Biomedical engineering’s Career Symposium returns for its third year
Three current BME students talking to a company representative at the 2024 BME Career Symposium.
More than 160 CU Boulder students put on their best business attire on Monday for the third annual Biomedical Engineering Career Symposium. Their mission? Go toe-to-toe with the workforce.
The symposium, organized by theBiomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and run by students, provided an opportunity for students to connect and learn from various company representatives in the med-tech industry. It featured company information sessions, company tabling, product demonstrations, and one-on-one meetings with experienced industry professionals.
Fourteen companies and organizations, including, and others, were in attendance to recruit some of Boulder’s finest aspiring biomedical engineers. In past years, students have received job and internship opportunities with the help of the symposium. At the very least, students walked away with valuable insight into the diverse career paths the industry has to offer.
This year’s iteration of the event looked a little different. Students were required to attend aProReady workshop in order to register for the symposium. Designed byEngineering Career Services, the ProReady initiative supports student career development, and these workshops helped prepare students to speak to company representatives in a professional setting.
“Last year, we had companies telling us that students were struggling to interact with representatives,” saidVivian Shi, a third-year student and BMES Career Symposium Committee member. “This year, our biggest focus was changing that, and I think we did a good job."
A BME student chats with a company representative at the 2024 BME Career Symposium.
Many of the students in attendance echoed some of those same sentiments. BME senior Christian Moon, who has been to multiple career symposiums, saw first hand how the workshop and symposium has affected his comfortability and confidence.
“Being able to practice interviews is nice,” Moon said. “It can be awkward to talk to people and talk about yourself. But it’s good practice and useful when interacting with people who are actually in the industry.”
Putting together an event like this is no easy task. On top of their own individual coursework, the BMES Career Symposium Committee spent long, tireless nights bringing the ballroom to life for their fellow BME classmates.
Clare Keeler, BMES Career Symposium committee chair, recalled the extensive planning involved, including difficulties wrangling commitments from companies or finding the perfect room arrangement. However, seeing vibrant and life-changing relationships being built during the event made all their hard work worth it.
“Overall, it makes me very happy that I was able to provide this experience for other students. It was a really long process dating back to April. My goal was to expand the symposium, and it just feels amazing seeing it come to life,” Keeler said.
Some company representatives gave their praise for this year’s symposium, including CONMED representative and former CU Boulder alumna Mia Fox.
Fox co-founded the BME Career Symposium and was a part of theBME program’s first graduating class in 2023. She knows first hand just how difficult coordinating this event can be, and she was proud of the committee for building on the legacy her class started during her time on campus.
“The committee has done a good job taking feedback from both students and company representatives,” Fox said. “They ran with that and they did a really good job.
“This event is unique. It’s different. It’s run by students, for students. I hope everyone continues to see the importance in that going forward.”