesting from a lecture. The lectures from specialists in the 4 streams available to choose from (biosignals, biocellular, bioinformatics and biomechanics), were useful to be able to get an insight into each stream and to then be able to decide which one we wanted to pursue.