Goldwater Scholarship Nominee Builds a Path to Bioengineering Research Career
A Goldwater Scholarship nominee, Eda Erdogmus, E’26, bioengineering, is laying the groundwork with co-op and part-time lab work experiences to establish a career in cell modification research that will focus on neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.
Managing rigorous academics, co-ops, and part-time research work is not easy, but Eda Erdogmus, E’26, bioengineering, is determined to stay succeed. She eventually plans to focus on cell modification research to address critical issues such as neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.
Her hard work is paying off. Erdogmus was nominated for a 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, a highly competitive, merit-based award for outstanding students in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering who are interested in pursuing careers in research.
She says that while news of the nomination is “still sinking in,” it has helped validate the research path she has chosen, and she is “proud to represent Northeastern.”
Erdogmus’ interest in biology actually goes back to when she was a child playing outdoors, where she developed a love for small creatures. “I would go into the backyard when it rained and catch the earthworms that would crawl out of the ground,” Erdogmus says. “I just loved bringing what I caught to my horrified parents.”
Biology was her favorite subject in school, although she also loved math and the clarity it brought to solving problems. As an incoming student to Northeastern, she decided to major in bioengineering.
Research experiences
Her first research experience was at the Optical Microscopy & Neuro-Imaging (OMNI) Lab with Mohammad Abbas Yaseen, assistant professor of bioengineering. Erdogmus investigated non-pharmacological interventions for neurodegenerative diseases using advanced microscopy techniques. She also received PEAK Base Camp and Ascent Awards from Northeastern’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships to study how physical exercise could impact diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“I was learning about imaging techniques and the physics behind them,” Erdogmus says. “Through that process, I ended up falling in love with biological techniques and bioinformatics.”
To expand her research experiences, she applied for a trainee position at the Butovsky Lab at the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, which is part of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She worked part-time in the first half of 2024 and then began a six-month co-op as a research trainee. She then returned to a part-time position, which she will hold until the end of this academic year.
“It has really been an honor to learn under these scientists,” Erdogmus says of this experience.
However, she recently realized that as much as she has enjoyed biology-based research, she wants to bring engineering principles to her future work. “I figured out what my happy medium is—applying engineering to biology because I still want to have the presence of math in my work,” she adds. “I want the research to be quantitative. I want to model a system, do an experiment at the bench, and then validate what I’ve designed.”
Next steps
She will begin a co-op in June 2025 at Visterra Inc., a biotechnology company that uses a proprietary research technology platform to design antibodies. Erdogmus is excited to gain experience in industry research.
Her goal is to move directly into a PhD program after graduation and while she does not know if she ultimately will work in academia or industry, she does want to hold a leadership role one day. “I want to help people analyze results, and present and defend those results,” Erdogmus says.
Her time at Northeastern has been key to achieving her goals. “The experiences I’ve had, including the networking and the mentorship, have been phenomenal,” she says. “I’m really happy at Northeastern and I wouldn’t change anything. It was the right decision on all fronts.”