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May
24, 2003, 16S:
Special Commencement Issue
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Bechtel
Achievement Award: Ankur
Luthra , EECS
Bechtel
Engineering Scholarship:
Jengyee Liang, IEOR
Departmental
Citation Winners:
Nathan Huebsch, BioE
Mark Wan, CEE
Peter Chen, EECS
Kenny Kamrin, Eng. Science
Marc Oman, IEOR
Melissa Santala, MSE
Siddharth Patel, ME
Brian Quiter, NE
Other
Departmental Awards
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Photo
by Peg Skorpinski
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Bioengineering
Citation: Nathaniel Huebsch
Nathaniel Huebsch didn’t always want to be an engineer. The son
of a lawyer and an ESL teacher, Nathaniel didn’t consider a career
in science. He enrolled at Cal undeclared in Letters and Sciences but
found his inspiration after taking a freshman seminar on osteoporosis
with BioE professor Tony Keaveny.
“It interested me to see what kinds of things people were doing to
improve medicine with new technologies,” he says.
Since transferring to bioengineering, Nathaniel has worked at an endocrinology
lab at the UCI medical school in Irvine and participated in the Guidant
program in BioE, where he worked with BioE professor Kevin Healy and EECS
professor Martin Graham designing systems to test the electrical behavior
of biomaterials.
“Compared to all the undergraduates I have known in my career, I
would rank Nathaniel in the top one percent and the best I have worked
with,” says Healy.
Nathaniel’s current research involves the effect of electricity on
stem cells.
While he is sometimes intimidated to work with a group of graduate students,
he thinks it helps him perform better.
“Berkeley pushes you really hard but it also makes you adapt to the
challenge and learn more than you would if you were spoon fed,” he
says.
Nathaniel will continue his current research this summer and hopes to
achieve publishable information.
In the fall he plans to apply to grad schools and for internships with
biotech companies. His eventual goal is to develop strategies for spinal
nerve regeneration.
Outside school Nathan practices the martial art of Hankido and likes trying
different types of cuisine. His love of variety extends to his interest
in traveling and learning languages. Currently he is studying Japanese.
During his senior year, Nathan tried to get a BioE honor society off the
ground but will graduate before his vision takes root.
To Nathan the secret to success is to do something you are extremely interested
in and to be proactive about finding that thing.
“I love what I am doing. It’s very challenging, but not so much
that it’s frustrating.”
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