IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011 - 36

The most important thing is to love
what you are doing and to remember
why you are doing it. Sure, things might
be painfully challenging at times (like
homework problems that require ten
pages of math), but always keep the big
picture in mind; this goes for whatever a person chooses to do. I know I'm
extremely lucky to be where I am today,
but I am also certain that hard work and
resilience have helped me achieve more
than I ever thought possible. If there is
something you want to try outside of
your comfort zone, go for it!
If you want to contribute to society in ways that require engineering,
please consider being an engineer! If
you are a girl who might be interested
in engineering, do not hesitate to e-mail
a female engineer who you think might
be a good mentor. Having been a mentor to prospective female engineers, I
know that most of us would be thrilled
to pass along our personal experiences
and advice. Don't forget that we've been
in your place before.

How Has Your Work
Benefited Humanity?
My motivation for becoming an engineer is to develop technologies that can
help improve the quality of human life.
I'm particularly interested in assistive
and medical technologies. My current
research involves developing mechanisms
and materials for soft robotic applications, such as human-safe service robots
and medical devices, both wearable ones
and ones that operate in the body. A soft
robot-unlike a traditional robot with
discrete, rigid components-can be envisioned as continuous flesh with tunable
stiffness properties, thus expanding the
possibilities of robotics as we know it.
I am also a project leader for an assistive technology student group at MIT.
The purpose of our group is to work on
projects within the community to help
people with disabilities fulfill everyday
tasks that most people take for granted.
Our goal is to develop low-cost solutions
and to make our designs public so that
others beyond our immediate end-users
can benefit from our work. Because
we are working directly with people in

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

the community, it has been extremely
rewarding collaborating with end-users
and seeing the impact of our work.
- Edited by Paola Bringas

Engineering and Medicine
Bhatti implementing biosystems

faculty member of the Interdisciplinary
Bioengineering Program and of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical
Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory
University. She serves as a reviewer for
a number of journals and conferences
in the areas of MEMS, circuits, robotics, radiology, and engineering education. She has also developed an IEEE Real
World Engineering Project designed for
first year engineering students to simulate a cochlear implant signal processor.

Pamela Bhatti received her B.S. in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, her M.S. in
Explain Why You Became
electrical engineering from the Univera Technical Professional
sity of Washington in 1993, and her
When I was growing up I didn't
Ph.D. in electrical engineeringg
think of becoming an engith
from the University of Michineer-t hat wa s what my
n
gan, Ann Arbor, in 2006 with
father did. I really enjoyed
an emphasis on microelectro
art, math, and biology, and
mechanical systems (MEMS).
I thought of becoming a
She joined the School of
teacher or a doctor. I studied
Electrical and Computer
biomedical engineering in
Engineering at the Georgia
college since it seemed like a
Pamela Bhatti
Institute of Technology, Atlannatural blend of my interests.
ta, in 2007. Her research focuses on the
I caught the technology bug and
development of implantable biosystems to
knew engineering was for me during my
overcome sensory loss in the auditory and
freshman year when I volunteered at a
vestibular systems through development
prosthetics clinic in a veterans administraof focused electrical stimulators and novel
tion hospital. I worked side by side with a
sensors. Before completing her Ph.D. she
biomedical engineer who fitted military
researched the detection of breast cancer
veteran patients with artificial limbs. I
with ultrasound imaging at the University
saw first-hand how engineers and physiof Michigan's Department of
cians worked together to proRadiology (1997-1999).
vide a patient with function
Her industry expeof a lost limb and how
"I knew
rience includes emheavily doctors and
engineering
b e dde d s ystem s
patients relied upon
was for me when
software developtechnology created
ment at Microby engineers. FasI volunteered at a
ware Corporation,
cinated by the idea
prosthetics clinic
Des Moines, Iowa
of integrating engiin a veterans
(1996-1997), local
neering with mediadministration
operating network
cine, I eventually
applications developembarked upon gradhospital."
ment and support at
uate studies in electrical
Motorola Semiconductor
engineering and developed
in Austin, Texas (1994-1995),
a device for using electrical
and research and clinical fabrication of
charge to activate nerves in the hearing
controlled-release drug delivery systems
system-part of a cochlear implant.
at Alza Corporation in Palo Alto, California (1986-1990). Bhatti is also a program
How Does Your Work

Benefit Humanity?
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2011.942432
Date of publication: 14 October 2011

DECEMBER 2011

Becoming a technical professional has
enabled me to create technologies that

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011