Graduating student Netra Unni Rajesh (1T9 + PEY) has been selected from over 6,000 international applicants for a prestigious scholarship at Stanford University. She will join a cohort of students from around the world as a 2020 Knight-Hennessy Scholar as she pursues a PhD in bioengineering.
Rajesh will focus her PhD research on designing new cancer technologies to help expedite patients’ recovery. She was initially drawn to cancer research after completing a high school science fair project. When she later met a patient undergoing chemotherapy, she learned how physically arduous treatments were. Her hope is to integrate the experience she gained with biomaterials engineering, cancer technology development and immunoengineering during her time in EngSci to design novel tools that can help cancer patients in the clinic.
“Netra is a wonderful example of an EngSci student who took full advantage of the opportunities available to all of our students,” says EngSci Chair Professor Will Cluett. “She illustrates the value of investing in our students at an early stage in their academic careers.”
About half of EngSci students pursue graduate studies or enrol in professional schools in medicine, business, law or architecture after completing their undergraduate degrees. Rajesh is among the many EngSci students who take advantage of the wide range of opportunities offered during their undergraduate program to build their research skills. As a Year 1 student she secured a summer research position at the National University of Singapore, with support from the Engineering Science Summer Research Opportunities Program (ESROP). She spent her summer after Year 3 at Caltech, through an ESROP – Global fellowship, and her PEY Co-op placement at MIT, working on technologies for cancer drug delivery and vaccine production, respectively.
“My time in EngSci has been a life-changing experience,” says Rajesh. “I am especially grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue cutting-edge research abroad, and be surrounded by hardworking students that constantly push the boundaries.”
Learn more about EngSci students gaining research experience.