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VideoM.E.M. Student Profiles
"Extraordinarily bright, hard-working, well-rounded, ambitious." —Thomas J. O'Neill, President and CEO, Parsons Brinckerhoff, describing Thayer School M.E.M. students
M.E.M. students are a diverse group. Within just the past few years, students have come from Canada, China, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Kenya, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Each entering M.E.M. class has 50 students.
The average starting age of an M.E.M. student is 23.
Around one third of the students are women (class of 2013 is 39% women).
One thing all M.E.M. students have in common: M.E.M. students are all engineers.
Educational Background
Students usually enter the program with an ABET-accredited* engineering degree. If not, they take coursework during the program to attain the ABET-accreditation* level.
Many M.E.M. students also have broad, liberal arts backgrounds.
About half of the M.E.M. students attended university outside the U.S.
Previous Education: Undergraduate Major
Work Experience
The M.E.M. program does not require applicants to have full time work experience, but about one third of all M.E.M.s have previous full time work experience. These students typically worked between one and two years before entering the M.E.M. program.
Meet Some M.E.M. Students
Chris Bilger
Hometown: Los Altos Hills, CA
Previous Degrees: A.B. and B.E. in Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College
About Me: "I am constantly challenging myself to be successful in my academic and extra curricular endeavors. During my time at Dartmouth I have developed a very tight-knit family in my sorority as well as at Thayer; these dynamic, fun people have supported me and make me a better person. I love rock climbing, playing field hockey, SCUBA diving, snowshoeing, and watching football."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "Ever since I first heard about the M.E.M. program in my freshman year, I have wanted to be part of it. Growing up with an engineering father and business mother, I was already informally trained in these directions, but at Dartmouth, the M.E.M. program has given me the opportunity to pursue coursework in economics and business as well as engineering. It's enormously practical to combine engineering and business, and it opens up almost any job imaginable. On the engineering side, you create innovative solutions to solve complex problems; on the business side you implement those solutions in practical and feasible ways that maximize the potential for helping people."
Sakshi Gupta
Hometown: Gwalior, India
Previous Degree: B.E. in Biotechnology, Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi
About Me: "I grew up in Gwalior, which is a small town in central India, and did my undergraduate study in Delhi, the capital of India. The M.E.M. is my first experience studying abroad and it surely is a pleasant one. Hanover is a quiet little town with a well-knit student community and a lot of snow. I am glad to be here making new friends, trying new cuisines and the various winter sports. I am a technology freak and love listening to music and meeting new people."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "During my undergraduate study in biotechnology I acquired a strong interest in the healthcare industry. I wanted to be a part of this industry and at the same time not remain stagnant in one position due to a lack of commercial knowhow. The M.E.M. program was the perfect fit for me because it gives me the necessary business acumen while consolidating my engineering knowledge. It allows me to tailor my degree according to my interests and to take classes with a health focus at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and Tuck School of Business. I was also very excited to be a part of the Dartmouth community and to get to see the perspectives of students from throughout the world. The M.E.M. degree makes all of this possible while helping me make a smooth transition to the corporate world. I chose this as my career path and I believe that the knowledge I gain here will help me take up managerial roles in the technical field."
Adoni Ioannou
Hometown: Tolo, Greece
Previous Degree: B.S. in Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
About Me: "I was born and raised in a small town in Greece and came to the US for the first time when I was 17 years old. After college I worked for a year in sales and then came to Dartmouth. My experiences have taken me places I would have never imagined – from Philadelphia to NYC, and from travelling around the country to Tuck classrooms. I love seeing myself adapt to different situations and connect with people so different from one another. When M.E.M. courses aren't keeping me busy, I like to play soccer and produce music."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M: "In my core I am an engineer. I think in numbers, but at some point in life I realized that I wanted to leverage my skills and apply them to solve business problems. The M.E.M. program was a natural next step for me. I had no doubts that this program is what I needed in order to grasp how business works. You don't learn theory here, you get practical and applied knowledge. This is a professionally focused program that is challenging and fast paced while providing tremendous support when it comes to job search. I was looking to take my career to the next level and create a strong network; I made the right choice."
Sarah Laird
Hometown: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Previous Degree: B.A. in Physics, Vassar College; B.E. in Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College
About Me: "I'm from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and the friendly atmosphere of Hanover reminds me of home. Hanover is a great place to enjoy all four seasons. In the warmer months I enjoy hiking and in the winter I enjoy skiing (even thought the snow isn't quite as good as in Canada)."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "The main thing that drew me to the M.E.M. program was the idea that I would be able to take my technical background and apply it to the business world. My undergraduate degree was focused on environmental engineering and I hope to use my M.E.M. degree to blend sustainable behavior with economically profitable business practices. The M.E.M is a great program, offering students a wide range of electives to tailor their program to fit their individual interests."
Tristan Morris
Home Town: Winston-Salem, NC
Previous Degree: B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University
About Me: "If I had to describe myself quickly, I'd say 'Curious, ambitious, independent.' I've never been afraid to start new things or to run up against the limits of my own ability. In my third year of college, I started a research team that crashed and burned – and I learned so much messing that up, I started two more the next year; they did well. I like storytelling, writing, interesting problems, and there's nothing I hate more the boredom. For me, Dartmouth is a springboard to new and exciting things."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "By the time I graduated college, I knew I wanted to start my own business. I could do engineering, but at heart, I wasn't an engineer. My peers loved taking things apart to see how they worked – I wanted to understand what we could do with the technology. I wanted to work with something practical and real. And more than that, I wanted to do something exciting, where I could fly by the seat of my pants. Dartmouth's M.E.M. program seemed to be perfect preparation for just that – an engineering and business program that would let me use my technical expertise, where I could focus on entrepreneurship, and have the time to pursue my work outside of class."
Tomi Osunkoya
Hometown: Abuja, Nigeria
Previous Degree: B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Mathematics Minor, Lafayette College
About Me: "I consider myself an explorer of minds. I love to learn, not exclusively from textbooks or professors, but I love to listen to people and understand how they think. Although that has nothing to do with the sciences or engineering, it is equally a large part of me. I probably spend more time watching TV and reading novels than I spend doing homework (hurray Hulu, Netflix, and Broadway!). Don't get me wrong, I also love solving problems so much that sometimes I surprise myself by how much of an 'engineer' I am. We are a special breed, engineers...and I love it."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "I think the M.E.M. program was a natural next step for me given the career path I wanted to pursue. I am passionate about business development in Africa and I want to use my career to drive that growth. So for me, combining my engineering knowledge with a business-related degree made sense. The opportunities that the program at Dartmouth provides, such as being able to take business classes at Tuck School of Business and the emphasis placed on job search, also helped to push my decision to come here."
Boyu (Bill) Zhang
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Previous Degrees: B.E. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
About Me: "I grew up in a large city in China with more than 10 million people. Living in Hanover is a completely different experience, it is quiet and peaceful the majority of the time, but it can also be really stimulating and engaging during Homecoming weekend and Winter Carnival. The community here is really friendly and closely connected, and I can always find something to do even during the winter. I enjoy all kinds of sports and will fully utilize the Dartmouth Skiway this winter."
Why I've Come to Do the M.E.M.: "I like to view things from a higher perspective and be someone who can narrow the gap between the needs of customers and the feasibility of technologies. With my solid engineering background, my strong quantitative/analytical and communication skills, I want to further expand my knowledge in the business world. The M.E.M. program at Dartmouth is small in size and rich in resources. The M.E.M. program is a great opportunity for me to challenge myself and reach my career goals."
* Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012 - telephone: (410) 347-7700.