"Speaker 1: I'm Jill Higginson.
I am an associate professor in mechanical and biomedical engineering.
I've been here at the University of Delaware for about 10 years and my research is at the
interface of mechanical and biomedical.
We are the neuromuscular biomechanics lab and we are interested in how the brain controls
movement.
We study people who have movement abnormalities and we compare that with individuals who are
healthy in order to understand muscle function and dysfunction.
Speaker 2: Okay, where is the lab headed?
What do you hope to achieve in the next few years?
Speaker 1: We are interested in how the brain controls movement and over the years we've
been studying muscle coordination of normal and pathological movements, and now we're
starting to integrate features that represent cognitive control and cortical controls.
So how the brain is actually changing in response to some of our environment tasks and how distractions
in the environment might actually affect your movement and your risk for falling in these
kinds of things.
Biomedical engineering is incredibly diverse fields.
I think it attracts lots of different individuals because of the really unique applications.
It's our job as, as medical researchers to impact quality of life and we can do that
in many different ways.
Interacting with youth, or athletes, or older adults who might have movement disabilities.
So there is room for all interest and all ability levels in this field.
Engineering is a traditionally male-dominated field, but you shouldn't let that scare you.
You know there, there is incredible room for diversity in this field, we need diversity
of thought in order to come up with the most creative solutions to today's engineering
problems.
Biomedical engineering in particular does attract more women that's on the other fields.
Here at University of Delaware, our biomedical engineering program attracts about 40 percent
women and they love it, it's really just a great way to express yourself and there are
numerous reasons why I think by biomedical engineering is attractive to both genders,
but part of it is this desire to impact others, I think women in particular drawn to that
aspect of engineering.
Speaker 2: What drew you specifically to it, why did you decide that this is what you want
to do with your life?
Speaker 1: So when I was a kid in high school I went to this engineering camp to explore
career options in engineering and science.
One of the industry's that we visited was a biomedical firm that was designing hip implants
for kids with special needs and I was immediately hooked.
So I pursued a career in mechanical engineering with the expectation that I'd be able to designed
those implants.
But the truth is when I got to graduation I didn't like spending as much time behind
the cam, behind the computer and instead I wanted to interact with people.
So I went on for a masters degree where I could study the control of locomotion studied
and that was enlightening for me, because all of a sudden I got to see real individuals
who had real movement difficulties and we were able to measure how they move and then
study the underlined deficits that were responsible for the movement abnormalities, and that's
what I continue to do now.
Speaker: Do you find it as a good career path to be able to balance family life and personal,
and have a personal life?
Are you able to find a healthy balance between the two?
Speaker 1: There's many different career options for somebody in biomedical engineering.
These can be jobs out in industry, it could be medical school and practicing in medicine,
or it could be in academia or different kinds of research labs.
I am a professor and I love what I do.
I have the ability to have an impact not only in the research that we do, but also the students
that we teach.
And that's wonderful,and one of the nice benefits about this job, is it's incredibly flexible.
You know I teach a couple of times a week and I interact with the students, but I also
am home for dinner with my kids each night.
So it's, it's a wonderful career opportunity.
I think that it's really important to follow your passion.
You know to identify what it is you're good at, and to believe in yourself and then follow
through with that.