New in Town: UA Biomedical Engineering Society

The recently formed local chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society met Wednesday to develop group events and plans based on what students are looking for. Leading the chapter this year are Abby Washispack as President; Jimmy Vo as Vice President; Katelin Cherry as Secretary and Saumil Shah as Treasurer.

Let’s get started!
“We’re here to build community between biological engineering students, faculty, and professionals,” said BMES President Abby Washispack. “This is an opportunity for students to get involved in activities that will further their biomedical engineering careers.

Benefits of becoming a national BMES member are BME internship opportunities, annual meeting discounts, career services and an online job board. To join, sign up at BMES.org, annual dues are $30. Once you’ve done so, please email Abby (awashispack@gmail.com) your username. The UA chapter needs this information, so they can be recognized as an official chapter.

Events
BMES will be represented at the RSO Fair in the Arkansas Union from 12-3p.m., Friday, September 30.

A BMES Faculty Seminar will take place at 1:30 p.m. on October 7, location to be announced.

A few of the speakers the group plans to host are Vance Clement, BSIE ’92 Director of Upstream Marketing for MAKO Surgical Corp.; the BME faculty and a contact from Cardinal Health, which is number 17 on the Forbes 500 list.

Walks, stream restoration and the Springdale High School Lego (semi-national) Competition are other event possibilities.

Officers plan for meetings to be less academic and more centered on career-building.

Dr. Zarahoff explains…
This is an easy way to enable your budding biomedical engineering career. The fees are minimal and well worth it, especially for being a national organization.
There are two reasons you should join BMES: for yourself and for the University of Arkansas.

In terms of personal benefits, it is great for your career. The national website, accessible to members only, has a very extensive list of internship opportunities, and during the screening process for full-time positions, BMES is something that could catch an employer’s eye.

If you’re a freshman and haven’t had a chance to distinguish the difference between biological engineering and biomedical engineering, the Biomedical Engineering FEP lecture is November 7.

Contact us
UofA Biomedical Engineering Society has a group on LinkedIn. The website and Facebook group are in the works, but once they are running, members can keep in touch with BE alumni easily. You can email BMES officers at bmes@uark.edu.