Diana Slater
4/13/2020
Researcher at Heart
Diana is passionate about research, especially applications that can potentially have a direct, positive impact on people.
As a lab assistant in the Harley Research Lab run by Dr. Brendan Harley from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Diana has had the opportunity to work on projects that specialize in bone regeneration.
“I definitely love my research. I love doing things that could have an impact on people, especially since a lot of our patient population would be people that have disfiguration on their faces or war injuries. Having a bone implant can really change your life.”
Engineering is a Mindset
Diana admires the fact that the campus community shapes individuals into bright innovators and leaders of their fields. She feels as though Grainger Engineering has influenced the way she sees engineering.
“I feel like at Illinois, it’s really affirmed that engineering is a mindset and it's how you tackle problems and how you follow through.”
Diana sees this engineering mindset in the people and opportunities Grainger Engineering provides. Diana is the outgoing President of the Biomedical Engineering Society, assisted with the Women In Engineering orientation every summer, studied abroad in Madrid, and is an Engineering Learning Assistant for freshman in bioengineering.
“There’s so many things you learn along the way from different RSOs and clubs you’re involved in. They help contribute to your success and it really builds you up to be a more well-rounded person.”
Being a Bioengineer
Diana has always wanted to help people. Healthcare is something Diana has been interested in for a while, and bioengineering allowed her to grow as a critical thinker, while having a positive impact on people.
“Bioengineering is like a backdoor, like a behind the scene of helping people. I like solving problems and building things. I like that it’s kind of a new field in an exciting time with all this research coming out.”
With the bioengineering curriculum, Diana has been able to put her problem solving skills to the test. The courses she has taken allow her to use computational modeling platforms to simulate what is happening in the human body. Diana admired that the bioengineering courses incorporated the mathematical and the physical aspects of engineering in a healthcare context.
“These classes are a reaffirming fact that I can bioengineer and I can do this.”