President's Perspective
By Stan Liberty
President, Kettering University
Your health has a new friend. Kettering University recently joined other leading universities that are working on multi-disciplinary approaches to pre-medical education and technology-enhanced solutions to medical challenges. I hope you will read about Kettering’s newest program in this edition of “Perspective” magazine.
The heightened relationship between tech-savvy medical doctors, engineers and scientists with fundamental knowledge in the life, information and physical sciences is growing rapidly, and it may prove to be just what the patient ordered. For example, medicine has an increasingly effective R & D ally among engineers. Engineers with training in the life sciences are able to envision new technological solutions to challenges in medical research. It’s a united effort that is both cross-functional and value-added for today’s patients. And for our institution, this is truly an exceptional fit that will enhance the value of a Kettering degree.
This development also opens new career paths for today’s high school and college students. Pre-med students in any degree program at Kettering may find that blending life science knowledge with that from their major discipline is exactly the silver bullet they are looking for to be admitted to their preferred medical school. At least that’s what Kettering alumni are saying. Our graduates are telling us that high profile medical schools like Michigan, Emory, Northwestern and Georgia Tech are intrigued by the capabilities of students emerging from pre-med programs that integrate physical science, information science and life science education and training.
That’s particularly the case for Sam Perlmutter, formerly of Detroit. Sam spent his undergraduate years at Kettering in an engineering co-op job at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Northwestern University Physical Therapy and Human Movement Science program. His skills in constructing one-of-a-kind technological tools to enable research on repetitive motion injuries landed him a fellowship in Northwestern’s Ph.D. program in neuroscience and he conducts his doctoral research in the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Kettering’s new premedical course of study also retains and builds on Kettering’s long-standing tradition of cooperative education, which is mandatory in all of Kettering’s programs of study. Each year about 2,000 undergraduates are employed in co-op positions in more than 600 corporate settings around the world. Our philosophy remains the same as it was when the school first opened its doors: to engage students in two separate but integrated learning environments. This educational philosophy continues to benefit many industries, from automotive manufacturing to the production of medical devices, such as heart stints and joint replacements. Kettering’s new pre-med course of study will continue this tradition and provide our students with a special foundation for medical school and the growing number of wonderful opportunities in tomorrow’s fields of medicine.
To request an issue of Kettering Perspective, contact us at
Kettering Perspective, Office of PR & Communications, 1700 West Third Avenue, Room 4-934 CC, Flint MI 48504.
810 762-9538 voice; 810 762-7435 fax; gerwin@kettering.edu