Alumni Profile
 Nick Snead

Biomedical Engineering '06

Nick Snead almost didn't go to college. There was "a financial issue at the time, although my family was very supportive of my academic ambitions," Nick says. His biology teacher at Lowell High School in San Francisco, where he grew up, also encouraged him. She urged her students to consider the career and salary opportunities in the biotech industry.

So Nick set his sights on the University of California "...to take advantage of the strong biological sciences program in the UC schools," he says. "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."

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.

Now at Purdue University, Nick is pursuing a Ph.D. and focusing on cancer biology research. "To provide another option to patients who were told that there is nothing left to try would be very uplifting. Health care will continue to increase in importance in this world. I want to be part of it."