A Dream Come True

Nick Snead '06

Nick Snead '06 almost didn't go to college. “A financial issue at the time, although my family was very supportive of my academic ambitions,” Nick said. He also was encouraged by his biology teacher at Lowell High School in San Francisco, where he grew up. She urged her students to consider the career and salary opportunities in the biotech industry.

So, Nick set his sites on the University of California “...to take advantage of the strong biological sciences program in the UC schools,” he said. “I chose UC Davis, in part, because it made the best first impression when I visited.” He also wanted to stay in California, “close to home, but not too close.”

Nick was admitted to UC Davis as a biotechnology major, but signed up for an introduction to biomedical engineering (BME) class that changed his future. “The BME major was just starting and they were trying to recruit quality students,” Nick said. “I enjoyed the introductory class, visited the undergraduate advisor, who was an excellent resource, and started taking all the classes I needed in order to transfer into BME my second year.”

The interdisciplinary nature of biomedical engineering also was interesting to Nick, who liked the idea of computer scientists, engineers, biologists, physicists, business specialists and others, all collaborating to equip doctors with highly personalized and accurate diagnoses, pharmaceuticals and therapies for patients.

Nick points to Dr. Yohei Yokobayashi, assistant professor in the BME department, as an important influence on his future. “In fact, I owe everything I know about working in a lab to Dr. Yokobayashi,” he says. “He gave me the training and mindset I needed to pursue graduate school.”

Now at Purdue University, Nick is pursuing a PhD, focusing on cancer biology research. He credits College of Engineering advising staff and free workshops in preparing for graduate school as important factors in his being there.

Whether he works in industry or has a career as a college professor, Nick would like to play a role in the wave of research to address the complexities of cancer, translating great laboratory investigation into viable applied therapies. “To provide another option to patients who were told that there is nothing left to try would be very uplifting,” says the young researcher who also describes himself as an exceptionally practical person. “Health care will continue to increase in importance in this world. I want to be part of it.”