Ashley Tse

Ashley Tse wants to develop devices that can save lives around the world. So, she chose to study biomedical engineering at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University

“It’s interesting how broad and interdisciplinary biomedical engineering is,” says Tse, who is also also an honors student in Barrett, The Honors College, earning a minor in materials science and engineering and a minor in Spanish. “I enjoy learning about different disciplines, whether that be molecular biology or electronics, and how they can ultimately help me understand more of the world around me and become a better engineer.”

Tse got her first taste of the engineering design process as a first-year student in the hands-on BME 182 Biomedical Engineering Product Design and Development I course.

“My group worked on a wheelchair bed for patients in rural Uzbekistan,” Tse says. “I learned about the importance of research into who the device is made for. This project is also memorable for me because the members in that group are some of my closest friends today.”

She fostered a growing group of biomedical engineers in the ASU Biomedical Engineering Society, or BMES, in which she served in multiple leadership positions. As president, she more than doubled the number of industry, social, entrepreneurship and outreach events, and increased the attendance and engagement of the organization’s members.

She improved her engineering skills by conducting protein engineering research under the guidance of Benjamin Bartelle, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. Tse says Bartelle has been instrumental in her growth as an engineer and as a person.

“Dr. Bartelle is extremely supportive and goes above and beyond to help me realize my goal of working in the medtech industry, such as offering advice on internship decisions and conducting mock interviews,” says Tse, who earned the Robert H. Chamberlain Memorial Scholarship, the Mensch Prize at ASU Honors and the Katie Conrad Memorial Award.

Bartelle encouraged Tse in more than her biomedical engineering studies. He also supported her interest in dance by making a lab outing of seeing her perform in a showcase of the Devilettes Dance Team, for which Tse also served as co-captain and captain.

Tse will continue to have new experiences at ASU as she earns her graduate degree in biomedical engineering through the Accelerated Master’s degree program.

Following graduation, she hopes to work as a product or process engineer at a global medical device company, drawing on her experience as an intern at Medtronic, a global company that manufactures medical devices and develops therapies. 

“Biomedical engineers have the ability to impact millions of lives through their work, from improving the design of medical devices used around the world to researching treatments for diseases and disorders that affect people indiscriminately,” Tse says. “I want to innovate or improve medical devices and related processes to increase patient quality of life.”

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ Spring 2023 class here.