Brian Kwee '12

Brian Kwee ’12, majored in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and minored in Biomedical Engineering. As a freshman, Brian joined Cornell’s Breakdance Club, a subgroup of Absolute Zero Breakdance Crew (Azero), and was officially accepted into Azero the following year. He additionally served as the crew secretary during his junior year. As part of Azero, Brian attended two hour dance sessions that met three to four times a week in order to practice and polish his break dancing moves. In addition to the rigorous schedule, he took part in many dance performances at Cornell, many of which were for charity events. Although participating in Azero was very time consuming, Brain says it was a great outlet for venting all his stress from classes.

 During his senior year, Brian served as an undergraduate T.A. for Heat and Mass Transfer under Professor Julius Lucks. In addition, Brian worked year-round in Professor Fischbach’s Lab in the Biomedical Engineering for nearly 4 years. Under the mentorship of Scott Verbridge, a postdoc in the lab, Brian studied the effects of microenvironemental cues on regulating tumor angiogenesis in 3D cell cultures. Brian also worked closely with Professor Stroock in developing an alginate microfluidic device to study the effects of paracrine signaling between the hypoxic and normoxic niches found in solid tumors. Working with Professor Stroock allowed Brian to apply concepts that he learned from his chemical engineering classes to his research.

For the work done in Professor Fischbach and Professor Stroock’s Lab, Brian was able to win the Engineering Learning Initiatives Grant twice, the Zuckerman Prize for Excellence in Student Biological Engineering Research, and the Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in the Chemical Engineering Department.

After Cornell, Brian will pursue a PhD in Bioengineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He will continue to work in the tissue engineering field with Professor Mooney, Professor Fischbach’s former postdoctoral advisor, on therapeutic angiogenesis. It is his hope to continue pursue his passion for research and become a professor in Chemical and/or Biological Engineering.