Club Spotlight at USC: ASBME!

By: Celine Vazquez ‘24

If you’re in the Viterbi School of Engineering and are looking for some awesome clubs to join, I got your back. ASBME (also known as the Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering) is a professional, academic, and social club at USC that helps mentor and guide students through their biomedical engineering pursuits. I’m currently a freshman representative on ASBME’s E-Board, and I can’t wait to share all of the amazing things this club is doing this semester to make USC a better, more innovative place. Let’s get started!!

1) Community and Friendships

As all of us know, it can be hard to make friendships and lasting connections through Zoom, ESPECIALLY as a freshman! However, ASBME has done a great job with combating this, by making sure its members have many opportunities to get to connect with their fellow biomedical engineering majors! 

ASBME usually has tons of socials (usually on Fridays) throughout the semester, and they are just a great way to chill, destress, and have fun! Below is a screenshot of our most recent social - our Valentine’s Day Party! We played games and exchanged gifts through Amazon delivery service. 

2) Professional Networking and Development 

While ASBME definitely focuses heavily on giving their members a social space to thrive in, they also make sure to focus heavily on giving their students a space to develop themselves professionally! As a freshman on ASBME’s E-Board, and even as a general member, I have gotten so much exposure to how industry and research works. It’s been such an invaluable experience getting to understand the different paths a BME degree can take me down, and through networking in this club I was recently accepted into a research lab at USC!

3) Academic Resources 

Another great aspect of ASBME are its academic resources that it provides to paying members! Not only are you able to connect with upperclassmen for help with homework in classes they have already taken, but you also have access to ASBME’s Test Bank! There are practice exams for almost every class you have to take as a BME major, and the only requirement to getting access to the request form is by paying your dues. This is such a great resource to make use of, especially during midterms and finals season.

4) MAKEATHON!!!!

Last but not least, I thought I would highlight one of ASBME’s biggest events of the year: Makeathon! This event is essentially like a hackathon, but for designers! Usually held in person, you get to create a medical device that accomplishes that year’s challenge with your team. You have to do this is a 3 day time frame! This year, to combat zoom fatigue, the event will be held over 5 days and will allow students to collaborate with their teams to design a device, and sit in on workshops and speaker events that will allow them to gain exposure to all that BME has to offer. You can check out the schedule of events here - we can’t wait for this event to start THIS WEEK!

Overall, ASBME is such a great club to join. I highly recommend this community, and I encourage you to check out our website and follow us on Instagram @ asbmeusc!! 

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