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In High School, snowboarding and photography were Tanner’s passions. He would have loved to do that for the rest of his life.

Then towards the end of  his sophomore year, his architecture teacher involved him in building an engineering program for his school. Tanner found himself hooked on engineering - the idea of building things, touching people and making life better. 

Tanner joins our podcast to share his Duke University undergraduate experience, Interest in Neurosurgery, UG Research, Winning the Goldwater Scholarship, Applying Engineering for Medicine, and his Advice for High Schoolers.

In particular, we discuss the following with him: 

• Overall Undergraduate Experience
• UG Research
• The Goldwater Scholarship
• Mechanical Engineering Major
• Advice to High Schoolers

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Introduction to Tanner Zachem, Duke []
• Hi Fives - Podcast Highlights []
• Overall Experience at Duke []
• Why Duke? []
• High School Interests []
• Overcoming Reading Challenges []
• Transition to Duke []
• Peers []
• Starting UG Research []
• Learnings from UG Research []
• When Research Doesn’t Go As Expected []
• Why Goldwater Scholarship? []
• GW Application []
• The Goldwater Scholarship Difference []
• Campus Activities []
• Majoring in Mechanical Engineering []
• Advice for High Schoolers []
• Memories []

Our Guests: Tanner Zachem is a Goldwater Scholar who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering applied to Neurosurgery from Duke University. Tanner is currently a PhD student at Duke University.

Memorable Quote: “Yeah, things, things don't go your way a lot in research. I have learned how to really be able to detach and take a deep breath. And you know, things break. You know, you don't get funding, paper gets, you know, rejected, you name it, it happens. ” Tanner Zachem.

Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.

Similar Episodes: College Experiences , UG Research

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