Kara Mathias has a big place in her heart for animals. Even as a busy student athlete on the cross country and track teams at Carnegie Mellon, she makes time to care for others’ pets and is currently training a service dog. Her interest extends into her research and career goals, as she is hopeful to explore how biomedical interventions could be applied to animals.

Mathias, a sophomore majoring in materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering, was selected as a recipient of the Dr. Mete Akin Endowed Fund for Advancement of Pre-Med Education earlier this year. The award recognizes a CMU student who is pursuing a pre-med academic track in honor of Mete Akin, DC ’02, who passed away in 2017. An economics major, Akin recognized that many diverse backgrounds could lead to a medical career. The fund provides financial support for students from any college or program for travel expenses, research projects, or other expenses related to a research or study abroad project.

By completing internships at both Johns Hopkins University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign while she was in high school, Mathias was able to gain exposure to the intersection of design, biology, and engineering, which propelled her interest in attending Carnegie Mellon. 

“The programs at Carnegie Mellon are unique, and a big draw was being able to complete a dual degree in materials science and biomedical engineering,” she said. “Seeing the advancements that can be made using these disciplines, the curious and driven nature of the students, and the opportunities for start-ups here really drew me in.”

While she is early in her academic career as a sophomore, Mathias has aspirations of going on to earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and continuing her research efforts in the future.

I want to be able to combine animal science with biomedical engineering.

Kara Mathias, undergraduate student, Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

“I want to be able to combine animal science with biomedical engineering because I think it is an avenue to advance animal medicine, which is commonly overlooked,” she said.

Last summer, she completed an internship at a university veterinary hospital where she acquired hands-on experience in a comparative oncology clinical trials lab and shadowed graduate students. She had the opportunity to track cancer cell lines and cell cultures, conduct assays with cell lines to see how they would react to trial drugs, and image cancer cells to monitor their growth.

Through the Mete Akin award, Mathias plans to continue her research and travel to conferences where she can share her work.

Pictured, top: Mathias works in the lab alongside a dog she is training to be a service animal