Pooja Kadambi is on a mission to explore the world and experience new cultures.

An international student from Bangalore, India, Pooja began her journey at UC. “My first year of classes was easier than expected, but this easy schedule gave me time to adjust – not just to the culture, but to the different structure and style of American classes,” she says. “I hadn’t had homework since fourth grade!”

Pooja gained invaluable experience in her classes: “I’m able to work with different personalities and working styles, which helps prepare me for the real world, where you have to work with different people, including people you may not like.”

Yet traveling roughly ten thousand miles to attend UC and experience American college culture was not enough. Pooja wanted to see more – and UC’s celebrated co-op program helped her do it.

“Pooja has taken the opportunity to explore different co-op experiences. This is something that we advocate in the [biomedical engineering] program,” says Linda Moeller, Pooja’s academic advisor.

Pooja’s first two co-op assignments kept her in the Midwest. First, she worked for Johnson & Johnson dePuy in Warsaw, IN, modifying knee and hip replacements. Next, she worked at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati researching gene patterns and interactions.

Pooja’s third co-op assignment took her somewhere entirely unfamiliar. Pooja accepted an assignment with Huiheng Medical, a biomedical firm specializing in radiotherapy equipment. For the majority of her co-op assignment, Pooja worked in her home country of India. Yet for 10 exciting days, Pooja visited Huiheng Medical’s office in Shenzhen, China.

“I didn’t know much about China before I visited,” she says. “I expected Chinese society to be more rigid.” Instead, she found warm, hospitable people eager to share their culture. “My time in China opened my eyes.”

Although Pooja spent most of her time studying Chinese work culture and presenting her work on radiotherapy equipment, she also spent a few days sight-seeing throughout China. Pooja visited Guangzhou, a medical hub and third largest city in China, and Hong Kong, where she saw the more than 100-foot-tall “Big Buddha.”

Choosing to study at UC “has been one of the best decisions of my life,” Pooja says. “It is a great campus with an amazing and innovative biomedical engineering program. The faculty members have been so supportive throughout my stay here. I have made some great friends and found peers that motivate and challenge me.”

All these experiences will help Pooja in her future endeavors. While she’s not sure what she wants to do after graduation, she knows she wants to make a difference in people’s lives and “do something challenging.”

Those who know Pooja have no doubt in her potential. “Pooja is determined to excel and motivated to succeed. She is outgoing and always sees the positive side of things,” says Moeller. “She is truly a dynamic person.”