Alex Engel, a Biochemical Engineering student at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio once found many of his classes at Duluth East High School uninspiring.

“I didn’t take high school seriously because I didn’t think it was applicable,” he admitted. “I had memorize books and but couldn’t see what could be done with that information,” he explained. “I thought: Give me a reason to care about what I am learning and I will.”

As a child, Alex recalls that he was fascinated by science.  He even described himself as “a little science nerd” back then when his favorite book was Bill Nye’s Big Book of Science.  In fact, he read it until it fell apart.  That enthusiasm re-emerged after high school.

College has been a very different academic experience for Alex.  It’s given him a reason to care about school.  As a student in a field of science with numerous practical career applications, Alex can see how what he’s learning can be rewarding, exciting, and light years beyond his high school experience.

“Biomedical engineering,” he explained, “is about making people’s lives better. That’s why I like it. The field is connected to anything that has to do with making people’s bodies better—orthopedic shoes, pacemakers, drug delivery systems and so on.”

Alex is already reaping the benefits of his education.  As a member of the Case Rising Engineering And Technical Entrepreneurs (CREATE) group, conceived by a variety of engineering students, he worked to develop a page-turner for a quadriplegic accountant.  Unable to use his hands to sort paychecks, the accountant told the students that he would benefit from a device that could pick up and move single checks.  The team, composed of biomedical, mechanical, aerospace, and software engineers, worked together to build the device.  “I didn’t know what being an engineer really meant until I joined this group, “Alex said.

In the challenge to develop new products, Alex recognizes a need for creativity and inspiration.  Lately he has been writing short stories of sixty words or less.  These are not scientific theories or chemical equations.  Nevertheless, he sees them as essential to his studies.  For Alex, the clarity that comes from creative writing exercises is just as important as gaining knowledge in physics or chemistry. 

“I always liked the idea of creating something and synthesizing from what we already have,” Alex says. In this lies the inspiration Engel sometimes missed in high school. 
“Being a biomedical engineer means that you design for people. I am designing a replacement for a bone so that a person doesn’t have to be in a wheelchair. People are emotional and not always logical. The design of a device or product has got to reflect that.”

He recalled his preliminary drawings for the device he and his group built for the quadriplegic accountant. Alex first drew a birdcage, with a sparrow inside. The idea was that the bird would come out of the cage and turn the page. It allowed Alex to consider broader solutions.  Sometimes, Alex has learned, he needs to go outside of what is standard to find inspiration.

Engel has come to believe that biomedical engineering goes beyond the book, the numbers and the math of the field. It is a career that will directly affect people and their lives. The answers and solutions will go beyond the test and into people’s bodies, something that he doesn’t take lightly.

“In the future I am going to get paid to invent things that no one has thought of before,” Alex said. “I have got to train my mind for that creativity.