Natalia Barrera Villamizar started planning for college in the ninth grade. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to study but was already thinking about how to set the stage for her future.

Then she did a science fair project on devices that could alert her family when her grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease tried to leave the house. In the process, she learned about biomedical engineering (BME) and realized her career path.

“When I found out that Georgia Tech was one of the best programs in the U.S. for BME, I knew this was the place for me,” said Barrera Villamizar, whose family moved from Colombia to the Lawrenceville, Georgia, area just before she started high school. “I could stay in state and be close to my family. I just had to get in here.”

Read Natalia's story on the College of Engineering website.