Discovery and Impact: Alex Zambrowski’s Journey at Northeastern
Portrait of Alex Zambrowski. Photo sourced from LinkedIn.
Alex Zambrowski, E’26, combined chemical engineering and bioengineering, enjoys aspects of both fields and hopes to pursue synthetic or protein engineering in the future. At Northeastern, multiple hands-on research experiences have shaped his career plans and deepened his passion for the work.
Alex Zambrowski is completing a bachelor’s degree in both chemical engineering and bioengineering at Northeastern University. Math and science were his strongest subjects in high school, though he had no clear sense yet of where they would take him. He gravitated toward engineering for the career flexibility it offered—a path with strong prospects that didn’t require graduate school to get started. College was always part of the plan, both as a space to grow professionally and as an opportunity to figure out what he actually wanted to pursue. Coming in with genuine interest in both chemical and bioengineering, he decided to study both rather than choose.
The biggest draw to Northeastern was its Co-op Program. For an engineer, the industry connections that experiential learning builds are invaluable, and Zambrowski appreciated that this wasn’t an add-on at Northeastern—it was woven into the curriculum. The university’s location in Boston, a hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, was an added benefit given his career interests. The combined major also appealed to him as a way to explore multiple directions at once, since he wasn’t yet sure which would offer the career prospects he was looking for. Studying both, he figured, would give him the broadest possible foundation.
Research and Co-op Journey
Zambrowski presenting his research at RISE. Courtesy photo.
Zambrowski has accumulated a wide range of research experiences during his time at Northeastern. As an undergraduate research assistant at the SymBioSys Lab, he focused on computational modeling of proteins—specifically, studying how sugar molecules called glycans, when attached to proteins, affect the way those proteins move and behave over time. He received a PEAK Summit Award this past spring in support of that work. The experience gave him a distinctive skill set in theoretical modeling, but it also made him eager to get into a wet lab.
That led to his first co-op: a research internship at Harvard’s Wyss Institute, where his project focused on diagnostic development using engineered proteins. The goal was to use these proteins to detect disease-causing agents in the body and distinguish between different sources of illness. Zambrowski’s role was to test a broad range of proteins against various pathogens to identify and characterize how they bind to one another—work with potential applications in rapid diagnostic evaluation. It was his first wet lab experience, and he is grateful for the mentorship his supervisor provided, taking care to build his foundational skills through consistent feedback and modeling what Zambrowski describes as “good science” and what a strong lab member looks like. He considers this co-op one of the most influential learning experiences of his time at Northeastern.
His second co-op was at Scholar Rock, a company that engineers antibodies to treat disease. As an antibody engineering and protein scientist co-op, Zambrowski evaluated potential antibody candidates by isolating and producing them in the lab, assessing the qualities that would make them most effective and reliable to manufacture at scale. His work helped narrow the pool of candidates, which were then passed to other teams for further analysis. The experience ignited a specific interest in protein engineering and its potential for developing new therapies.
Zambrowski is currently back at the Wyss Institute, working part-time as a researcher in an extension of his co-op project. He continues screening proteins to assess their ability to detect disease-causing agents, now with a sharper focus on identifying specific diseases with precision. Taken together, his research experiences have given him a well-rounded skill set, a clearer sense of his interests, and a broader base of knowledge to bring to whatever comes next.
Capstone and Extracurriculars
The most impactful course in Zambrowski’s engineering education has been Engineering Capstone, the required senior-year course in which students take a research project from initial concept through experimentation, prototyping, and a final deliverable. He values the way it mirrors what independent research actually looks like—whether in graduate school or an industry role—without the scale or stakes that come with the real thing. More than the technical skills it built, the experience helped him clarify his own ambitions.
Outside the classroom, Zambrowski is involved in Northeastern’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), an organization that connects chemical engineering students with resources through graduate school and industry panels, company spotlights, workshops, and more. He particularly values the alumni network and the conversations it makes possible with professionals already well into their careers. This year, he was elected secretary, handling meeting minutes, attendance, and logistics—responsibilities that have pushed him to sharpen his time management and organizational skills. He is also a member of Northeastern’s Running Club, which he credits as a source of community and genuine friendship outside of academics.
Recommendations and the Future
Zambrowski’s advice to incoming students is simple: explore everything Northeastern has to offer. Co-op is central, but clubs, research, and other involvement round out the experience in ways that matter. “I know it can be hard to fit it all into a schedule,” he acknowledges, “but it is really helpful to make you a more well-rounded person.”
Since graduation, Zambrowski plans to pursue a PhD. His research experiences have shown him that doctoral training provides the kind of foundational preparation needed to pursue research at a deeper level. His longer-term goal is to lead a team developing therapeutics targeting specific diseases—work that combines the science he loves with the impact he’s looking for. With the range of knowledge and hands-on experience he has built at Northeastern, Zambrowski is well prepared to take that next step.