Recipe for Success: 10 Questions for SURF grantee Courtney Hunter
Hunter in the Translational Biophotonics & Imaging Lab.
Courtney Hunter is a student in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas. She works under Dr. Timothy Muldoon at the Translational Biophotonics & Imaging Lab, and was recently awarded a SURF grant to continue her research work.
UArk BME: Did you come to the U. of A. knowing you wanted to study engineering?
Hunter: I actually came to the U. of A. with the intention of getting a degree in biology through the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences. That had been my plan since I was a freshman in high school. I knew after I started my freshman year that biology was not the major for me; however, I did not know what else was out there. I met someone in my Cell Biology class during the spring of my freshman year (2014) who told me that he was a biomedical engineering major. That immediately sparked my interest. I had never considered engineering before, and I definitely did not know biomedical engineering was even an option. I did some online research and studied the course guide. The more and more I looked into it, the more I realized this was something I really wanted to do. I discussed it with my parents, and they were open to whatever I wanted to do. As I was finishing my freshman year, I changed my major to biomedical engineering, and I have never looked back. Kinan Alhallak, the student who introduced me to the major in the first place, is now a fellow researcher, classmate and a good friend.
