Defining Biological Engineering

When I began the college application process I planned to major in chemical engineering with a minor in biology. When I toured MIT I was introduced to Biological Engineering for the first time and I immediately fell in love. I knew that if I came to MIT I wanted to pursue a degree in BE. Typically when I would tell people that I was studying BE, I would get the response of “Oh! Biomedical Engineering is great!” and usually I would just let it slide even though the fields in my mind are completely separate. BE is a field that combines theoretical biology concepts with engineering and design. It is a truly revolutionary venture. Engineering cells and biological organisms is not something that people fifty years ago could imagine. Another important component is BE is computational analysis, which I found I truly loved. Learning to analysis and assess novel systems has shown me the power in modularity and engineering. Because of this, I made the decision this semester to switch my major to 6-7 (Computer Science and Molecular Biology). Although I am technically no longer a student in BE I plan to keep learning as a BE student by incorporating as many course 20 classes as possible.