Event Recap: 4th Annual Rising Stars in Engineering in Health Workshop

In 2020, Columbia University's Department of Biomedical Engineering started a tradition to highlight and recognize rising stars in their field. Since then, other universities have joined to assist in recognizing future stars. 

On September 22nd and 23rd, 2023, prominent researchers across the nation convened on the campus of Cornell University for the 2023 Rising Stars in Engineering in Health Workshop. The workshop selects a couple dozen of the best and brightest young researchers working at the intersection of engineering and biomedicine. Those selected for the Rising Stars cohort are typically one to two years away from applying for a faculty position, hoping to gain valuable insight into the journey of a prospective new faculty researcher through the two-day interactive workshop.

This year, the workshop was a joint venture between Columbia Biomedical Engineering, Columbia Medicine, Cornell Biomedical Engineering and Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering. Each institution pursues excellence in engineering in health and has prioritized doing so in an environment that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion. This workshop represents the collaboration between the institutions as they work side-by-side to innovate at the intersection of engineering and health science and educate the next generation of scientists.

This year, the Rising Stars honed their interview and communication skills by presenting 5-minute lightning talks in an overview of their research. They met with junior and senior faculty to gain more insight into the world of academia. And in a new twist this year, the Rising Stars even practiced improv to improve their confidence and interview skills when seeking faculty positions.

“It is inspiring to see such a diverse group of outstanding early career biomedical engineers,” said Dr. Paul Sajda, Department Chair of Columbia BME. “These rising stars will have a major impact that goes beyond the boundaries of BME. They are going to change the world."

With each year, news of this amazing program grows. Next year, Boston University will join the Rising Stars program and host the 5th annual workshop on its campus.

Be sure to follow Columbia BME (@ColumbiaBME), Cornell BME (@CornellBME), and Johns Hopkins BME (@JHUBME) on social media for updates about the next call for applications!

View photos from the workshop here.