Annie came to Tufts with little idea of what she wanted to study, but during her time here, she has found her path in electrical engineering, and has not looked back.
ANNIE GEHERAN
’19
After speaking to Annie about her most memorable courses, a class called Electronics emerged as the clear favorite. The ease with which Annie described her final project, a pulse oximeter, was awe-inspiring, and demonstrated her comfort with the subject. The project required her to build a device which could read electrical signals from the body, and even sparked her interest in working in the medical field. She continued chatting with me about another project for her Digital Logic class where she had to create a simulation of a vending machine. I could see her pride as she described the process of receiving this vague assignment, then working alongside her peers, and problem-solving each hiccup to create a finished product fully equipped with a little slide for your soft drink. “It was really satisfying… I had so many resources and I was able to put it all together—it was fantastic,” she said, beaming.
The next time I need a custom-built soda dispenser, or a user-friendly pulse oximeter, Annie will be the first person I call. After she whips up a schematic of said vending machine, we’ll chat in French, just one of the three languages she’s studied in her time at Tufts. It is this vast array of interests and self-motivated involvement that left me completely amazed by Annie, a student who has no trouble getting outside of the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex to audit a philosophy class, bake with her housemates, or head to a show in Boston. “What being an engineer at Tufts entails is that you have a strong engineering education in a liberal arts setting. It’s so great to be around that sort of environment,” she explained. Just a few minutes into our conversation I could tell that Annie was one of those students who chose to be an engineer at Tufts because of the liberal arts, not in spite of it. For her, being exposed
to students involved in a variety of disciplines gives her more to learn, and only strengthens her aptitude for electrical engineering. By no means does Annie keep this passion for engineering to herself. Since her freshman year, Annie has been working with Tufts’ Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program (STOMP) which sends her into elementary school classrooms where she is responsible for creating curricula and teaching kids engineering concepts. Annie stays involved on campus as well, serving as the Junior Representative for the Tufts chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). There, she creates programs to get Tufts students excited about electrical engineering, and even helps others in course selection. “It’s the outreach, especially with children, which I love,” she shared. —-AINSLEY BALL ’21
PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR FROM SWANZEY, NH