{"333991":{"#nid":"333991","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Allison Kramer: Changing Lives for the Better Through Biomedical Engineering","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith two parents in the medical field and an older brother who attended Georgia Tech, Allison Kramer\u2019s path toward becoming a biomedical engineer was forged early on. In true engineer fashion, when it came time to pick a university, Kramer created a cost-benefit analysis to help her decide which school she would attend.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI only applied to universities and colleges that would give me a foundation to grow and provide me a solid platform from which to enter the professional world,\u201d Kramer says. \u201cWhen I looked at the schools I was accepted to and compared them side by side based on their merits, Georgia Tech was the hands-down winner.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENo stranger to moving, Kramer packed up her things and quickly settled into life in Atlanta. Growing up, she and her family moved from place to place following her dad\u2019s job in the biomedical device field.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt was her father\u2019s career that provided Kramer an inside glimpse of the many different sides of the industry.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cMy dad successfully engineered the business side of several companies, managing teams of people and helping struggling companies turn around their bottom lines,\u201d Kramer says. \u201cBut then I would watch him come home after work and help my brother with his calculus homework like it was no big deal. That showed me how multi-faceted a biomedical engineering education could be.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENow in her fifth year as a Yellow Jacket, Kramer finds it\u2019s that versatility that keeps her engaged. An avid participant in on-campus activities, she constantly seeks out new opportunities in the academic, professional and social realm that will help her advance toward her desired career.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAfter graduation, Kramer hopes to secure a position in research \u0026amp; design, product development or quality control with a major biomedical engineering company.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cGraduate school is on my agenda, but my top priority is getting my feet wet in the industry workforce,\u201d Kramer explains. \u201cIdeally, I would like to pursue my graduate degree while also working full or part-time. That way, I\u2019m still continuing to build real-world experience in product engineering, problem solving, and working on a team.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EKramer thrives on teamwork. One of her favorite courses at Georgia Tech thus far has been Bio-Inspired Design, which calls upon teams of undergraduate and graduate students of varying majors to design a product motivated by nature or biology.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EKramer encouraged her team to pursue a product that would solve a problem. The problem on her mind? How to lower the number of women in developing nations who die during childbirth.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThe main cause of death for these women is hemorrhaging due to loss of blood. These countries don\u2019t have the capabilities nor the supplies required to perform blood transfusions as easily as we can,\u201d Kramer says. \u201cI was inspired to come up with a product that could solve this problem.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDrawing upon the knowledge of the various members of the team, Kramer\u2019s group noted that changing the contact angle along a microfluidic chip can aid in separating unwanted particles from the fluid. It\u2019s the same natural phenomenon that allows butterflies and other insects to easily remove debris and water from their wings to enable flight.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWith this information in mind, Kramer and her team engineered a bio-inspired chip that can be used to passively separate plasma from whole blood without expending any energy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThis technology could ultimately be used to collect blood in developing nations, so that a greater supply is available to women during childbirth,\u201d Kramer explains.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EKramer says the concept of solving problems and creating positive solutions is the most rewarding part of being an engineer. It\u2019s also what makes it a viable career choice.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThere are always going to be problems that need solving,\u201d Kramer says, \u201cand an engineer can find that solution. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned during my time at Georgia Tech, it\u2019s that no problem is too large. Maybe you need to take a different approach or look at things in a new light to find the solution. That\u2019s what engineering teaches you.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd it\u2019s not all about academics. Part of being successful in any field, Kramer says, is being able to step out of the lab and into the real world through networking events, office hours and face-to-face interactions.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs an independent thinker with a determined nature, Kramer says one of the most important lessons for her was learning how to ask for help.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cSometimes you have to swallow your pride and admit that you don\u2019t understand how to do something, whether that means asking one of your colleagues for help or scheduling an extra tutoring session with a professor,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s funny; once you accept that you might not have all the answers, that\u2019s when you\u2019re really able to open your mind to the new and innovative solutions you\u2019ve been looking for.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/allison-kramer\/4b\/238\/53\u0022\u003EConnect with Allison on LinkedIn\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWritten by Chris Calleri\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"With two parents in the medical field and an older brother who attended Georgia Tech, Allison Kramer\u2019s path toward becoming a biomedical engineer was forged early on."}],"uid":"27960","created_gmt":"2014-10-14 15:25:18","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:15","author":"Chris Calleri","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-10-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-10-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"333971":{"id":"333971","type":"image","title":"Allison Kramer image","body":null,"created":"1449245133","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:33","changed":"1475895046","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:46","alt":"Allison Kramer image","file":{"fid":"200441","name":"allison1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/allison1_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/allison1_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":347631,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/allison1_0.png?itok=dlnjw13S"}},"333981":{"id":"333981","type":"image","title":"Allison Kramer image 2","body":null,"created":"1449245133","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:33","changed":"1475895046","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:46","alt":"Allison Kramer image 2","file":{"fid":"200442","name":"allison2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/allison2_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/allison2_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":848294,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/allison2_0.png?itok=1pBogrdf"}}},"media_ids":["333971","333981"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"3918","name":"profile"},{"id":"167058","name":"Student"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChris Calleri\u003Cbr \/\u003E Communications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology \u0026amp; Emory School of Medicine\u003Cbr \/\u003E 313 Ferst Drive, Suite 2120\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, GA \u0026nbsp;30332-0535\u003Cbr \/\u003E Phone: \u0026nbsp;404.385.2416\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}