Class of 2026: For Jade Rasberry, biomedical engineering is a personal and shared pursuit

By Drew Thompson

Jade Rasberry has known since middle school what she wanted to do. A weeklong all-girls STEM camp introduced her to medical engineering, and she instantly found her passion.

It intensified in high school, when the Stafford County native was invited as a senior to a Society of Women Engineers event at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"They talked about the different engineering disciplines, and I got to talk to some biomedical engineering upperclassmen in that organization, and my love for it grew," Rasberry said.

This spring, Rasberry earned her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from VCU's College of Engineering, where she has shared her passion through her advocacy and her studies.

As she considered colleges to pursue the discipline, Rasberry quickly knew that VCU checked all her boxes: The medical campus was closely integrated with the academic campus, the school was situated in a city, the student body featured open and expressive individuals, and the curriculum embraced real-world challenges.

"VCU does a great job of helping their [biomedical engineering students] get exposed to clinical-facing spaces," Rasberry said. "For one of my classes, I got to go down to the medical campus and tour different departments and talk to doctors, surgeons and patients. I knew that I really enjoyed doing that."

Rasberry quickly became an important member of VCU's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, which she joined in her first year and led as president during her senior year.

Among highlights: The VCU unit won consecutive NSBE regional chapter of the year awards for the past two years.

"It was nice to see the work … come to fruition," said Rasberry, who also had served as membership chair. "We had done a lot of things for the College of Engineering, as well as VCU as a whole. So, they were proud of us. We were proud of each other. It was just like a really great energy winning that award.

"We're only as strong as our members, and we have some amazing members who are always willing to just be the change that they want to see," she added. "It's been a collective effort."

Rasberry's own engineering work has incorporated personal meaning. Her project for this year's Capstone Design Expo was inspired by her younger brother, who was born with anal rectal malformation. To address the life-threatening condition, her brother endured several surgeries in his first months of life to create an anal opening.

The current procedure, which involves dilation and a single metal rod, is challenging for the patient and the care provider, so Rasberry and her team developed a more user-friendly and comfortable dilator. The proposed device, which won the biomedical engineering departmental award at this year's expo, would use multiple metal rods for a more comfortable alternative.

That spirit continues to motivate Rasberry as she leaves VCU: She plans to pursue a career in cardiac device manufacturing or sales.